September 2024
Fragile Fortitude is my latest composition, created for the acclaimed Danish musicians Monika Malmquist, Ida Nørholm, and Christine Raft of Trio Ismena.
Digital release on September 29, click below for listening!
I was pleased to be asked to compose a piece inspired by Giacometti’s art, choosing his masterpiece Woman (Flat II) as the source of my inspiration. This work captures the delicate balance between vulnerability and inner strength, reflecting the complexity of the human condition. It has been an incredible journey collaborating with the National Gallery of Denmark and EarUnit.
Thank you to the Danish Arts Foundation, Coda Culture, William Demant Fonden, Augustinus Fonden, and Aage and Johanne Louis-Hansens Fond for their generous support.
July 2024
…he was no longer there written for guitar, double bass, and MaxMSP, released July 12, 2024, is a single, which will be followed by the Duo ConCordis album coming on October 18, 2024 performed by George Vassilev, guitar, and Irina-Kalina Goudeva, double bass and recorded, edited, mixed, and mastered by GVrecords, electronics produced by Ejnar Kanding.
…he was no longer there is music that captures the essence of the boundless sorrow of losing a loved one, particularly the heart-wrenching pain of losing a child. It transcends traditional genre boundaries, combining the plucking of guitar strings and the resonant bowing of double bass with ambient electronic landscapes and real-time effects processing. It offers solace and a contemplative space for listeners to reflect on the depths of loss and the beauty of remembrance. The Danish Arts Foundation, Coda Culture, and William Demant Fonden supported the release.
April 2024
NORDIC EXTRACTION (2022) for violin, viola, cello, piano & live electronics (MaxMSP, duration: 29′) is dedicated to Rudersdal Chamber Players. Digital release: April 26, 2024, and the composition is supported by Koda Kultur and Augustinus Fonden.
NORDIC EXTRACTION focuses on removing or taking out something, what can be extracted from the Nordic? Prepare for a melancholic ambiance and a mesmerizing interplay of motifs, intricately woven with beautiful piano and string melodies, an artistic exploration of the region’s essence with modal harmonic structures, and live electronics. The quartet’s acoustic sound is transformed in real-time by the MaxMSP software into a double-sided expression: the acoustic reality and the surreal electronic sound processing.
The work is conceived in a larger work cycle, The Nordic Trilogy including NORDIC BROKEN and NORDIC FRAGMENTS. They have in common the use of the piano and live electronics and are inspired by the life and nature in Scandinavia. The Nordic Trilogy itself is characterized by music with Nordic moods. It is the dawning morning that looms hopefully in the east. And the melancholy dusk when the sun colors the northern sky in red-orange colors. Spring and Autumn with morning and evening shadows reminiscent of the elasticity of life. The ecstatic endless bright summer nights, and the endless pensive long winter evenings. Morning mist over the field bug, the calm glitter of the water in the moonlight. The powerful greenery of spring, the explosion of Autumn in diverse colors, the bright light of winter, and the long warm evenings of Summer.
January 2024
CRATAEGI (2012-2022) for percussion solo & live electronics (MaxMSP) deals with the microscopic metamorphosis, a gradual change from one state to something different. Sometimes occur significant contrasts to the continuous. CRATAEGI is known in Danish as Hvidtjørnens Hvidvinge (White Hawthorn’s White Wing) – a delicate name for a creature of equal delicacy. Picture a white butterfly, its wings spanning 50 to 65 mm, drifting on unseen air currents. Its body is a sleek contrast in black against the purity of its wings, which bear the intricate map of life’s veins etched in dark lines. Enter a realm of audiovisual enchantment, crafted by the artistic minds of Nes Lerpa and Ejnar Kanding, performed by percussionist David Hildebrandt and brought to life through the interactive video by photographer Kim Dang Trong. The composition is supported by the Danish Arts Foundation. The ensemble Contemporánea project, which includes the recording, concerts in Italy and Denmark, the digital release, and the video, is supported by Augustinus Fonden and William Demant Fonden.
