Guitars Unchained is a work partly using sound material from an earlier piece for guitar and interactive system called SubString Bridge written in 1999 for the Swedish guitar virtuoso Mats Bergström.

The principle of Guitars Unchained, as with several other works in my series of “unplayable music,” is that all sounding material is based on the acoustic world of a musical instrument, the guitar in this case. Sometimes close to the more or less normal playing techniques of the instrument, the structure of the work allows for impossible ways of using the guitar.

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Guitars Unchained was realized in 2023-24 at the composer’s studio in Gothenburg (Sweden) and the multichannel mix was realized in June 2024 at the Métamorphoses d’Orphée studio of Musiques & Recherches in Ohain (Belgium). The piece premiered on March 13, 2024 as part of the concert Électrobelge at Espace Senghor in Brussels (Belgium). Thanks to Annette Vande Gorne. Guitars Unchained was awarded an Honorable Mention at the 15th Destellos Electroacoustic Composition Competition (Mar del Plata, Argentina, 2024).

Composition

• 2023 – 2024, Personal studio, Gothenburg (Sweden)

Premiere

• March 13, 2024, Électrobelge, Le Senghor, Brussels (Belgium)

Awards

• Honorable Mention, 15th Destellos Competition 2024, Mar del Plata (Argentina)

Mixing

• June 2024, Métamorphoses d’Orphée — Musiques & Recherches, Ohain (Belgium)

The sound of falling metallic shrapnel pulls the curtains to the side to reveal an alien metal band. Let the show begin!

Although not being a sequel to my earlier piece Growl! (2014-15), Heavy Metal is still a piece taking as point of departure a blend of stylistic influences from both metal music as well as classic electroacoustic music tradition. The main sonic material originating from various metal objects is also a reason for the title chosen.

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Heavy Metal was realized in 2023-24 at the composer’s studio in Gothenburg (Sweden) and the multichannel mix was realized in June 2024 at the Métamorphoses d’Orphée studio of Musiques & Recherches in Ohain (Belgium). The piece premiered on March 22, 2024 at Lisboa Incomum in Lisbon (Portugal) during the 4th Festival Imersivo. Thanks to Annette Vande Gorne.

Composition

• 2023 – 2024, Personal studio, Gothenburg (Sweden)

Premiere

• March 22, 2024, Festival Imersivo 2024: Concert 1, Lisboa Incomum, Lisbon (Portugal)

Mixing

• June 2024, Métamorphoses d’Orphée — Musiques & Recherches, Ohain (Belgium)

The work, which is composed solely with the note A, starts out as a “normal” piano piece but soon transforms into something that would be impossible for any musician to play.

The original version was realized for 20 channels. The spatial adaptation was realized by Hervé Desjardin who also proposed the concept of making a piece only using one note.

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BlowUp II was realized in 2019-20 at the composer’s studio in Gothenburg (Sweden) and the multichannel and binaural mixes were realized in June 2020 with Hervé Desjardin in a temporary studio designed by him in the house of the Orchestre national de Lille (ONL) in Lille (France). The piece premiered on June 12, 2020 during the online festival Lille Piano(s) Digital 2020. The piece was commissioned by the Orchestre national de Lille (ONL) in 2019 for the online festival of piano music Lille Piano(s) Digital 2020.

Composition

• 2019 – 2020, Personal studio, Gothenburg (Sweden)

Premiere

• June 12, 2020, Binaural version for online listening: Lille Piano(s) Digital 2020: Événements en ligne
• September 6, 2020, Concert premiere: Festival Son MiRé 2020: Concert électroacoustique: quatre compositeurs européens, Outdoor – Salle polyvalente, Fabrezan (Aude, France)

Mixing

• June 2020, Åke Parmerud; Hervé Desjardin • Maison de l’Orchestre national de Lille (ONL), Lille (Nord, France)

To Javier Álvarez, in memoriam

My first trip to Cuba was in 1983. That’s when I heard Latin American music for the first time, and things changed in my mind. Ever since I have been infatuated by the rhythms and grooves of Latin music.

Much later I heard a short piece by the Mexican composer Javier Álvarez titled Mambo à la Braque (1990). It was another first-time experience, here with music where someone dared to mix musical styles and aesthetics in a way I had not come across before. It was a source of inspiration that has followed me ever since.

