Nordin, Jesper - Emerging from Currents & Waves - Fröst, Martin

“The fantastic thing about art and music is that you can ask questions and conjure up visions at the same time.” These words are from Swedish composer Jesper Nordin, who does just that in his work Emerging from Currents and Waves. A large-scale work for orchestra, clarinet soloist, conductor, and live electronics, Emerging... is a collaboration between Nordin, Martin Fröst, and Esa-Pekka Salonen. All three are interested in how new technology can – and will – influence art and artistic expression, as well as in exploring the intersections between humanity, music, and technology. Emerging from Currents and Waves is a three-part work, centered around the clarinet concerto Emerging. In this work, the electronic and acoustic worlds meet on equal terms. The sound of the live orchestra is recorded in real time, sampled, processed, and reproduced in processes controlled by both the soloist and the conductor using motion sensors. The technology used is Gestrument (from the words 'gesture' and 'instrument'), which Nordin originally invented as a compositional tool, but which is used here more as an instrument. This recording was made during the premiere of the work at Berwaldhallen in Stockholm during the 2018 Baltic Sea Festival. A visual element was added to the concert when images created by electronic music were projected onto several transparent screens that formed a specially designed sculpture floating above the orchestra.