CRATAEGI unfolds in eight movements, spanning 47:47 minutes of auditory and visual immersion. Each movement, bearing titles in Danish, Italian, German, and English, whispers of hues and emotions:
Hvidtjørnens Hvidvinge (White Hawthorn’s White Wing) – 4 rototoms, 4 toms – 3:47
Verderame (Copper Green) – multiperc & vibraphone – 6:17
Black Obsidian – vibraphone – 5:37
Amber Glow – multiperc – 5:24
Antracitgrå (Anthracite Grey) – marimba – 1:57
Blau Seelenfrieden (Azure Serenity) – multiperc – 9:49
Fuoco Rosso (Fire Red) – multiperc – 3:49
Zinnoberfeuer (Cinnabar Blaze) – little table with small devices, 3 cymbals – 11:07
For over a decade, Lerpa and Kanding have woven their creative threads together across continents, culminating in the inception of CRATAEGI in 2019. Trong finished the mesmerizing visuals of the video in December 2023. Recorded by Hildebrandt (2022-2023) and produced by Kanding (2023), the album emerged worldwide on diverse streaming platforms on January 12, 2024.
At its core, CRATAEGI is a contemplation of the butterfly:
Transparent, like the very air it dances through.
A tapestry of time and emotion, reflecting the depths of existence.
A mirror unto itself, revealing truths hidden within.
A philosophical inquiry, embodying the essence of being.
Fragile yet resilient, its strength lies in vulnerability.
Powerful in its simplicity, it is a testament to the beauty of the ephemeral.
Lerpa speaks of the synergy between painting and inspiration drawn from music, photography, and language, each layer enriching the final masterpiece. Meanwhile, Kanding’s musical tapestry weaves electronic and acoustic sounds, a symphony of complexity and simplicity, rooted in classical tradition yet blossoming into something altogether new – a genre he terms “postmodern classicaltronics.”
Lerpa about “Hvidtjørnens Hvidvinge” (2020):
“A dance of flight, through the ether,
both there and not, endless veins of life,
worn by time, yet soaring ever higher,
a convergence of selves,
the butterfly, its canvas unmarked, its beauty unbound,
underside and topside, a reflection of the timeless.”
CRATAEGI beckons, inviting you to lose yourself in its fleeting beauty, to ponder the depths of existence through the flutter of a butterfly’s wings and the symphony of sound and sight.
October 2023: Compositions & Projects
November 4 at 14.00, Torup Kirke, Halsnæs, Denmark, on Saturday, November 4 at 14.00. The world premiere of LEGENDE – hommage à Ib Michael (53-minute work). Featuring Fritz Gerhard Berthelsen, clarinets (Bb, bass); Ida Nørholm, cello; Matias Seibæk, percussion, and Ejnar Kanding, digital piano/MaxMSP. I’m grateful for the support from the Danish Arts Foundation, Koda Culture, Augustinus Fonden, and William Demant Fonden.
October 15: performance of Slender Trees and the world premiere of Angstallein (fearfully alone) at Lousiana – Museum of Modern Art, Denmark featuring American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME). Thanks to AFSMK for the initiative in this project, thanks to The Metropolitan Museum of Art and EarUnit for collaboration on the world premiere on April 14, 2023. Thanks for the support from the Danish Arts Foundation, Coda Culture, Augustinus Fonden, Knud Højgaards Fond.
October 27, EP release of Fire Red, and December 8, single release of Black Obsidian. Both releases are from the upcoming album CRATAEGI. The music is a fusion of classical percussion and electrifying electronic sounds performed by percussionist David Hildebrandt. CRATAEGI, a 47-minute work, is an ode to the butterfly ’Black Veined White’ – a creature of paradoxes, both fragile and powerful. I seek to mirror the essence of ’Crataegi’ – transparent, deep in time and expression, and a reflection of itself. Thanks for the support from the Danish Arts Foundation, William Demant Fonden, and Augustinus Fonden.
July 2023: Compositions & Projects
August 5, 6, 12, 13: Four performances of Nordic Extraction and the world premiere of Ausgesetzt (exposed) at Lousiana – Museum of Modern Art, Denmark featuring Rudersdal Chamber Players. June 30 release of the single Mellow Sundown with two movements from Nordic Extraction. September 1 release of the single Tenderly Daybreak with two movements from Nordic Extraction.
