Barrett, Asheim & EAU: Organ and electronics (2021)

Natasha Barrett: Where Shockwaves Become Sound (2021)
Nils Henrik Asheim – church organ, Natasha Barrett – electronics and diffusion

Morton Subotnick: The Wild Bull (part 1) (1968)
EAU (Natasha Barrett / Anders Tveit) – sound diffusion / spatialisation

Joel Chadabe: Blues Mix (1968)
EAU (Natasha Barrett / Anders Tveit) – sound diffusion / spatialisation

Sonic disturbances in the air of Oslo Cathedral, with vibrations from deep inside the organ and slices of electronic music history.

When does a shockwave become sound? When does pressure create impact? When do lies spread faster than truths, and channels of social communication become vessels of disinformation?

Beginning with the air pressure inside the massive organ, Where Shockwaves Become Sound, a new piece for church organ and multichannel electric sound by Oslo based composer Natasha Barrett, is about these issues – the reality of physics felt on our body and the waves of disinformation that circulated in 2020. The work is composed for Stavanger based organist Nils Henrik Asheim, who performs tonight’s Oslo premiere. 

Also in the spacious acoustics of Oslo Cathedral, you can experience key works by two American electronic music pioneers. Morton Subotnick’s The Wild Bull goes back to the ancient Epic of Gilgamesh in its quest for a new and strange sound world on a Buchla modular synthesizer. Joel Chadabe was a forerunner in computer composition and is an important historian of electronic music history. A wide ranging programme that shows the huge diversity of electronic music.