Towards the Event Horizon

Composing improvised music using sound design

INTRODUCTION

This is an accompanying website to my bachelor thesis in music composition (conducted at Luleå University of Technology, 2020-2021). The website presents the artistic results and reflections of the project.

While the thesis document describes the theoretical framework, methods and process used to produce the work, this is an exposition of the artefacts and performance that manifest the final piece.

For a full scientific account of the work, I refer the reader to the thesis itself:[link]

BACKGROUND

'Black holes may be apertures to elsewhen. Were we to plunge down a black hole, we would re-emerge, it is conjectured, in a different part of the universe and in another epoch in time . . . Black holes may be entrances to Wonderlands. But are there Alices or white rabbits? ― Carl Sagan

In the centers of our universe the mysterious and almost mythical black holes reign. These almighty cosmic creatures are right on the edge of the world as we know it. Space-time collapses in their infinite gravity, devouring even light. The event horizon of a black hole is the definite portal between the different realms, between existence and oblivion, light and darkness, the known and the unknown. Beyond the event horizon, we don’t know what we will find, as Carl Sagan points out in the quote above…

Concept and ideas

Towards the Event Horizon is a quasi-improvised work where the performers and the sounds they manifest are live processed by electronics, representing an artistic interpretation of how a black hole might affect space-time. How would this warp and transform sonic materials (although physically, the vacuum of empty space can’t reproduce sound)?

The electronic system is at the heart of the piece, shaping the resulting soundscape as a force of nature impossible to escape. Thus design and compositional process have been guided by the following concepts and titles:

  1. Deep Space

  2. Hovering Particles

  3. Gravitational Fields

  4. Space-Time Collapsing

  5. Beyond the Event Horizon

  6. Singularity

Each section of the piece explores different sonic textures and accordingly electronic effects designed to represent the different keywords, using a variety of synthesis techniques and combinations of timbres. (Jonsäll 2021, Design Document)[1]

TOWARDS THE EVENT HORIZON (2021)

Full Score (2021-03-19)

Movements:

  1. Deep Space
  1. Hovering Particles
  1. Gravitational Fields
  1. Space-Time Collapsing
  1. Beyond the Event Horizon
  1. Singularity

Diagram

PERFORMANCE

Stage design by Minna Brandt for the original performance of Towards the Event Horizon at Nymus Live 2021.

Workshop

Studio workshop of the final piece together with the instrumentalists: Hans Jonsäll on live electronics, Fredrik Ekenvi on electric guitar and José Louis Relova Gallego on bass clarinet.

Concert

Preparations, rehearsals and workshop with Norrbotten Improvisers Orchestra (NIO).

Norrbotten Improvisers Orchestra @ Studio Acusticum (Black Box) - Nymus Live 2021 (30/3)

RESOURCES

Full Score

Design Document

The design document [...]

Patch

Modular patch made in VCV Rack

Diagram

(Towards the Event Horizon [Design Document], 2021-03-19)

CREDITS

Thanks to my fellow musicians Fredrik Ekenvi (electric guitar) and José Louis Relova Gallego (bass clarinet) without whom this project would never have been possible. I am also directing a huge gratitude towards Studio Acusticum as well as the people of the culture associations Nymus and Kluster for arranging the live stream and documentation of the original performance.

Fredrik Ekenvi

José Louis Relova Gallego

Jan Sandström

Fredrik Högberg

  1. Jonsäll, H. (2021). Towards the Event Horizon - Design Document. ↩︎