May 26: album release of Nordic Fragments featuring Trio Ismena. This stunning collection of tracks revolves around psychological states, awareness of fragments, and a sense of flying free. With a relaxed and peaceful atmosphere, Nordic Fragments is perfect for those seeking calming, melancholic melodies. Inspired by the success of Nordic Broken, this album takes listeners on a journey through fragments of nature – from leaves and flowers to moss and stone. Each track is titled to evoke a particular mood, such as the evocative track 1: ‘Dark Blue Sky’ or the poignant track 5: ‘Fly as Never Before.’ In ‘Your Darkness, Your Light’, the fourth movement, the piano flutters flourishingly over soft chords, and later a slowly flowing violin melody replaces the piano’s figurations. The unique acoustic sound of Trio Ismena with Monika Malmquist on violin, Ida Nørholm on cello, and Christine Raft on piano is combined with live electronics using MaxMSP software. If you’re a fan of Dark Ambient with a focus on tonal modal harmonic structures and gradual change, Nordic Fragments is not to be missed. I’m grateful for the support from Koda Culture and Augustinus Fonden for the composition, and from Koda Culture for the release.
I am working on my new composition for the ensemble Contemporánea – Live Electronics Denmark called LEGENDE – hommage à Ib Michael. Featuring Fritz Gerhard Berthelsen, clarinets (Bb, bass); Ida Nørholm, cello; Matias Seibæk, percussion, and Ejnar Kanding, digital piano/MaxMSP. The world premiere of this 53-minute work featuring Contemporánea will take place in Torup Kirke, Halsnæs, Denmark, on Saturday, November 4 at 14.00. I’m grateful for the support of the composition and the project from the Danish Arts Foundation, Koda Culture, Augustinus Fonden, and William Demant Fonden.
April 2023: The Metropolitan Museum, the world premiere of Slender Trees for string quartet & live electronics
American Contemporary Music Ensemble premieres my String Quartet No. 7 entitled: Slender Trees (2023, 25 min.) inspired by a drawing by Vilhelm Hammershøi.
The work will become music for the string quartet and live electronics (Max). It has the working title Slender Trees (String Quartet No. 7) after a drawing by Vilhelm Hammershøi: Slender Trees on a Hill (1896). I am inspired by the strong vertical lines, the horizontal hatching, and an almost sensuous geometry. The fascinating reality of the 19th century is confronted with today’s leaping sense of time. The idea behind the work is a transformation of the known towards new knowledge so that the bodily and sensual are united with the spiritual, as the actual characteristics of man. Lost memories, love, and childhood; a conversation between past and present.
Currently, six movements are being considered: Enigmatic Ambiance, Strong Verticality, Horizontal Hatching, Sensitive Geometry, Air of Mystery, and Absence (of humans or animals). Each movement also focuses on a real-time processing technique such as Acoustic Instrument Effects (glissando delays, pitch-/frequency shifting), Sampling Techniques (granular, MC-object textures, spectral delay clouds), or Real-time Digital Synthesis (FM, Additive, Subtractive, Vectral)
American Contemporary Music Ensemble:
Ben Russel, violin
Laura Lutzke, violin
Caleb Burhans, viola
Clarice Jensen, cello (artistic director)
January 2023: the release of the album Suite Résonance
featuring George Vassilev, classical guitar
Link to streaming platforms: https://lnk.to/SuiteResonance
Release: January 6, 2023, featuring George Vassilev, classical guitar
Commissioned by and dedicated to George Vassilev
The music is composed with support from the Danish Arts Foundation
The release is supported by KODA Kultur and the Danish Arts Foundation
World premiere: November 7, 2015, Grande Salle, HEMU Site de Sion, Switzerland
See the online score: https://edition-s.dk/music/ejnar-kanding/suite-resonance
Suite Résonance is music for classical guitar & ambient electronics. The music has intense emotions, melancholic melodies, and dramatic drones. The theme is the classical suite in contemporary interpretation.
My point of departure is the baroque suite with its characteristic dance movements. The challenge is to maintain the original structure while composing music with a contemporary, relevant expression. The result is a mixed style between new classical acoustic music, ambient music, and electronica. The music is multifaceted, as each movement has its own special focus: the melodic plaintive, dramatic drone, melancholic electronica, Spanish passion, and emotional character.
October 2022: the release of the album Stillstehen
featuring Ensemble Adapter, Berlin
The music for bass clarinet, percussion, harp, cello, and electronics might be associated with the still waters, it is static, seemingly immobile. You will hear microscopic changes gradually moving towards new states of stagnation.