However good his piece is I still missed some of the repeating feeling of playing (indeed: I have played in a salsa band) a given riff for an extended period of time, and Mambo à la Braque keeps breaking the groove, maybe to not go astray from the “modernistic” rules of constant change. So I felt the urge to make a piece inspired by that very special composition (that I played many times in concerts all over the world) and at least at times let the groove stay where it should.

Lounge Lizard is dedicated to the memory of Javier Álvarez, who passed away too early in 2023.

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Lounge Lizard was realized in 2021 at the composer’s studio in Gothenburg (Sweden) and premiered on September 30, 2021 at the Mehrzwecksaal of the Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien in Vienna (Austria) as part of the 4th Echoes Around Me festival produced by The Acousmatic Project.

Composition

• 2021, Personal studio, Gothenburg (Sweden)

Premiere

• September 30, 2021, Echoes Around Me 2021: Parmerud, Ensemble Hybrid Voices, Armando Balice, Mehrzwecksaal — Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien, Vienna (Austria)

Strata is based on a variety of percussion instruments ranging from orchestral instruments such as kettle drums and vibraphone to non-western instruments like tablas and the gamelan. This is the first time that I am partly using a new synthesizer with extended control of instrumental gestures to create more natural and dynamic playing styles and techniques. From a more or less “classic” style of gestural flow, the piece develops towards an intense rhythmic ending.

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Strata was realized in 2024 at the composer’s studio in Gothenburg (Sweden) and the multichannel mix was realized in March 2024 at the studio of Lisboa Incomum in Lisbon (Portugal). The piece premiered on March 22, 2024 at Lisboa Incomum during the 4th Festival Imersivo. Thanks to Jaime Reis. Strata was commissioned by Dias de Música Electroacústica (DME).

Composition

• 2024, Personal studio, Gothenburg (Sweden)

Premiere

• March 22, 2024, Festival Imersivo 2024: Concert 1, Lisboa Incomum, Lisbon (Portugal)

Mixing

• March 2024, Lisboa Incomum, Lisbon (Portugal)

Clouds driven by the wind across the sky creates associations and images in our minds. Shapes are changing slowly or sometimes so fast that it is unnoticeable. The flow of air also drives the musical noises of flutes, making them change the shape of sounds from one moment to another. If we turn our mind to it, the shapes of sounds and clouds may not be so different after all.

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Clouds was realized in 2024-25 at the composer’s studio in Gothenburg (Sweden) and premiered on January 13, 2025 at the Cité de la musique in Marseilles (France) as part of the Tintamarres concert series.

Composition

• 2024, Personal studio, Gothenburg (Sweden)

Premiere

• January 13, 2025, Tintamarres: Åke Parmerud, Auditorium — Cité de la musique de Marseille, Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône, France)

String Quartet II refers to a piece I realized in 1988 titled Stråkkvartett [String Quartet]. At that point of time digital audio sampling was a very new thing and was about to change the world of electronic music. I decided to see what I could do with this new technology to create a piece from the instrumental tradition but with a new twist. The idea of mimicking acoustic instruments using only mathematical calculations has been on the road map for a while, since the mid 1990s, when Yamaha released the first physical modeling synth. However, the results since then have been less than impressive… until now. I recently came across a physical modeling synth by Swedish company Reason called Friction which impressed me. Yes, physical modeling allows for creating realistic impressions of acoustic instruments, but it also allows for various ways of changing the behavior of acoustic properties. I felt this was an opportunity to once more explore a new way of using the “classical” form of the string quartet in the weird and wonderful world of digital magic. The last 10 seconds of this piece uses the last 10 seconds of my first “string quartet” from 1988.

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String Quartet II was realized in 2021 at the composer’s studio in Gothenburg (Sweden) and premiered on September 30, 2021 at the Mehrzwecksaal of the Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien in Vienna (Austria) as part of the 4th Echoes Around Me festival produced by The Acousmatic Project. String Quartet II was awarded the 2nd Prize ex æquo in the 14th Destellos Electroacoustic Composition Competition (Mar del Plata, Argentina, 2022).

Composition

• 2021, Personal studio, Gothenburg (Sweden)

Premiere

• September 30, 2021, Echoes Around Me 2021: Parmerud, Ensemble Hybrid Voices, Armando Balice, Mehrzwecksaal — Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien, Vienna (Austria)

Awards

• 2nd prize ex æquo, Fixed medium — Audience Prize, 14th Destellos Competition 2022, Mar del Plata (Argentina)