LONGLEASH – PAYSAGES

A forest makes sounds of its own — remarkable sounds. Perhaps these sounds also mark the breadth, depth and borders of the forest space itself. There are also other sounds that signify “forest,” and yet other more enigmatic sounds that express embodied experiences, interactions and intensities between human and forest bodies. 

In their multimedia concert “soundspaces,” Longleash delves into sound as means of knowing spaces in nature (real and imagined) and the ways we inhabit them (visually, sonically, and emotionally). Five perspectives on sound and environment engage differently with themes of visuality, scales of time and distance, and human presence in nature. Selected works are accompanied by film and photography by Pascal Perich and others. 

In Paysage pour Gustave Roud, Jurg Frey uses sound and stillness to render a distant landscape’s visual surface, in homage to Roud’s landscape photography. Klaus Lang renders a yet more vacant sonic vista in die fenster des universums, invoking both the vacuum of outer space and a voided interior space. Adam McCartney’s Animation (world premiere) examines the geography of the musical text made animate and ever-changing by its inhabitants, the performers. Eva Maria Houben calls for reflection on the timescales of the Anthropocene in Ödland 4, a sonic depiction of nature’s gentle reclaiming of a post-industrial wasteland. Pauline Oliveros’ Tree/Peace, a structured improvisation made of fluid, interdependent sonic events, asks for sound to communicate collective and individual musings on an imaginary tree and its scales of size, time and movement, drawing on performer/listener interactions, exchanges, memories and visions of tree life and space.

Longleash (Pala Garcia, violin; John Popham, cello; Renate Rohlfing, piano) is an ensemble with a traditional instrumentation and a progressive identity. The “expert young trio” (Strad Magazine) takes its name from Operation Long Leash, a Cold War era CIA operation that promoted American avant-garde artists in Europe. “Fearlessly accomplished” (Arts Desk UK), Longleash has earned a reputation in the US and abroad for innovative programming, artistic excellence and new music advocacy.  Longleash has premiered over 30 works, and received critical acclaim for their “tight playing,” “lucid interpretations,” and “inspired” premiere recordings (Tempo).