This is the link for the digital streaming platforms:
Ensemble Adapter:
Gunnhildur Einarsdóttir, harp
Zoe Cartier, cello
Ingólfur Vilhjálmsson, bass clarinet
Matthias Engler, vibraphone, percussion
Ejnar Kanding, live electronics (Max)
Stillstehen (duration 47-53′)
Stillstehen 1 – Windstille (2009, 6-7′)
Stillstehen 2 – Stille Ocean (2011, 6-7′)
Stillstehen 3 – Stille Wasser (2011, 6-7′)
Stillstehen 4 – Stille Musik (2011, 6-7′)
Stillstehen 5 – Stille Ruhe (2017, 23-25′)
Commissioned by and dedicated to the Adapter Ensemble
Written with support from the Danish Arts Foundation
The fundamental idea of the work cycle Stillstehen is repetition during constant change; thus the title means stationary, standstill and to stand still. I focus on the static – the seemingly immobile, where the microscopic changes in the music gradually move towards new states of stagnation.
Each movement has a headline that suggests a mood or a picture; they are not to be understood narratively but merely like an association: Windstille (a calm wind), Stille Ocean (Pacific Ocean), Stille Wasser (still waters), Stille Musik (quiet music) and Stille Ruhe (quiet peace).
First, four six-minute trio movements are heard, in which the four possible combinations of three instruments are explored. The big quartet of 23-25 minutes comes after the four trios, which can be experienced as a development of the first four movements.
Live electronics encircles the music in a counterpoint to the acoustic sound of the four musicians in a quadrophonic speaker setup. Real-time processing, in which the sound of the instruments is changed and expanded, is ubiquitous; while different types of noise characterize different sections. Analog noise, digital noise, and subtractive synthesis are present in two main variants: the filtered chord-like noise texture and the deep almost tone-based noise drone. The first movement was written in 2009 (recorded in 2009 in Dock11, Berlin & the second to the fourth movement was written in 2011 (recorded in KulturForum, Kiel in 2013). Ensemble Adapter performed Stillstehen 1-4 as a whole in April & June 2013 in connection with a Danish-German tour including concerts in Copenhagen, Berlin, Bielefeld & Kiel. The fifth movement was written in 2017, and the world premiere was in the New Hall of The Royal Danish Academy of Music, on February 18, 2019. The release on June 3, 2022, of the entire Stillstehen on the streaming platforms, was recorded in the same place and period.
July 2022: the release of the album Garden of Gethsemane
This is the link for the digital streaming platforms:
Featuring ensemble Contemporánea – Live Electronics Denmark:
Fritz Gerhard Berthelsen, bass clarinet
Ida Nørholm, cello
Ejnar Kanding, piano
The music is written as an Hommage á Arne Haugen Sørensen with inspiration from his painting Getsemane Have. The first movement is music that sets the mood around the Last Supper. During the meal, Jesus washes his disciples’ feet, which is reflected in the second movement. The third movement returns to the meal, in which Peter’s denial and Judas’ betrayal are foretold. In the fourth movement, Jesus is with his disciples on the Mount of Olives, while the fifth movement is the prayer of pain, where Jesus prays “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22, 42). The sixth movement is the Kiss of Judas from the perspective of Jesus: melancholy over the loss of a friend.
April 2022: the release of the album Nordic Broken
Release: April 8, 2022, Nordic Broken for clarinet, violin, cello, piano, and live electronics (Max) at Cosmopol Music Group. Broken as nature can break ground, rock, and tree. Broken as the unavoidable decay, a prerequisite for new life. Broken as the mind can be burdened with grief. To be broken, that is, to be humble, for example, towards the beauty of nature. Nordic Broken is dedicated to and commissioned by Messiaen Quartet Copenhagen, composed with support from the Danish Arts Foundation. The release is supported by Koda Kultur
https://music.apple.com/dk/album/nordic-broken/1613269421
Nordic Broken (2020, 19 min.) is conceived in a larger work cycle, The Nordic Series, including Nordic Fragments (2021, 23.30 min.) and Nordic Extraction (2021, 29 min.). They have in common the use of the piano and live electronics and are inspired by life in Scandinavia. The work series itself is characterized by music with Nordic moods. It is the dawning morning that looms hopefully in the east. And the melancholy dusk when the sun colors the northern sky in red-orange colors. Spring and Autumn with morning and evening shadows reminiscent of the elasticity of life. The ecstatic bright summer nights, and the pensive long winter evenings. Morning mist over the field bug, the calm glitter of the water in the moonlight. The powerful greenery of spring, the explosion of Autumn in diverse colors, the bright light of winter, the long warm evenings of Summer.
