ricercar

for performers, video, sensor and interactive electronics
2020
15′

GitHub repository

ricercar is the searching out composition, explores different media

…by the way, hello everybody (ʘ‿ʘ)╯
let’s play »»———————► soon!
┏(-_-)┛┗(-_- )┓┗(-_-)┛d(^o^)b¸¸♬·¯·♩¸¸♪·¯·♫¸¸

The idea behind the title related not actually to the ricercar as a genre or a type of instrumental composition, but more to the initial etymology meaning came from Italian ricercare — to seek again, seek out. It consists of the different parts within the tags: pulse (as the initial, primal sound impulse), vision in toad (as a metaphor of live organisms’ perception), barking (as a mode of the deep fear), rectangle (binary code system), short film (built in the composition and connected with the synesthesia topic), and zeroing (related to the actual for myself and my identity political topic performed as the ritual and the rabbit hole as a metaphor of endless way out).

Date of premiere: 06.07.2020
Location: reMusik.org
City, Country: St. Petersburg, Russia
Performers: Ensemble Adapter (Germany)
Matthias Engler, percussion
Kristjana Helgadóttir, alto flute
Ingólfur Vilhjálmsson, bass clarinet
Yuri Akbalkan, electronics
Commissioned by: 7th St. Petersburg International New Music Festival reMusik.org

0.1.

for three performers
2013
22′

0.1. for three performers (ver. 2016)
Christian Müller (clarinet)
Cristián Alvear (guitar)
Stefan Thut (pure tone, table lamp)
06.06.2016 Biel, Switzerland, La Voirie à Biel

0.1. [двоичный код] — идея ритма, сведённая к абсолютному минимуму, мельчайшей неделимой частице, формулирующей единую прозрачную структуру: вопрос/ответ.

Date of premiere: 18.11.2013
Location: New Stage of Alexandrisky Theatre
City, Country: St. Petersburg, Russia
Performers: Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble (MCME)
Ivan Bushuev (piccolo)
Oleg Tantsov (clarinet)
Yuri Akbalkan (pd, table lamp, timepiece)

Pterodactyl’s Nest

for solo recorder 2009 1’40”

Yuri Akbalkan (recorder), Tatyana Shorokhova, Dmitri Zaytsev (audio engineers); The Rimski-Korsakov St. Petersburg State Conservatory

To Pterodactyl, who lived on the banks of the Volga, Undory surroundings, 120 million years ago.

Date of premiere: 23.12.2009 Location: Rimski-Korsakov St. Petersburg State Conservatory City, Country: St. Petersburg, Russia Performer: Yuri Akbalkan

Rose

for two performers
2015
11′-15′

to Eva

Ensemble Batida (Switzerland): Anne Briset (percussion, objects), Jeanne Larrouturou (percussion, objects). III St. Petersburg International New Music Festival reMusik.org, Concert Hall Jaani Kirik, Saturday, May 23nd 2015

Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose
Gertrude Stein

In generally the idea of the Rose is about little things — empty forms which connected only by their existence inside thyself; things are what they are. There are a certain quantity of little objects and instruments (toy piano, harmonica, pure tone generator, mechanical keyboard, radio, clockwork and hand cranked music box movements, small sticky tape, tuning fork) and two performers who are in dialogue with these things.

Date of premiere: 11/23.05.2015
Location: L’Abri / Concert Hall Jaani Kirik
City, Country: Geneva, Switzerland / St. Petersburg, Russia
Performers: Ensemble Batida (Switzerland)
Anne Briset (percussion, objects)
Jeanne Larrouturou (percussion, objects)
Commissioned by: III St. Petersburg International New Music Festival reMusik.org

