for scarpa’s fountains
2020
electroacoustic composition, field recordings, analog photographs
listening to Carlo Scarpa’s architecture
vinyl & digital — 25:12
published by forms of minutiae
First release of forms of minutiae, a publishing platform dedicated to electroacoustic music, phonography, acoustic ecology and visual art — founded by Mathieu Bonnafous and Pablo Diserens.
for scarpa’s fountains is an ode to Carlo Scarpa’s carefully organized matter and instinctive approach to raw elements and their coexistence with water. In resonance with the architect's work, Diserens blends field recordings gathered in the Venetian city and Scarpa’s spaces — such as sounds of fountains from the Fondazione Querini Stampalia and the Giardino delle sculture — with drone and rhythmical improvisations on cymbals and glass. This 25-minute long piece is divided into three distinct parts, each investigating various structures, materials, and memories. The two firsts segments are direct tributes to the architect in which Diserens uses copper and glass as compositional tools to create imaginary spaces that translate the subtleties of Scarpa’s forms through circular drones and transients ballets. As one wanders through these sonic rooms, or perhaps gardens, one also hears the long chants of cicadas and faint murmurs of passing visitors guided by the fountains’ drizzles. In the last section, listeners emerge from these architectonic apparitions with a surreal soundscape of Venice at dawn. Seagulls cry in unison from a sleeping city’s roofs, while a lonely figure drags a suitcase on the stone pavement unveiling the street’s relief and narrowness. The piece comes to an end as it dives back into Scarpa’s dripping waters.
for scarpa’s fountains celebrates the juxtaposition of various (sonic) materials that produce triggering patterns of (acoustic) memory.
sounds and photographs gathered in venice, july 2019 — layered and processed in berlin, april 2020for scarpa’s fountains is an ode to Carlo Scarpa’s carefully organized matter and instinctive approach to raw elements and their coexistence with water. In resonance with the architect's work, Diserens blends field recordings gathered in the Venetian city and Scarpa’s spaces — such as sounds of fountains from the Fondazione Querini Stampalia and the Giardino delle sculture — with drone and rhythmical improvisations on cymbals and glass. This 25-minute long piece is divided into three distinct parts, each investigating various structures, materials, and memories. The two firsts segments are direct tributes to the architect in which Diserens uses copper and glass as compositional tools to create imaginary spaces that translate the subtleties of Scarpa’s forms through circular drones and transients ballets. As one wanders through these sonic rooms, or perhaps gardens, one also hears the long chants of cicadas and faint murmurs of passing visitors guided by the fountains’ drizzles. In the last section, listeners emerge from these architectonic apparitions with a surreal soundscape of Venice at dawn. Seagulls cry in unison from a sleeping city’s roofs, while a lonely figure drags a suitcase on the stone pavement unveiling the street’s relief and narrowness. The piece comes to an end as it dives back into Scarpa’s dripping waters.
for scarpa’s fountains celebrates the juxtaposition of various (sonic) materials that produce triggering patterns of (acoustic) memory.
additional cymbals and glass improvisations recorded in berlin, april 2020
formats: digital & transparent 12” vinyl with printed artwork in pvc sleeve - lathe cut and printed with care at disc_archive
forms of minutiae, 2020
review :
“The piece begins with a auditory chiaroscuro trained on a single dribble of water, rushing and bubbling into granular clusters of sound in that enigmatically compelling sort of way I attempted to explain above, but Diserens soon spreads the focus out and traces that outer boundaries of their lush, well-captured soundscape with the cold, clear clangs and drones of various metal objects being struck together.” Noise Not Music