Kuuki no Sukima

Kuuki no Sukima (2017)
for nine instruments and an interactive conductor, duration 21:30

Featuring the digital conducting glove (ConGlove) for live control of electronic sounds.

Conductor Halldis Rønning wearing the Conducting Glove of the ConDiS conducting digital system

Kuuki no Sukima – Between the air
The title can be transcribed literally as “the gap of the air” or even ”in between the air” both very suitable for the composer’s vision of creating a sonic landscape of sounds that are somewhere there, in-between or in the gap of being a sound or a pitched note. If sonority is a vibration of traveling air pressure, could there be a gap?
Could there be a sonic world somewhere there in-between the air?

1st. movement

Niður – Murmur – せせらぎ   Duration c.a. 9 ́00 ́ ́
A soft, indistinct sound made by a person or group of people speaking quietly or at a distance. It could also be linked to nature sounds such as a low continuous sound of the wind murmuring through the trees or an atmospheric sound of a river.

Kuuki no Sukima 1st. movement
Trondheim Sinfonietta and Conductor Halldis Rønning performing Hilmar Thordarson´s Kuuki no Sukima 1st. moment. Recorded at the Bridging the Gap concert in Rockheim, Trondheim, November 3rd. 2018

2nd. movement

Hviss – Hiss – ビュービュー  Duration c.a. 5 ́30 ́ ́
A soft but still loud gust of wind hissing over the rooftops. It could also be a sound of an object passing by with a sharp short hissing sound. According to the English dictionary, it means as a noun: “a sharp sibilant sound” or as a verb: “make a sharp sibilant sound as of the letter S”

Kuuki no Sukima 2nd. movement
Trondheim Sinfonietta and Conductor Halldis Rønning performing Hilmar Thordarson´s Kuuki no Sukima 2nd. moment. Recorded at the Bridging the Gap concert in Rockheim, Trondheim, November 3rd. 2018.

3rd. movement 

Suð – Buzz – ビュービュー  Duration c.a. 8 ́45 ́ ́

A very soft sound like a buzzing sound from electronic hardware like a refrigerator or from an electric light-bulb. English dictionary mentions “the buzz of the bees” which is not quite the right explanation since the bee-buzz is in this case too loud and variant. 

Here the buzzing sound has more a humming sonority.

Kuuki no Sukima 3rd. movement
Trondheim Sinfonietta and Conductor Halldis Rønning performing Hilmar Thordarson´s Kuuki no Sukima 3rd. moment. Recorded at the Bridging the Gap concert in Rockheim, Trondheim, November 3rd. 2018.
Kuuki-NoSukima_Score-excerpt

Excerpt of the score of Kuuki no Sukima.