Performers & composers

Rolf Wallin

Rolf Wallin is an exceptionally versatile musician, having distinguished himself not only as one of Scandinavia's leading composers today, but also as a performance artist and, early in his career, as a trumpeter in ensembles spanning early music to experimental jazz and rock. As a composer he freely combines computer-generated systems and mathematical formulae with intuitive approaches, and the complex yet very plastic textures of his music are reminiscent of composers such as Xenakis and Ligeti. Wallin’s work list includes both instrumental and electroacoustic works, absolute music and stage music; his continuous crossing of borders between genres and styles has resulted in a number of fruitful cross-fertilizations.

An idea that has proven especially fruitful for Wallin is the use of so-called "fractal" algorithms to generate a musical raw material, which he refines further by means of a continuous dialectic between systematic calculations and his own musical intuition. Among Wallin’s most important fractal-based compositions, we find the works for chamber orchestra Onda di ghiaccio (1989) and Boyl (1995), and the chamber works Stonewave (1990), ning (1991), and Solve et coagula (1992).

Wallin’s latest works have consolidated his international reputation, resulting in a number of commissions from leading orchestras and ensembles. In 1998, he received the prestigious Nordic Council Music Prize for his Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra. This work is representative of Wallin’s recent, more intuitive approach to composition, something which has also led to works such as Twine for xylophone and marimba (Safri Duo 1995), Phonotope 1 (The Arditti Quartet/IRCAM/Ultima 2001), Act (The Cleveland Orchestra 2004), Appearances (Ensemble Intercontemporain 2002), and The Age of Wire and Strings (Ensemble Courtcircuit 2005).

Phonotope 2 (27')

A biotope is a small ecological area supporting its own distinctive community of plants and animals, the different species dependent on each other, the soil, the weather conditions and so on in a finely balanced network. A "Phonotope" would then be a musical "area", with sounds taking the place of living creatures, dependent on each other and interacting after certain rules.

This piece has no score in the traditional meaning of the word. The part material for the musicians consists mainly of 5 musical "games", with small fragments of musical material serving as "playing cards", and with a set of rules for each game. This allows the musicians a freedom of choice within clearly defined limits.

In addition to this game between the musicians, there is a game between the quartet and a computer, running a program made by IRCAM specifically for this piece, partly transforming the sounds from the musicians in real time, partly playing pre-composed sound files based on recorded sounds from the quartet.

The main formal idea is the interaction between 5 very distinct musical materials, sonic descriptions of the five elements in traditional Chinese thinking: Wood, Metal, Water, Fire, and Earth. The piece consists of 5 large parts. Each of them is dominated by its middle section, the "game", which focuses on one of the elements. Each part starts with a short computer sound introduction and ends with a relaxation. The element in focus in these sections is determined according to the Chinese system of thought on how the elements consume each other or transform into one another.

Phonotope 1 was commissioned by IRCAM, Paris, and the Ultima Contemporary Music Festival, Oslo. It was written for and in collaboration with the Arditti Quartet.

Phonotope 2, conceived together with the Poing ensemble, is the first of many succeeding Phonotopes that was the intent of the composition concept from the very start. It was commissioned by the Klangspuren Festival and premiered in Schwaz, Austria in September 2003.