Movement by Orphax & Kenneth Kirschner
Orphax & Kenneth Kirschner – Movement
The first time I encountered the music of Kenneth Kirschner must have been in 2002 or 2003, when the label 12k had an online series of releases under the name “term.” Since then, I have been following Kenneth’s music and collecting various of his CD releases, as well as downloading many of his works directly from his website or from various netlabels. After doing a couple of remixes of his work, one of which was released as part of "Imperfect Forms: The Music of Kenneth Kirschner," an expansive multimedia project about his work from Tokafi, the thought of working with him always stayed in the back of my mind. After releasing my 7” Piano Music in 2019, I decided to email Kenneth to propose a collaboration. And here we are.
“Movement” is a work based on various piano sketches by Kenneth, which I edited, added synthesizer and organ, and mixed. We chose the title “Movement” for this work with the idea that the music is continuously moving and never really stands still. It is also a reference to classical music, where a composition can be built up from different movements. Our work has something similar, and consists of 5 different movements coming from multiple piano sketches (often combined).
– Sietse van Erve / Orphax, March 24, 2024
Kenneth Kirschner
Kenneth Kirschner is a composer of experimental music, working at the intersection of avant-garde classical composition and contemporary electronic music. His work is characterized by a close integration of acoustic and electronic sound sources; a strong focus on harmony, pattern, and long-form development; and experimentation with techniques such as chance procedures, indeterminacy, and microtonality within a digital context.
An advocate of open source music, Kirschner releases all of his work freely online through his website, kennethkirschner.com, which represents a complete archive of all his published music from the 1980s to present; his work has also been released by record labels such as Sub Rosa, 12k, Greyfade, Line, Leerraum, and Room40, among others. He performs internationally, and has created sound art and multimedia installations for a variety of gallery, museum, and public art contexts. Kirschner’s recent projects have included “From the Machine”, an ongoing series on the Greyfade label exploring algorithmic approaches to the composition of acoustic chamber music; “Variant”, a series of interactive audiovisual apps and installations created in collaboration with visualist Joshue Ott; and “Imperfect Forms: The Music of Kenneth Kirschner”, a multimedia retrospective consisting of essays, interviews, and artistic contributions from over two dozen journalists, musicians, and visual artists from around the world. Kirschner was a 2015 artist in residence at Eyebeam, a 2016 artist in residence in Times Square, and a 2019 New York Foundation for the Arts Fellow in Music/Sound. He lives and works in Brooklyn, NY, USA.
Orphax
Amsterdam-based musician and trained drummer Sietse van Erve (Orphax) was introduced to electronic music in the early nineties. After playing around with tracker software for a couple of years, he eventually recorded his first more serious attempts at music with beats and melodies in 1998, though he soon lost interest in both of these. He started researching new sounds and new ways of working – always with an organic touch, and often incorporating sounds that would be regarded by others as errors or mistakes (considering that life isn’t without errors either). During this search, he found his way into drone and microtonal music. As a result, in his most recent work, time, and spatiality become more important factors. The goal of the music is for the listener to lose the sense of time and place. Live, this is combined with room for improvisation. This way of working typically results in an organic form of drone and minimal music.
He has over 50 releases as downloads, CDRs, tapes, CDs, and vinyl on various labels, as well as self-released online since he started working on music. This includes collaborations with Machinefabriek and Martijn Comes. Further, he has contributed to many remix projects, including work for Kenneth Kirschner, Sontag Shogun, Martijn Comes, TVO and Chris Dooks, among others. In the past, he has shared the stage with various musicians, including Martijn Comes, Jos Smolders, Frans de Waard (Modelbau), Zeno van den Broek, TVO, BJ Nilsen, Philip Jeck, Yann Novak, Sarah Davachi and Scanner.
Besides making music, Sietse van Erve runs Moving Furniture Records and has curated concerts at home, at Amsterdam institute STEIM, De Ruimte, OCCII and more.
Tracklist
| 1. | Movement | 32:27 |
Credits
Sietse van Erve (Orphax) - synthesizers, organ, effects, edits, and mix
Kenneth Kirschner - piano
Mastered by Jos Smolders at EARLabs
Sleeve by Rutger Zuydervelt and Sietse van Erve
License
CC BY-NC-SA 3.0. See the Creative Commons website for details.
non-harmonic multitones
Orphax is a musical project with the focus on minimal ambient and drone music.
In the music there is a development towards microtonal sounds, where time and spatiality are important factors.
In this form of working the eventual result can be a static form of sound where development in the music becomes subordinate to the listener losing any sense of time.