I spent the last weeks in Apulia, a beautiful landscape in Southern Italy, charged with history and stories. The symbol of this region is the Pumo - a traditional ceramic figurine which depicts a stylized flower bud. This gave the title of a new piece for my H.E.A.D. cycle: a immersive sound portrait of this landscape. When listening, you will visit a street market in Ostuni, witness a procession with a marching band in Cisternino, hearing the organ of the Basilica of Lecce and some school girls in the historic center of Grottaglie. Put on your headphones and dive in!
A generative soundscape based on a two-dimensional random walk between four binaural soundscapes, which were recorded in Apulia (Italy), in September and October 2025.
1) A procession of a marching band in Cisternino.
2) Schoolgirls in the historic centre of Grottaglie.
3) An organ rehearsal in Lecce's Basilica.
4) A street market in Ostuni.
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Coastline #79 (THE MAPPER) - modular synth performance
Free improvisation on a MakeNoise 0-COAST modular synthesizer, patched as a chaotic feedback system. Recorded during rehearsals for the MAPPER conference on live electronics at the Klangtheater of the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (mdw) on 2 July 2025.
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P.E.C.S. (Precious Energy Creates Sound) - BINAURAL
Binaural production - listen with headphones! A generative soundscape based on a two-dimensional random walk between four binaural soundscapes, which were recorded in Pécs, Hungary, between 27 and 28 June 2025:
1) A performance on a broken electronic organ in Toplje Church.
2) Walking through Pécs city centre at noon.
3) A restaurant with a nice view of Pécs at night.
4) A bottle return machine at a supermarket in Pécs.
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C.O.N.S. (Come On, Nice Stud!) - BINAURAL
Binaural production - listen with headphones!
Generative soundscape based on a two-dimensional random walk between four binaural soundscapes recorded at the Conservatorio di Milano on May 27th, 2025:
1) Inside the conservatory yard
2) Walking through the conservatory
3) In the cafeteria of the conservatory
4) On the roof terrace of Babila Hostel, next to the conservatory
Info: https://essl.at/works/HEAD.html
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Bricolage (2024) for toy piano, screwdriver and live-electronics
Karlheinz Essl's last piece for toy piano. Performed live by himself during his farewell concert on May 5th, 2025 at the Klangtheater of the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien. https://www.essl.at/works/ bricolage.html https://www.essl.at/concerts/2025.html#mdw
Born 1960 in Vienna. Austrian composer, improviser and performer. He studied composition with Friedrich Cerha and musicology in Vienna. Besides writing experimental instrumental music, he performs on his own electronic instrument m@ze°2, develops software environments for computer-aided composition and creates generative sound and video environments. Since 2007 professor of composition for electro-acoustic and experimental music at the University of Music in Vienna.
Karlheinz Essl performs on a laptop computer that he has transformed into a live electronic musical instrument. The result is exciting and musical. You just won't hear these sounds anywhere else. He performs solo and in duets and trios, responding with sensitivity to fellow musicians, producing fascinating sound transformations, creating spontaneous surprises, and moving quickly from loops to cacophony to tiny clips of vocal sounds to all kinds of textures and ideas. He does all this with his m@ze°2(Modular Algorithmic Zound Environment) performance software. (Joel Chadabe, CDeMusic, Januar 2002)
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