"As in a group of birds that cackle in disjunct formations, together yet separate, so this piece is a collection of disparate instruments that attempt to be musical together," Simon Løffler explains. "Traditional instruments, self-made replicas of historical instruments, animalistic flocks and soloists, electric and domestic objects all form one big FOWL."
The combination of conventional and unconventional instruments puts the musician and the musician's physical appearance in relief, the composer states: "It is quite often the case with conventional instruments that you basically control them with your fingertips. I have always been interested in bringing more of the body into play, so when I combine conventional and unconventional instruments, it is, among other things, to give the music a more physical expression.” The composer is fully aware that he achieves the physically expressive character at the expense of the fine nuances of the instruments. "You could say that I am interested in reducing the large expressive ambitus of classical instruments, in order to bring something else into them instead," he says
Simon Løffler has previously attempted to escape the conventions associated with Western concert hall music through works based on meticulous and spectacular instrument constructions, and in recent years he has developed several new works based on the aesthetic behaviour of animals.
"After writing for alternative instruments for many years, I had the desire to return to a combination of common and uncommon instruments," says Løffler, about the starting point for F.O.W.L., his first work for ensemble in ten years. In the process of composing the piece, he was in close dialogue with some of the musicians of Oslo Sinfonietta who premiered the piece, and together with them he experimented with various material on their respective instruments.
In the new version, premiered by Ensemble Musikfabrik, the six movements start from a few stable refrains from which the music drifts off and singular voices fly up and away.
Time and place
Simon Løffler: F.O.W.L.
Ensemble Musikfabrik
Saturday 7 March, 20.00
WDR Funkhaus am Wallrafplatz, Köln
Find more information here.