Constructing Noises

Participants

The percussion ensemble of the College of Music Freiburg
Leif Karlsson → Conductor
Mario Caroli → Solo flutist
Håkon Stene → Overall organization

Program

John Cage → First Construction (in Metal) (1939), Second Construction (1940), Third Construction (1941)
Lou Harrison → "1st Concerto for Flute and Percussion" (1939)
Sven-David Sandström → "Drums" for five percussionists (1984)

Rhythmic, lively, groovy: percussion concert with Leif Karlsson

Percussion students from the College of Music Freiburg will give a concert on October 26, 2024 with pieces by John Cage, Lou Harrison and Sven-David Sandström. They will not only play on a wide variety of drums, but also use shells, tin cans, cowbells and rattles. The concert will be conducted by Swedish percussionist and conductor Leif Karlsson. He was a member of the legendary Swedish percussion ensemble "Kroumata" for many years.

"Kroumata" was a Swedish percussion group that attracted international attention between 1978 and 2015, giving concerts in more than 40 countries and recording numerous albums. Their aim was to convey fun and joie de vivre with their music, explains Håkon Stene, who organized the concert and is a percussion professor at the College of Music in Freiburg. "Kroumata had a legendary status worldwide. Their curious and playful approach to music was in stark contrast to other new music ensembles, which were often very serious and sober. Kroumata broke with this tradition. They were something like the rock 'n' rollers of new music, their pieces sound very lively, very groovy." For this reason, Leif Karlsson was invited to the university: He teaches percussion students the Kroumata philosophy, rehearses with them and conducts the concert.

John Cage: sounds through everyday objects

The concert begins with John Cage's "Constructions", a series of three pieces from 1939 to 1941 in which the American composer, who was one of the most influential composers of the 20th century, experimented with various noise and sound objects: Rattles, tin cans, cymbals, gongs, cowbells, shells and vibraslaps - a South American instrument originally made from the jawbones of donkeys that produces a rattling, buzzing sound - are used, among other things. The piano also produces special sounds in these pieces: it is manipulated by objects on the strings, for example erasers, paper or screws. "John Cage wanted to make music with everyday objects and open up completely new worlds of sound. He discovered beauty where you wouldn't have expected it," explains Håkon Stene.

Flute and percussion with flute professor Mario Caroli

This is followed by the "1st Concerto for Flute and Percussion" by US composer Lou Harrison. "This almost hypnotic piece impressed and inspired me so much as a teenager that I wanted to become a musician. For me, discovering John Cage and Lou Harrison was like other people discovering punk music, for example," says Håkon Stene. The flute part is played by Mario Caroli, professor of flute at the College of Music in Freiburg. "My teacher Manuela Wiesler recorded this piece with Kroumata at the end of the 1970s. It is a small polyrhythmic wonder consisting of repetitive, almost hypnotic percussion rhythms over which the flute develops arabesques. I am very happy to be able to play this piece," says Mario Caroli. The concert concludes with Sven-David Sandström's "Drums", a piece from 1984 for five percussionists, each playing five different drums.