January 2022: Harmonices Mundi, score finished January 1
Harmonices Mundi – Celestial Bodies – String Quartet No. 6 (2021, 31 min)
for string quartet & live electronics (Max)
Commissioned by and dedicated to Rudersdal Chamber Players
With support from Koda Kultur & Augustinus Fonden
World premiere by Rudersdal Chamber Players,
Friday, February 18 at 19:30 in MillFactory Studio, Copenhagen
Harmonices Mundi (the harmony of the world) is inspired by Johannes Kepler’s book written in Latin (1599-1619) of the same name. I try to interpret Harmonices Mundi as tones and timbre that can interact with human consciousness in the present – so to speak, a spiritual communication. When Kepler uses the term harmony, it refers not only to the musical definition but rather to a broader definition that includes congruence in nature and the influence between celestial bodies and the earth. Kepler is interested in how polyhedrons (three-dimensional geometric shapes basically consisting of triangles) can reflect a connection between the planets’ orbital curves. These polyhedra can form the small and great stellated dodecahedron, later called Kepler’s solids or Kepler Polyhedra. They can appear as regular or semi-regular. Therefore, in my interpretation, I especially use semiregular harmonic symmetries in different structural layers in the music. Perfect musical symmetries often seem sluggish or boring to listen to, which is why I am attracted to the semiregular. I have instrumented the geometric as different polygons in harmonic structures.
In Kepler’s time, the known celestial bodies in addition to the sun and moon were the five planets: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. The five core movements in my work have titles after the names of these planets. The movements are surrounded by six solar and lunar movements that belong together in pairs, thus the work begins with a solar movement and it ends with a lunar movement – a total of 11 movements. In this way, my musical interpretation is closely linked to a mythological understanding of the five classical planets as well as sun and moon, which is why the subtitle Celestial Bodies: The movements are: Sol 1 – Mercury – Luna 1 (Moon) – Venus – Sol 2 – March – Luna 2 – Iuppiter (Jupiter) – Sol 3 – Saturnus (Saturn) – Luna 3.
Mercury (Latin: Mercurius) is in Roman mythology the god of communication, speed, and trade, in Greek mythology he corresponds to the god of Hermes. He is a messenger on the border between worlds. The C Locrian is used in a canon between viola and cello that is imitated inverted in the second and first violin in C Lydian.
Venus is the Roman goddess of love, fertility, desire, prosperity, victory, and beauty, similar to Aphrodite in Greek mythology. The movement is a love song between viola and first violin in E minor, which towards the end is taken over by E Phrygian.
Mars is the god of war and the guardian of agriculture in Roman mythology, the Greek god Ares and the Nordic god Týr. It is a piece of repetitive music in F Lydian / D Dorian, out of this grows a tonal answered three-part fugue with countersubject in D Dorian, then follows a development section, where the electronic processing plays the main role until a compressed recapitulation, where the exposition’s material goes through F Lydian / D Dorian, E Phrygian / C Ionian and ending with G Mixolydian / E Phrygian.
Jupiter (Latin: Iuppiter) is the king of the gods, the god of heaven and thunder, corresponding to the Greek god Zeus and partly to the Nordic god Thor. The supreme god is interpreted in an almost renaissance-sounding contrapuntal movement, presenting a theme in its original and inverted form in canon with the same theme in retrograde and retrograde inversion. This movement is followed by a Coda, in which the electronic processing is highlighted by solo elements in E minor harmonically set opposite its symmetrical scale: an A major with the lowered sixth degree.
Saturn (Latin: Saturnus) is in Roman mythology the god of agriculture, generation, dissolution, abundance, wealth, periodic renewal, and liberation. He corresponds to Cronus in Greek mythology. The movement focuses on renewal in a homophone texture, where the melodic motifs constantly shed new light on simple harmonic shifts.
The movements of the sun and the moon are the antithesis of each other, where the sun (Greek: Helios) is explosive, then the moon (Greek: Selene) is implosive. Sun is day and the absence of sun is night in that way light is opposite to darkness. The movements have an imperfect symmetry between the two violins towards viola and cello. In the first pair, A Dorian is used, which is its own inversion, in the second pair the violins are in B Phrygian versus its inversion in the deep strings B major, in the third pair the violins are in G major, while viola and cello are the mirrored tonality Eb Phrygian.
