Wolfgang von Schweinitz, Catherine Lamb Plainsound Counterpoint / Mirrors

THE HEARING SOUND

Unfolded from the series of natural tones condensing towards the top Plainsound Counterpoint a hitherto unimagined richness of harmonic and melodic intervals. He touches the auditory limits of what is just distinguishable. This, together with the associated technical challenges, makes it a milestone in the literature for solo double bass.

With its long strings and the resulting wealth of natural harmonics, the double bass appears predestined for the task of realizing microtonal harmony based on pure intonation: not only conceptually, but also practically. Building on a wealth of experience that had been enriched over a long period of close collaboration with Wolfgang von Schweinitz, the idea arose for a large work for solo double bass, in which the research into precisely tunable, non-tempered chords could be continued. Plainsound Counterpoint was created in 2010 as a composition commissioned by musica viva Munich.

The seven-movement work is composed throughout for two voices. The upper voice moves in flageolet tones about one and a half to three octaves above the bass notes, which are usually played microchromatically. Everything in one hand: a composition that is also tailor-made in terms of fingering, developed entirely from the essence of the double bass - and at the same time breaking new ground. A dance on a knife edge. An exact realization would be unthinkable without the "Extended Helmholtz-Ellis JI Pitch Notation" jointly developed by Marc Sabat and Wolfgang von Schweinitz, which uses 21 different accidentals. The score also gives frequency ratios in fractions, cents and fingerings.

Of course, the double bass itself is highly identified with these complex spectral sounds: in the course of rehearsing, its resonant sound spectrum has steadily expanded; increasingly he behaved more freely, more sonorous, more sensitively and more lively. It almost seems as if he loves these sounds - the double bass, a harmony instrument!

The player is faced with the task of saying goodbye to the secured order structures of fixed scale systems and exposing himself to a kind of »weightlessness«. Here it is important to radically sensitize oneself to a new quality of conscious intonatory listening. Plainsound Counterpoint modulates over intervals that can be formed from the first 23 partial tones (»23-limit«) – every interval sound that arises here, whether unfamiliar or familiar, can be precisely tuned by ear and is therefore a plausible »tonal« interval legitimized. The decisive factor is its respective sound spectrum of resonating combination tones, overtone consonances and beats: its characteristic "face". Each two-tone snaps into place when intonated - and blossoms into a polyphonic chord sound with an unmistakable timbre.

The categories of harmony and timbre flow together here, and in the harmonic progressions of Plainsound Counterpoint the idea of ​​a microtonal »timbre melody« is realized. It is she who plays the leading role, which is why the composer has reduced the use of other formative elements to a minimum. Every sound is amplified in a sensual process of primal tonal development, and so every moment of this music can be experienced as its center. With categorically sharpened ears, Wolfgang von Schweinitz lets us participate in his discovery of new harmonic dimensions.

The variety of possible interval sounds also allows the design of larger forms, such as those in Plainsound Counterpoint with its seven subtly building on each other intonation studies realized: In their basic texture, they are very similar to each other, but build up their own musical gravitational fields and thus tell their enigmatic, intertwined stories – like “songs of the prophets”, ascending in the stream of the harmonious cosmos.

Perhaps the emotional effects of primordial consonances flashing up everywhere are less a result of language-like conditioning than an indication of something that is deeply inscribed physiologically in us. The nuanced play of refined harmonies can open up projection surfaces with a wide range of interpretation in the listener. One can entrust oneself to this complex melos without having to delve into the theory.

Catherine Lamb has her solo piece Mirror Written early in her career when she was exploring the string harmonics. Mirror celebrates the different tonal colors of purely tuned two-tones, with all their synergetic fusions and rotating beats. The dance of iridescent resonances in the body of the instrument becomes a musical event. »The sounding corpus is in constant transformation and breathes in a changing way, according to its respective harmonic orientation«. (Catherine Lamb)

The tonal material of the piece results from the four rows of overtones of the open strings of the double bass, which are tuned in a scordatura with the vibration ratios 10:7, 4:3 and 7:5: Here fourths of the usual double bass tuning are butterfly-like to the two » septimal« tritoni expanded.

The score shows a graphically free structure of pairs of ciphers loosely lined up next to each other, suggesting islands of sound: they designate the strings and partial tones to be played. In Mirror the aesthetic duality of consonance and dissonance seems to be suspended. A key interval of Mirror is the touchingly »wrong« reduced octave 49:25, which is a little bit too small – with its lovely beat, it also sounds peculiarly consonant, like a »vox humana«. The six little sets of Mirror breathe the poetry of simplicity. Her expressiveness lies in the material and has an inescapable presence.

Frank Reinecke