PHACE — LIGHTNESS

Fzsch… A flicker illuminates faces and hands, only briefly, the light goes out immediately. The afterimage on the retina, the mental echo of the crackling has no time to solidify, it is carried along by the rhythm of the movements, is bathed in a new light by the next match. Juliana Hodkinson’s Lightness is theater for the ears and eyes, a quiet kind of fireworks music and a deeply hypnotic and archaic experience.
Superimpose I + II by Alexander Schubert, on the other hand, is not inclined to create such trance states. The two pieces quickly and hyperactively zap through styles and stereotypes, a reflection of an accelerated society and its media. It is a juxtaposition and superposition of acoustic instruments and artificial, synthetic replicas of the same. Copy and paste jazz between improvised and notated music.
Sonic leak by Huihui Cheng puts a damper on the enthusiastic events. Developing tones, phrases and rhythms are muted, held back, veiled, and often have to fall silent abruptly. The playing technique of dampening is the central driving force and brake of the composition. The disrupted processes create an exciting dynamic and drama of their own.
The transformation of some verses from Ovid’s Metamorphoses (the iron age) into structural micro-events serves as the starting point for Oliver Weber’s Inscription II. The molecular sound structures come together to form aggregates, break apart again and constantly change their state. They form an independent sound body that penetrates all levels and is inscribed in the bowels of the piece.
We met as Sparks by Franck Bedrossian closes the fiery circle and thrives on an unequal balance of power and the juxtaposition of strong contrasts. The constant exchange between the bass and treble registers creates unexpected tensions and divergences, echoes that shoot through the darkness like glittering sparks.