Not a Toy

About

The live recordings on this release are excerpts of Essl Monographic recital with compositions by the Austrian composer Karlheinz Essl which are focused on piano, toy piano and electronics. The concert was held at New Theatre of the Fine Arts School Alfons Roig at Universitat Politècnica de València on 27 Apr 2012. Line Up Víctor Trescolí Sanz: toy piano, grand piano Karlheinz Essl: live-electronics Released on Nov 5th, 2012 by Audiotalaia   Download or stream the tracks...

Liner Notes by Edu Comelles

We are happy to host the work by Karlheinz Essl on Audiotalaia, specially when it comes hand by hand with Valencia musician Víctor Trescolí, whose enthusiasm and good work has captivated us in many occasions.

Trescolí as a classic trained pianist is always eager for new sonorities, it seems that he’s always looking for alternative paths to what he has learned over the years as a pianist. A very good example of this is the determination to approach Toy Piano in new ways, and understanding this specific instrument not as an anecdote, if not as an instrument with tremendous capabilities. Here is where Essl and Trescolí join forces to deliver this works composed by Essl and performed by Trescolí.

This concert, held at the Polytechnic University, on a brand new auditorium, was the culmination of a long term collaboration in which Trescolí had been performing pieces by Karlheniz Essl on various venues in Valencia and abroad. As many of Essl’s pieces, those are free to be performed using Max MSP as a digital tool to transform and tweak sound in a very precise way. Even that the compositions are specifically arranged, those rely on a variety of situation where chance has a big role.

It seems that apart from creating fixed compositions, Essl wishes to leave certain scenes of his pieces as surprises for himself, the listener and even the software. Finally, apart from scores and planning, things are left on the realm of randomness, chance and fortune.

Tracks

Video

Updated: 12 Apr 2019