The Poetics of a Multiphonic Landscape

From 2012-2016, Torben Snekkestad conducted a three-year artistic research project at Norwegian Academy of Music within the Norwegian Artistic Research Programme called 'The Poetics of a Multiphonic Landscape'. 

The project is an artistic research project focusing on the saxophones ability to produce multiphonics (multiple sounds on an instrument considered monophonic). It is a personal artistic exploration into the process of unfolding the poetics of these complex sonics and a reflection over the process, methods and the creation of an album trilogy, consisting of acoustic solo music recorded during the research period. The main question I have been asking myself during this project has been: What happens if the raw musical material, in the creation of a set of solo saxophone works, is based on the multiphonics only and what this material in itself suggest – possibly independent of any stylistic affiliation? My main objective was to examine why the saxophone’s multiphonics have such a captivating effect on me. How could I possibly explore their intrinsic qualities and unfold the poetic potential in them? By the same token, my ambition was to find a suitable artistic context for this enamored relationship that so heavily has stirred the waves of my imagination. In the reflection text on the project, I disclose how some unexpected paths during this pursuit revealed themselves. From sprouting interest toward underwater soundscapes, to the making of a hybrid instrument called reed-trumpet; and how my personal catalog of multiple sounds found its place, not in a public pdf-document or book release, but in a German wooden archive box. I relay in what way I began to take on the intrinsic qualities of the multiphonics and the reason why an oscillation between artistic intention and action is so pivotal for an improviser. To make sure that the project had this focus at all time I sat up a dogma that contains a list of eight fundamental criteria that manifest the intentions and structure as well as sharpen the working methods.

Read the whole THE REFLECTION TEXT on the project here.

THE ARTISTIC RESULT is documented through an acoustic solo album trilogy, performed, and composed by Torben Snekkestad. It consists of the following albums released on vinyl and cd:

Torben Snekkestad – Winds Of Mouth       - Listen to the album here 

Torben Snekkestad – Plateau                      - Listen to the album here

Torben Snekkestad – The Reed Trumpet   - Listen to the album here