October 2021: The Nordic Series is composed, it consists of three works:
Nordic Broken (2020, 19 min) – for clarinet, violin, cello, piano, Max
With support from the Danish Arts Foundation
Commissioned by and dedicated to Messiaen Quartet Copenhagen
Nordic Fragments (2021, 23:30 min) – violin, cello, piano, Max
With support from the Koda Kultur & Augustinus Fonden
Commissioned by and dedicated to Trio Ismena
Nordic Extraction (2021, 29 min) – violin, viola, cello, piano, Max
With support from Koda Kultur & Augustinus Fonden
Commissioned by and dedicated to Rudersdal Chamber Players
The Nordic Series has in common the use of the piano and live electronics (Max), and are inspired by life in Scandinavia. The work series itself is characterized by music with Nordic moods. It is the dawning morning that looms hopefully in the east. And the melancholy dusk when the sun colors the northern sky in red-orange colors. Spring and Autumn with morning and evening shadows reminiscent of the elasticity of life. The ecstatic endless bright summer nights, and the endless pensive long winter evenings. Morning mist over the field bug, the calm glitter of the water in the moonlight. The powerful greenery of spring, the explosion of Autumn in diverse colors, the bright light of winter, the long warm evenings of Summer.
September 2021: Performance of Danish Golden Age Pieces
September 2 at National Gallery of Denmark, AFSMK‘s event for business leaders: Art as Your Future Business Tool, performed by Josefine Opsahl, cello; Ejnar Kanding, piano
August 2021: Texture and Mosaics II is released at COSMOPOL music group
The link below to your favorite streaming platform
https://orcd.co/texturesandmosaics2
July 2021: Concert at Deià International Music Festival, Mallorca
World premiere of Partita Mallorca – Sonata da Camera como Arcangelo Corelli (2018, 10 min) for Camerata Deià (Alfredo Ardanaz, violin; Dana Zemtsov, viola; Jorge Giménez, cello; Alfredo Oyágüez, piano)
June 2021: After the corona lockdown, a series of world premieres
June 1: Nordic Fragments (2021, 23:30 min) for Trio Ismena (Monika Malmquist, violin; Ida Nørholm, cello; Christine Raft, piano)
June 3: VANITAS (2021, 17:15 min) for Inventions (Cæcilie Balling, violin; Josefine Opsahl, cello)
June 4: Eau claire eau (2019, 9 min) for Duo ConCordis (Irina-Kalina Goudeva, double bass; George Vassilev, guitar)
August 13: Garden of Gethsemane – Hommage à Arne Haugen Sørensen (2021, 15:45 min) for Contemporánea (Fritz Gerhard Berthelsen, bass clarinet; Ida Nørholm, cello; Ejnar Kanding, piano)
May 2021: New piece for percussion to Christian Martinez
As a part of an artistic research project at the Danish National Academy of Music, I’m happy for the opportunity to work with the excellent percussionist Christian Martinez for a new composition with live electronics (Max) with a new approach to the use of live tracking. How can data from pitch tracking and amplitude/attack tracking be used to control parameters where a degree of tolerance for values has been incorporated so that the artistic intention is fulfilled with acceptance variability between each performance.
April 2021: Hvilens Vande – Still Waters
Still Waters was written for my beloved mother for her funeral in 2014, it is now available on Spotify and Apple Music, and your preferred streaming platform. I recorded the piece shortly after the funeral, Kasper Nybo has in connection with the release made this fantastic video for the music
March 2021: Nine Waves
The title of Ejnar Kanding‘s string quartet Nine Waves refers to the nine types of waves, who are the maidens of Ægir and Rán in Norse mythology. Ægir is a sea giant, the god of the ocean and king of the sea. Ægir’s wife is Rán the sea goddess. She is by Ægir mother of nine billow maidens. Through the nine movements, the music evolves from the quiet waves to the frothing, into the deep, further to the pitching waves, and finally the dark. In this way, the music changes from the whispering to the flowing, through the deep meditation to the feeling of some ancient origin, and in the end the lonely fighter on the dark and giant ocean.
Nine Waves was written in 2013. Find the score here >>
The album is available on Spotify, Apple Music, and various other streaming services. Find it here >>
February 2021: Textures & Mosaics, volume 2
Now is the score of Textures & Mosaics, volume 2 available at Edition•S. Many thanks to David Rosing-Schow for his enormous work doing the layout so nicely. It has been a fantastic journey through these years composing the 34 minutes of music and developing the MaxMSP programming, descriptions, and documentation.
