Kammer Klang presents a night of compositions that investigate the properties of resonances, sonic waves and spatial acoustics. Composers/performers Kit Downes and Tom Challenger launch their new album Wedding Music for church organ and saxophone, Sam Mackay presents Eliane Radigue's 1971 two tape composition Chry-ptus and Sam Britton performs and engineers Music for Pure Waves, Bass Drums and Acoustic Pendulums, an installation composition by Alvin Lucier from 1980.

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KIT DOWNES + TOM CHALLENGER (ALBUM LAUNCH)

'Wedding Music' is the stunning collaboration between Tom Challenger (Saxophone) and Kit Downes (Church Organ). Having both led, co-led and recorded with their own critically acclaimed ensembles (Downes with his Mercury nominated 'Golden' and later 'Quiet Tiger'; Challenger with Ma: 'The Last' and Outhouse: 'Straws Sticks and Bricks'), 'Wedding Music' matches the unique texture of Church Organ and Saxophone, as well as bringing together two of the most exciting and gifted young improvisers in the UK.

When discussing ideas for a potential collaboration, their mutual love of Organ works (Hindemith, Messiaen, Vierne), melodicism and durational concepts suggested that this initial idea could be something interesting and importantly a further artistic step forward for both musicians.



ALVIN LUCIER Music for Pure Waves, Bass Drums and Acoustic Pendulums (1980) - performed by Sam Britton

American composer Alvin Lucier created Music for Pure Waves, Bass Drums and Acoustic Pendulums in 1980, it is typical of his investigations into resonance, environments, sonic waves and spatial acoustics. Amplified sound waves from loudspeakers will create vibrations through four bass drums, which in turn start suspended ping pong balls in motion. The balls subsequently begin to pick out rhythms on the drums, all dependent on the frequency of the waves.

“Electronically-generated sound waves excite the heads of large bass drums, setting into motion ultra-light pendulums which are suspended in front of the drums. The rhythms created as the tips of the pendulums strike the heads of the drums are determined by the pitch and loudness of the waves, the lengths of the pendulums and the resonant characteristics of the drums themselves” - Alvin Lucier

ELIANE RADIGUE Chry-ptus (1971) - performed by Sam Mackay

French composer Eliane Radigue (b.1932) composed Chry-ptus on the Buchla synthesizer in 1971. The piece was one of the first of Radigue's signature long-form works, and one of the few not to be featured in 2011's Triptych festival, a retrospective of her work held in London. It consists of two tape parts to be played simultaneously, the synchronisation of which is decided by the performer. Such co-ordination is not intended to affect the structure of the work, but creates changes in the sub-harmonic and overtone relationships.

Eliane Radigue is considered by many a pioneer in electronic music, using synthesizer and tape to create pieces of long duration and deep contemplation. By reducing her compositions to a few sound events that gradually appear, overlap, recede, and oscillate in critical frequencies over long periods of time, Radigue produces a hyper-attentive environment in which each sound is maximally charged.