Th1s 1s Wat3r, AI-composition for chamber orchestra, 3D-audio with two IKOs, and reactive piano, Beethoven-Saal Stuttgart, 2024
In "Th1s 1s Wat3r", there were, during its creation process, and there continue to be, ongoing collaborations between sounds composed and produced by humans and those generated digitally and by AI. These sounds are integrated and transcribed into a score that is readable by both humans and computers, addressing three core questions:
What is music, and when does it begin?
What, then, are the conditions for music?
And who claims the authority to interpret it?
The compositional approach in "Th1s 1s Wat3r" embarks on a search for an "almost-music and just-barely-music"—a field of impossibilities that have always been prerequisites for what is possible and will continue to be. The unthinkable, the unheard, the inconspicuous, the inexplicable, the overlooked, the forbidden, the forgotten, the repressed.
The shared space serves as a negotiation partner. In this context, what may seem foreign is often closely related: Many of the electronic sounds originate from "human sounds." For example, in §7 (P.A. Precious Artefacts), the hums and vocal sounds of pianist Glenn Gould were entirely extracted, synthesized, and used as digital sound material from his recordings of the "Goldberg Variations" in 1955 and 1981. Similarly, the breathing sounds of singers were extracted from several recordings of the "St. John Passion" and "St. Matthew Passion" and composed as musical material. Through spatial audio (IKO), these elements are spatially arranged, creating new bodies and sculptural formations. These do not present themselves as competition, supplementation, or continuation but rather shape a musical presence in the moment of their sounding.
Production: Jana Günther
Conductor: Miguel Pérez Iñesta
Composition: Gerriet Krishna Sharma
Animation: Moritz Mayerhofer
Spatial Audio Concept: Daniel Deboy & Gerriet Krishna Sharma
Technical Lead & AV Active: Timo Kärcher
2024: Liederhalle Stuttgart, Beethovensaal
Commissioned work by Markus Koselt & Stuttgarter Kammerorchester
Funded by Die Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien
Förderstrecke Exzellente Orchesterlandschaft
