music 1.11. Wien Modern

 

Luminochordae II
8’22

Luminochordae II
Angelica Castello
(2024)
Luminochordae, are mysterious and captivating species of bug. These extraordinary creatures possess a mesmerizing combination of unreal sound and shine. Their iridescent exoskeletons glisten like a prism, reflecting dazzling colours that change depending on the times of the day and the seasons of the year. 

The Luminochordae emit enchanting melodies as they move through the air, each delicate step accompanied by a kind of melodic chime. These bugs have developed intricate mechanisms to generate sound. Tiny specialized appendages on their legs, resembling miniature tuning forks, produce delicate vibrations that resonate through their bodies. As they flutter their wings, delicate strings made of bioluminescent fibers pluck and vibrate, creating mesmerizing tones that can range from soothing whispers to cascading crescendos.

The Luminochordae, even smaller than fairyflies, are incredibly tiny beings. Their swarms can be mistaken for rays of light or sudden rainbow formations, particularly in humid conditions, making them elusive and often invisible to the human eye, their sound, even so tiny need very specific ultra sensitive tiny microphones which can float and catch their sound without disturbing this fragile insect.
What you will hear is an homage to this magic creatures, inspired in the very tiny sounds made by Dr. Lumina Cordell as she discovered the Luminochordae….However, whether these little organisms exist or not is hard to say, and maybe Dr. Cordell isn’t so real after all…. but that’s another topic for another time…. now let’s just listen to the sounds

Luminochordae was commissioned for the SADISS (Smartphone-Based Sound System) and premiered at Ars Electronica 2023, this new version was an adaptation for the IKO 3D audio speaker

 

 

F. Firefly (nothing)

20’38’

Angélica Castelló
2028

“F. Firefly (nothing)” is an electroacoustic piece composed in 2018, woven from field recordings gathered during residencies in South Africa (Sonic Mmabolela) and southern Chile (From North to South / From South to North).
It is a meditation on time — time suspended, then slowly unfurling, stretching further and further.
A quiet bridge between two distant edges of the Earth, and two of the most profound journeys I have taken.
This piece is a tribute to nature and its hidden, unknowable rhythms.
It is a sonic reflection on the fleeting, on encounters that shimmer briefly, then vanish — on presence and disappearance.
It is a humble homage to the great Luc Ferrari, and is dedicated to Frans Meeir — a luminous soul I met at Sonic Mmabolela in 2016, who left this world just one year later.
“F. Firefly (nothing)” was released as a split tape — Super Nova — on Interstellar Records.

 

 

En Attendant (Intermedio)
17’11

Angélica Castelló
(2023
)

There is something special about the beauty in the unclear, the ambiguity, the in-between that you can’t totally recognise.
Alessandro Michele

En attendant davoyr secours Je ne sostiens que playns et plours Je nay espoyr qui me conforte Anonyme, Chansonnier
Bologna Q 18, No. 90).

Intermedio (intromessa, introdutto, tramessa, tramezzo, intermezzo, intermedii, intermède) was a form of musico-dramatic entertainment inserted between the acts of plays made to celebrate special occasions in Italian courts during the Renaissance. These musical moments were often said to be far more interesting and intense than the boring commedia.
Grove Dictionary of Music

It all starts with an anecdote
In March 2022, I was due to play in Canada. Due to administrative misunderstandings, it was impossible for me to leave the European continent because of a missing document…
I was stuck for three days at Frankfurt airport, between Vienna and Montreal, waiting for this document, hoping to be able to continue my journey to play my concerts but not knowing in which direction I would actually move… lost in translation.
During those days in Frankfurt, I recorded the most diverse places, especially forgotten and neglected corners, and I was able to observe a whole little society of people who inhabit airports, invisible between thousands of hurried passers-by with their nervous suitcases… I spent my time waiting, writing, thinking and checking my e-mails every quarter of an hour…
This experience, which might seem like a bit of a nightmare, became more and more interesting to me. These recordings, images and thoughts gave me the desire to create an acousmatic composition in which I could express in sound this notion of time, at once frozen and unchained, between tension and relaxation, slowness and haste… two dimensions that constantly cohabit.
En Attendant (intermedio) is a multifaceted sonic landscape, constructed from a diverse array of sounds, much like the times, worlds, and people hidden within a vast airport – a public space one might describe as depersonalized, a building without identity, flat, homogeneous, and merely transitional… but perceived differently when one takes the time to observe it, with a capricious and highly chaotic aspect, possessing its own dynamic and energy. It is a composition on waiting, suspension, and uncertainty.