Four works by the German composer Franz Martin Olbrisch, two for large orchestra and two with live electronics. The common thread is sound itself, in endless variety, often produced by unusual playing techniques. In Grain, the orchestral parts come from a computer analysis of a drinks machine, from the coin dropping in to the can rattling out.
Olbrisch was born in Mülheim an der Ruhr in 1952 and studied at the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin from 1979. He taught composition and studio technique in Berlin until 2008 and then became professor of electronic music at the Dresden music university. His works have been played at Donaueschingen, Witten and ECLAT. The two orchestral works are played by the hr-Sinfonieorchester, conducted by Sian Edwards (Grain) and Roland Kluttig (craquelé). Flutist Yuri Matsuzaki plays the flute piece with Martin Baumgärtel on live electronics. The Studio for New Music Ensemble Moscow plays coupures de temps... under Vladimir Gorlinsky, with the composer on electronics. The recordings are productions of Hessischer Rundfunk.
Grain (2005), the longest piece at 23 minutes, turns the analysed noise sequence of the vending machine into orchestral material. flöte, sounds & live-electronics (1995, version 2011) derives its compositional principles entirely from the fingerings of a standard transverse flute. craquelé (2010) pushes further an idea central to Olbrisch. It is impossible to control every detail of a performance and of a listener's perception, and for him that is a necessary artistic quality, not a flaw. In coupures de temps... (2009/10) for flute, clarinet, string trio, percussion and live electronics, all instruments share one tempo. Each part divides the pulse differently, so the lines drift apart and come back together.
Olbrisch does not want his music to mean anything. It aims to be an acoustic experience that becomes an artwork through listening. The processes are often too many and too complex to follow at once, so listeners have to choose what to focus on and understand the piece in their own way. He has been a member of the Saxon Academy of Arts and vice-president of the German section of the ISCM.
CD, Wergo WER 6799 2, released in 2014 (total time 73'01").
