Un coup de d​é​s: New album by Risto Holopainen on Sanntidsmusikk

OSLO, Norway - Sept. 30, 2024 - PRLog -- Toile d'araignée is a fast paced miniature. The sounds come from a chaotic feedback patch on a modular synthesizer. The title alludes to the cobweb diagrams used to visualise the dynamics of chaotic systems.

According to Mallarmés phrase, un coup de dés jamais n'abolira le hazard, a single throw of the die never abolishes chance, but how about rolling the die some hundred times? Un coup de dés is a series of 15 variations on a random theme, literally created by throwing a twelve-sided die over a hundred times and translating the numbers to pitch classes. Some variations just play through the theme in different pitch ranges, tempi, and timbral articulations. The first variation is a duet on melodica with occasional siren interruptions. Variations II – XIV are performed on modular synthesizer, mostly recorded on four-track porta studio and subsequently digitally edited. In the last variation the instrumentation includes real and synthesised singing, granulated guitar, a frame drum, and an analogue synthesizer. Since the theme is just a random sequence of notes it might not matter a great deal if some "wrong notes" are played. As the theme is incessantly repeated through its various guises, the apparent randomness gives way to a sense of purposiveness. In the end you might be able to sing along.

Blaker Skanse is a piece of music theatre or a performance named after the location where it was premièred in 2017. This recording was made in Halden, September 2021, on the street in front of Gallery H.E.K.S. with the assistance of the organisers and participants in the exhibition. Blaker Skanse begins with an extremely slow theme played on melodica constructed around a three note motive. The theme is interrupted a few times by assistants in the audience. A short maracas interlude (with the instruction to wear a hat) marks the transition to the second half of the piece which explores rhythmically articulated clusters and chords.

The album is available as digital download, and will be issued on CD in an edition of 100 copies by early November.
https://sanntidsmusikk.bandcamp.com/album/un-coup-de-d-s

Un coup de dés will be launched with a concert at Café MIR in Oslo on October 2, 2024 featuring Gjertrud Pedersen on clarinet and Aksel Høgenhaug on melodica. Holopainen will also read some of his computer assisted poetry in what appears to be a conlang.