Exercitium arithmeticæ occultum nescientis se numerare animi is the result of a collaboration with the Stockholms Saxofonkvartett. Met on a first creative residency at the Visby International Centre for Composers (VICC, Sweden) in the fall of 2016, the ensemble kindly offered to record them at a spontaneous improvisation session in Stockholm in October 2016. These recordings were then used to put together this piece, which can be presented either as an acousmatic work or a mixed music work (with saxophone quartet). The title refers to how complex music can be, thus becoming a quasi-mystical listening experience if you let yourself be taken by it.

— Vanessa Massera [English translation: François Couture, iii-22]

Exercitium arithmeticæ occultum nescientis se numerare animi was realized in 2017-18 at the University of Sheffield Sound Studios (USSS) (England, UK) and at the EMS (Stockholm, Sweden) and was premiered on March 16, 2019 as part of the Svensk Musikvår Festival at the Grünewaldsalen of Konserthuset Stockholm (Sweden). Thanks to the Stockholms Saxofonkvartett for its valuable collaboration.

Preparation

• November 2016, Stockholm (Sweden)

Composition

• 2017 – 2018, University of Sheffield Sound Studios (USSS), Sheffield (England, UK)
• 2017 – 2018, Elektronmusikstudion (EMS), Stockholm (Sweden)

Premiere

• March 16, 2019, Mixed version: Stockholms Saxofonkvartett; Vanessa Massera, diffusion • Svensk Musikvår 2019: Visby International Centre for Composers, Grünewaldsalen — Konserthuset Stockholm, Stockholm (Sweden)

Mastering

• July 2021, Dominique Bassal • Studio Inverse, Montréal (Québec)