Realization 4: clarinet, cello and noise according to the table No. 1

for clarinet, cello, white noise generator and piano
2014
15′

Realization 4b: clarinet, viola and noise according to the table No. 1

Realization 4: clarinet, cello and noise according to the table No. 1 is a part of a great planned cycle under the general title Euler’s Book. As a starting point for this project served a treatise An attempt at a new theory of music, exposed in all clearness according to the most well-founded principles of harmony (lat. – Tentamen novae theoriae musicae ex certissismis harmoniae principiis dilucide expositae) created in 1739 by famous mathematician Leonhard Euler. In this treatise Euler operates with such aesthetic categories as pleasant/unpleasant, perfect/imperfect and connects with them a number of propositions of consonance and dissonance.
In Chapter XI “About harmonies of diatonic-chromatic genus” he demonstrates a table with a chain of harmonies divided into species and arranged according to their acceptability for hearing.
Every time, in the process of acoustic realization of the table, musicians should decide how to relate to a concrete harmony, building up a consonant or dissonant (from their point of view) interval, and thus revealing their personal intention in representing of beautiful and ugly. In this context, white noise is a kind of allegory, which leveling the very issue of dissonance and consonance.

Date of premiere: 11.09.2014
Location: International Young Composers Academy in Tchaikovsky city
City, Country: Tchaikovsky city, Russia
Performers: Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble

3:1

for flute, clarinet, viola and piano
2012
10′
[versions]:
flute, clarinet, violin, piano
flute, clarinet, violin/viola, accordion
saxophone, violin, piano

Salim Javaid (saxophone), Katja Suglobina (violin), Yuri Akbalkan (piano); Institut für Neue Musik, Konzertsaal der Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln, June 27, 2017

Three to One [3:1] is a ratio of silence to the sound inherent in it, there being no such thing as absolute silence. It is an ambience of subtle, elusive sonorities that occasionally manifest their presence in time before being washed away by its waves, not allowing themselves to be fully heard: they thus form neume-like figures devoid of meaning and reflection.

Date of premiere: 16.12.2012
Location: The Small Hall of the Saint Petersburg Philharmonia
City, Country: St. Petersburg, Russia
Performers: ensemble recherche
Martin Fahlenbock (flute)
Shizuyo Oka (clarinet)
Barbara Maurer (viola)
Jean-Pierre Collot (piano)

Realization 3: extract bass from table No. 1a

for any bass instrument
2014
0’30”

Realization 3: extract bass from table No. 1a is a part of a great planned cycle under the general title Euler’s Book. As a starting point for this project served a treatise An attempt at a new theory of music, exposed in all clearness according to the most well-founded principles of harmony (lat. – Tentamen novae theoriae musicae ex certissismis harmoniae principiis dilucide expositae) created in 1739 by famous mathematician Leonhard Euler. In this treatise Euler operates with such aesthetic categories as pleasant/unpleasant, perfect/imperfect and connects with them a number of propositions of consonance and dissonance. In the Chapter XI “About harmonies of diatonic-chromatic genus” he demonstrates a table with chain of harmonies divided into species and arranged according to their acceptability for hearing. (The fragment of Euler’s table is reproduced as an addendum at the end of score).

Realization 2a: froth on the table No. 1

for any keyboard instrument
2014
1′

Realization 2a: froth on the table No. 1
PianoPad

Realization 2a: froth on the table No. 1 is a part of a great planned cycle under the general title Euler’s Book. As a starting point for this project served a treatise An attempt at a new theory of music, exposed in all clearness according to the most well-founded principles of harmony (lat. – Tentamen novae theoriae musicae ex certissismis harmoniae principiis dilucide expositae) created in 1739 by famous mathematician Leonhard Euler. In this treatise Euler operates with such aesthetic categories as pleasant/unpleasant, perfect/imperfect and connects with them a number of propositions of consonance and dissonance. In the Chapter XI “About harmonies of diatonic-chromatic genus” he demonstrates a table with chain of harmonies divided into species and arranged according to their acceptability for hearing. (The fragment of Euler’s table is reproduced as an addendum at the end of score).

Music for dice

for performer
2012
∞

piece intended for one performer.
in all: two dice (hexahedrons).

• to twirl (to touch) a dice in one hand.
listen to the friction of dice.
as much time as needed.

• to transfer a dice to another hand. come to a stop.
the number of fallen indicates a time of silence.
each point (by default) equal to one time segment.

