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“Concord is a sculptural musical instrument consisting of a number of metal strings of various lengths. The sound of the instrument is created by a network of self-resonating strings arranged in a space. The strain of the strings and the corresponding pitch of sound create a musical succession, the total of which is a harmonious chord.”

Inspired by the work of Pythagoras, who according to legend used a monochord instrument to study acoustics, the piece explores organization of several glowing and resonating metal strings of various lengths (one to seven meters). Strings of heat-resistant alloy are caused to vibrate by putting electronic current through a metal wire and exposed to magnetic field (a method devised by American composer Alvin Lucier). As the frequency of the alternating current coincides with the resonances and overtones of the string, mechanical vibration occurs and a sound is heard. With the increase of current, the wire becomes glowing-hot thus making it emit light and exposing the standing sound waves. The strings are fixed to resonators that amplify and radiate vibrations in space without the use of conventional loudspeakers.

Technical description:
Concord is presented as sculptural structure of square metal resonators of various lengths (1 - 7 meters) supported on solid stands and strung with glowing-hot metal strings. Custom-made composition software creates succession of chords, by commuting combinations of tones to activate individual strings. The installation is variable in size; new arrangement of resonators is designed for every space.

Technical specification is available here
Voldemars Johansons 2010

Four channel computer, recording available upon request

Program Notes:
“A journey of electronic sound through the rational description of space: a world as represented by numbers. Composition of curves, surfaces and volumes is in a state of constant flux that modulates the dynamic landscape of kinetic vectors and spatial configuration.The work inspired by writings of Otto Rössler, a physicist recognized for his work in chaos research, who suggests the discipline of Endophysics that explains our world of space-time as an operational interface to a larger reality beyond the capability of human consciousness.

“IF” is a composition of “information objects”, parametric representations of algorithmically generated geometric shapes. The piece explores the notion of space as a metaphor for organization of information by way of tempo-spatial arrangement and layering of complex parametric constellations. Temporal evolution is expressed as motion: transformation of parametric data in mathematical space.
IF was composed at the Institute of Sonology as part of the research initiative “Information Structures for Organization of Sonic Events”. Paper available online at:
http://www.koncon.nl/public_site/220/Sononieuw/NL/downloads.html

The piece was realized with QuantaSonic composition environment (http://quantasonic.info), developed by Voldemars Johansons and Tom Tlalim.”

Four channel tape, recording available upon request

Program Notes:
“Invers observes the choice of duality between two possible states within a binary system: high and low, signal/no signal. A pulse-wave representing these two states is used to construct the primary sound material as well as its modulations, the rhythmical, temporal and dynamic structure that composes the chaotic architecture. The binary principle inherent to digital devices is realised with utterly analogue tools.”

This is one of the renderings we did in the beginning of the year.

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The composition is a five channel piece for authentic public address sirens. The sirens are mounted across the perimeter of a large resonant space, enveloping the room by spatialization of sound.

ALERT 05 is a blend of composition and installation, in memory of the great uprising of 1905 in Riga. The composition is played on authentic public address rupor speakers GR-1E that used to blast lo-fi propaganda through minds of soviet people. The communication of signal to speakers is carried out by radio broadcast. The composition is dedicated to the revolutionary movements in society, technology and culture of the beginning of the last century. The children of the industrial revolution – the proletarian class demand new kind of art, that opposed to the decadent decay of bourgeois culture, is accessible to everyone: clear and simple as commissar’s speech, powerful and direct as sounds of heavy-industry machinery, shots fired form the cruiser Aurora.

The Installation was premiered on Sept 2005 at Forest of Sound festival, (http://www.skanumezs.lv) in abandoned factory building in Riga.