The Squid's Ear Magazine


Wittenburg, Florian: Beyond The Traceries (Edition Wandelweiser Records)

Various facets of German composer and experimenter Florian Wittenburg's interests, in two iterations of two pieces and two compositions, using voice, vibraphones and ringing bowls, treated electronically to emphasize unique characteristics of sound from warmly rich to mysteriously fragile, balanced with space and careful timing; a valuable introduction to his work.
 

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Florian Wittenburg-composer, performer


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UPC: 4011778039310

Label: Edition Wandelweiser Records
Catalog ID: EWR 2005
Squidco Product Code: 29828

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2020
Country: Germany
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold 3 Panels
Recorded at the artist home in Kleve, Germany, on February 6th, and December 19th, 2019, and January 31st, February 1st, and 2nd, 2020.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Is it a surprise that we find a release by Florian Wittenberg on Wandelweiser Editions? I am not sure. It is a question I have been thinking about when I was playing this rather short (thirty minutes) CD with six pieces. Wittenberg's music involves quite a bit of computer processing, which I think is not necessarily what a lot of the composers connected to Wandelweiser are about. But, agreed, instruments also play a role in his work and that as such he uses them sparsely, which is right up this street, I think. On the six pieces of 'Beyond The Traceries', Wittenberg offers both sides of his work. There is, on one hand, the pure electronically processed pieces such as the title piece (created from time-stretched white noise) and 'Of Exile' (which could be an extension of the title piece; it is the only piece not mentioned on the cover as a description). In both parts of 'Noise Bowls', he uses the overtones in a very contemplative way. I could believe these are electronically treated in some way, but just as easily this is just what it is, pure overtones from playing glass bowls. And, finally, there are two pieces called 'Moving Thirds', or rather, two takes of those pieces, in which Wittenberg plays the vibraphone. These are perhaps the two pieces in which one recognizes the instrument best. Both these pieces are very quiet and contain quite a bit of 'space' between the notes, evoking very much a Zen-like state. It's exactly pieces such as these two, which makes it easy to see why Wandelweiser is the right label for this music. Perhaps this release is a bit over the place, displaying various interests from Florian Wittenberg as a composer. If you heard his name before and had no idea where to start, then 'Beyond The Traceries', I think, is an excellent place to find out more, even when it is all a bit too brief."-Frans de Waard, Vital Weekly


Get additional information at Vital Weekly

Artist Biographies

"Florian Wittenburg, born in Berlin in 1973, studied Music Technology (including instrumental performance) at the Utrecht School of Arts in The Netherlands, where he graduated with distinction in 1999. During this period he studied with performers such as Jannie Pranger, Ben Gerritsen and Jasper van 't Hof, with producers such as Frank van der Weij and Stefan Winter (Music Edition Winter&Winter), with composers Gerard van Wolferen and Barbara Woof, and filmsound designer Rens Machielse. He participated twice as an ensemble player, in 1996 and 1997, at the "Nederlands Filmfestival", accompanying the restored images of rediscovered dutch silent films. Following the international EMMA-programme of study (European Media Masters of Art), he has been awarded the M.A. degree in Sound & Music Technology in 2000.

In 2005 a scholarship brought him to the Centre de Création Musicale Iannis Xenakis in Paris, where he attended Masterclasses of Jean-Claude Risset,, Agostino Di Scipio and Curtis Roads.

During and after his study-period he worked together with a.o. conductor/composer Arno Dieteren (Ensemble Contraint), sculptor Willem Fermont (5darc), cellist Jacquelin Hamelink, theremin-virtuoso Lydia Kavina, pianists Nico Huijbregts and Daan Vandewalle, with composer/performer Stephan Froleyks, composer/performer Ned McGowan and with video artists David Baker and Marcel Wierckx. His music is broadcasted mainly by german (Süd-West-Rundfunk, Saarlänidsche and Bayerische Rundfunk) and dutch radio (VPRO, Concertzender, Vrije Geluiden), but also by BBC, RAI, belgian, russian radio and radio stations in America, Canada and Spain.

Simultaneously he was engaged as a web/gui-designer at the Max-Planck-Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen (NL). This applied artwork was shown as part of the International Science+Fiction exhibition, where it was shown, amongst other places, at the ZKM Karlsruhe, Nobel Museum Stockholm, Museum for Technology and Emerging Science Tokyo, as well as part of the MS Wissenschaft boat exhibition in Germany."

-Florian Wittenburg Website (http://florianwittenburg.com/biography)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. Beyond The Traceries 6:08

2. Moving Thirds (Take 1) 3:31

3. Noise Bowls (Part 1) 5:03

4 . Of Exile 6:12

5. Moving Thirds (Take 2) 3:29

6. Noise Bowls (Part 2) 5:01

Related Categories of Interest:


Compositional Forms
Electro-Acoustic
Electronic Forms
Unusual Vocal Forms
Percussion & Drums
Solo Artist Recordings
European Improvisation, Composition and Experimental Forms
New in Experimental & Electronic Music

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