• to twirl (to touch) a dice in this one hand.
listen to the friction of dice.
as much time as needed.

• repeat this sequence of actions.
and further. do it over and over again.
as much time as needed.

Date of premiere: 04.05.2012
Location: Nos Mayora Kovaleva
City, Country: St. Petersburg, Russia
Performer: Kirill Shirokov

Realization 1: Orchestra and Euler’s Tables

for orchestra and piano
12’/15′

Part 1: Orchestra
Orpheus Radio Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Andrey Jakovlev

Part 2: Table No. 1
Piano: Miroslav Drobot

Realization 1: orchestra and Euler’s tables is a part of a great planned cycle under the general title Euler’s Book. As a starting point for this project served a treatise An attempt at a new theory of music, exposed in all clearness according to the most well-founded principles of harmony (lat. – Tentamen novae theoriae musicae ex certissismis harmoniae principiis dilucide expositae) created in 1739 by famous mathematician Leonhard Euler. In this treatise Euler operates with such aesthetic categories as pleasant/unpleasant, perfect/imperfect and connects with them a number of propositions of consonance and dissonance.
In the Chapter XI “About harmonies of diatonic-chromatic genus” he demonstrates a table with chain of harmonies divided into species and arranged according to their acceptability for hearing. (The fragment of Euler’s table is reproduced as an addendum at the end of score).
Piece for orchestra should to be performed simultaneously with the chains of harmonic sets from the Euler’s table in two acoustically separated spaces — for example, hall / lobby or hall / another hall; or two different stations (in case of radio broadcasting).

Date of premiere: 14.04.2014
Location: The 5th Hall of State Recordings Studio
City, Country: Moscow, Russia
Performers: Orpheus Radio Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Andrey Jakovlev
Piano: Miroslav Drobot
Audio engineers: Tatyana Ragulskaya, Sergei Kruglov

5.1.1.

for seven sine waves (and video)
23’10” / 40′ / 70′

Alexandra Korableva, Elizaveta Akbalkan, Maxim Chistyakov, Oleg Gudachev, Yuri Akbalkan (tone generators), Tatyana Shorokhova (audio engineer); The Rimski-Korsakov St. Petersburg State Conservatory, May 14, 2014

5.1.1. — signal type structure — five analog sine tone generators (mono) and one digital sine tone generator (stereo)

The work “5.1.1.” was originally composed for
the Pythian Games Composers’ Competition
Performed for the first time by eNsemble Pro Arte
on the New Stage of Alexandrinsky Theatre
St. Petersburg, Russia, April 25, 2014

There are also 23-, 40- and 70-minutes versions with or without video.

another place

for two performers
2012
∞

Based on [place] by Antoine Beuger
Play any sounds at different locations of the space

Date of premiere: 05.05.2012
Location: Rimski-Korsakov St. Petersburg State Conservatory
City, Country: St. Petersburg, Russia
Performers: Yuri Akbalkan, Kirill Shirokov

[s]

for five voices
2010
ca. 3’30”

Stanislav Oporkov, Maxim Chistyakov, Elizaveta Morozova, Marina Poleukhina, Yuri Akbalkan (voices), Tatyana Shorokhova (audio engineer); The Rimski-Korsakov St. Petersburg State Conservatory

RU
Данная композиция представляет собой опыт погружения в мир одной звуковой фонемы [s] и отсылает к жанровой модели итальянского мадригала XVI века — в то время он являлся основным жанром для различных творческих экспериментов, особенно в области сочетания поэзии и музыки (в том числе, звукописи, так называемых мадригализмов), театрализации, местом испытания новых приёмов композиционной техники, категорий гармонии (особенно хроматики и микрохроматики), ритма и формы.

Date of premiere: 11.11.2010
Location: Rimski-Korsakov St. Petersburg State Conservatory
City, Country: St. Petersburg, Russia
Performers: Stanislav Oporkov, Elizaveta Morozova, Maxim Chistyakov, Marina Poleukhina, Yuri Akbalkan