Peter Swinnen Peter Swinnen

André Laporte 90
©2021 by Peter Swinnen (http://www.peterswinnen.be)
Performed by Jan Michiels

©2020 by Peter Swinnen (http://www.peterswinnen.be)
Performed by Eugen-Bogdan Popa

Tombeau de Couperin was born out of my interest in the Harmony of Spheres. Originally presented by the ancient Greek philosopher Pythagoras (6th century BC), who calculated that all planets and the sun move in resonant circles around the Earth, it has been refined by Copernicus (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres 1453), Kepler (Harmonies of the World 1619) and Newton (Philosophiæ Naturalis Principe Mathematica 1687), who successively improved the calculations of the elliptical orbits of the planets around the sun. 1687 is also the publication date of Marin Marais' Tombeau de Lully, which gave rise to the basic idea of this piece: an imaginary journey, inspired by Viola da Gamba techniques, where the player's right arm movements are based on the elliptical orbits of planets around their suns, so that the notes represent the positions of the planets at different moments in time, leading us gradually through galaxies further and further away.

Happy listening.
Peter Swinnen

©2014 by Peter Swinnen
Performed by Isasi Quartet

00:00 - A. Hashin

No sky
no earth - but still
snowflakes fall

02:20 - B. Basho, Matsuo. (1644-1694)

Clouds appear
and bring to men a chance to rest
from looking at the moon.

04:43 - C. Akutagawa, Ryunosuke. (1892-1927)

Green frog,
Is your body also
freshly painted?

06:52 - D. Issa. (1762-1826)

A giant firefly:
that way, this way, that way, this -
and it passes by.

08:40 - E. Michael R. Collings

Silence - a strangled
Telephone has forgotten
That it should ring

©1999 by Peter Swinnen
Performed by Eric Robberecht and Guy Danel

Dorce is a series of 9 pieces, all using the same three parts, whereas the third part also exists in a transcription for a second Violin. In fact, you can play Dorce as a Solo piece, which gives you four different solo pieces (Dorce I for Violin Solo, Dorce II for Viola Solo, Dorce III for Violoncello Solo, Dorce IV for Violin Solo). You can also play Dorce as a Duett, which gives you four different Duetts (Dorce V for Violin and Violoncello, Dorce VI for Viola and Violoncello, Dorce VII for Violin and Viola, Dorce VIII for two Violins). And, last but not least, you can play Dorce as a classical String Trio (Dorce IX). Each of the three parts remains exactly the same for all nine versions, so that e.g. Dorce I and Dorce III played together gives you Dorce V. Just take into account the exact starting moment of the different parts ( in this specific case: the Violin should start 5 bars later than the Violoncello).

Good luck
Brussels, november 27, 1999

Peter Swinnen

©1999 by Peter Swinnen
Performed by Gilles Millet and Eric Robberecht

Dorce is a series of 9 pieces, all using the same three parts, whereas the third part also exists in a transcription for a second Violin. In fact, you can play Dorce as a Solo piece, which gives you four different solo pieces (Dorce I for Violin Solo, Dorce II for Viola Solo, Dorce III for Violoncello Solo, Dorce IV for Violin Solo). You can also play Dorce as a Duett, which gives you four different Duetts (Dorce V for Violin and Violoncello, Dorce VI for Viola and Violoncello, Dorce VII for Violin and Viola, Dorce VIII for two Violins). And, last but not least, you can play Dorce as a classical String Trio (Dorce IX). Each of the three parts remains exactly the same for all nine versions, so that e.g. Dorce I and Dorce III played together gives you Dorce V. Just take into account the exact starting moment of the different parts ( in this specific case: the Violin should start 5 bars later than the Violoncello).

Good luck
Brussels, november 27, 1999

Peter Swinnen

©2006 by Peter Swinnen
Live performed by Champ d'Action, cond. J. Bossier

Recently I discovered which fascinating musical transformations you get if you change the font bitmap of a text and run it through an image synthesizer. For this piece, a sextet for flute, violin, clarinet, cello, piano and percussion, I'm elaborating on this idea and developing some specific manipulations of musical gestures, built on the different idiomatic playing techniques of the instruments.

Furthermore I'm exploring the vast sound possibilities when two or more instruments influence each others sound through means of electronic manipulations. In the past I've worked many times with the concept of 'extended instruments', where electronics multiply the expressive possibilities of an acoustic instrument, fully controlled by the instrumental player. Here I want to push it further. Sounds will be created by electronically merging several instruments, whereas each individual instrumentalist controls another parameter of the sound, not by a MIDI-controller or so, but through his very own acoustical sound, tracked in real-time by the computer. In short, a computer-based 'extended combined instrument'. Which, of course, will not only be capable of sculpting the time, but also the acoustical space.

Peter Swinnen
Brussels, 26-05-2006