Summvs

On May 9th, 2011, Raster-Noton released Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto’s album “Summvs”, the latest result of the unusual creative partnership between the Oscar-prize honored film composer Ryuichi Sakamoto and the fine artist and electronic music pioneer Carsten Nicolai.

The name of the artists’ fifth collaborative release refers to the Latin word ‘summa’ (engl. ‘sum’) and ‘versus’ (engl. ‘towards’), serving as a metaphor for the work being oriented towards a collaborative whole. “Summvs” is the last of a series of five releases that started with “Vrioon” in 2002 and continued with “Insen” (2005), “Revep” (2005) and “UTP_” (2007).

Passages of sparse yet emotionally charged and passionate piano solos are embedded in sine waves or reworked to establish new aesthetics of piano sound. Sparse percussions and throbbing bass pulses hover above and below – the music being contemplative and minimal at the same time.

The tracks “Microon” I-III contain recordings of one of the 15 pianos using a 16th tone interval tuning built by Sauter, Spaichingen/Donaueschingen, Germany. The original “piano metamorfoseador en dieciseisavos de tono” was designed by Julián Carrillo Trujillo. Thanks to the music department of Bern University of the Arts for making this instrument available. Included in the album are two cover versions of the track “By This River”, originally written by Roedelius, Moebius and Brian Eno in 1977. In their instrumental versions of the song Nicolai and Sakamoto create and investigate the song’s appeal in both normal speed and slow motion.