Please listen to the amazing ACME string quartet on this recording we did in Bunker Studio, Brooklyn,
and have a look at the score:
https://www.edition-s.dk/music/ejnar-kanding/textures-mosaics-vol-2
Textures & Mosaics is music for string quartet and live electronics (MaxMSP) composed by Ejnar Kanding. The pieces express a nordic atmosphere which is underlined in the subtitles Obscure Transparence and Sensitive Shades.
Textures & Mosaics is recorded by ACME String Quartet (NYC) in Bunker Studio, Brooklyn, May 2019. Production, mix, and master by Ejnar Kanding. The music is supported by the Danish Arts Foundation.
Obscure Transparence refers to the morning fog covering a marsh during sunrise as the sun slowly penetrates and the light is separated into a plentitude of dancing drops. Sensitive Shades can picture the richness of the colours in the sky of a melancholic sunset. The music is progressive uniting electronic and acoustic sound in complex textures, bodily energy, and delicate simplicity. It pushes the boundaries of the beautiful and insists on being static in a way in which it leans toward the dark ambient music genre.
The ambient and the static are explored through complex or multifaceted textures. Every movement focuses on either texture or mosaic in its essence. The texture-pieces are characterized by a conjunctive line in a multi-layered structure while the mosaic movements (Mosaico) focus on isolated fragments, appearing in diverse surroundings or merely existing as a purpose on its own.
Textures & Mosaics is a work series of independent pieces of varying formation which when performed together constitute a coherent entity. The first, third, and fifth movements are composed for four strings titled Obscure Transparence 1-3, while the second movement is a trio for violin, viola, and cello, and the fourth movement is a duo for viola (or violin) and cello titled Sensitive Shades 1-2.
- Mosaico 2 – Obscure Transparence 1 (2013) – string quartet & Max
- Commissioned by and dedicated to JACK quartet. Supported by the Danish Arts Foundation. World premiere at The Royal Danish Academy of Music, Copenhagen, November 7, 2013, by JACK quartet. Dur. 11′
- Texture 2 – Sensitive Shades 1 (2016) – string trio & Max
- Commissioned by SIGGI quartet (ISL) and dedicated to ACME quartet. Supported by the Danish Arts Foundation. World premiere at Le Poisson Rouge, NYC, October 6, 2016, by ACME quartet. Dur. 7′
- Texture 3 – Obscure Transparence 2 (2017) – string quartet & Max
- Commissioned by SONAR Quartett (DE) and dedicated to ACME quartet. Supported by the Danish Arts Foundation. World premiere at Le Poisson Rouge, NYC, May 7, 2019, by ACME quartet. Dur. 8′
- Mosaico 3 – Sensitive Shades 2 (2018) – string duo & Max
- for viola, cello and live electronics (Max) or for violin, cello, and live electronics (Max). World premiere at Admiral Gjeddes Gaard, Holbergsalen, November 17, 2018 by Helianne Blais, violin and Ida Nørholm, cello. Dur. 5′
- Texture 5 – Obscure Transparence 3 (2016) – string quartet & Max
- Commissioned by SIGGI quartet (ISL) and dedicated to ACME quartet. Supported by the Danish Arts Foundation. World premiere at Le Poisson Rouge, NYC, October 6, 2016, by ACME quartet. Dur. 3′
The structure and idea of Textures and Mosaics, volume 1 and 2 are similar apart from the instrumentation. As a whole, they constitute a work cycle on ten movements: Texture 1-5 and Mosaico 1-5. The instrumentation has the same structure in both volumes: Volume 1 is for chamber ensemble: clarinet (Bb, bass), percussion, piano, violin, cello, and live electronics. The first, third, and fifth movement is for a full ensemble, while the second is a duo, and the fourth a trio. This also applies to the durations, which are 11, 7, 8, 5, and 3 minutes, counting 34 minutes in total for each volume. Any combination of the movements works well for a performance.
Furthermore Obscure Transparence 1-3 constitute Kanding’s String Quartet No. 5.
January 2021: Schichtstruktur (2016), premiered by Richard Krug, cello, in January 2017
Schicht is German and means layer, deposit, field. The title refers to several layers or depositions in a structure, that in this piece creates a field of three developments with a common harmonic structure. My approach to live electronics in this piece is, that no other sound occurs than, what is derived directly from the played cello. What is heard comes from the cello, nothing else sounds. It shows, how amazing the computer in real-time can contribute to musical expression.
My piece is dedicated to the cellist Richard Krug, who premiered it in the Copenhagen Phil concert Friday, January 27, 2017, at the concert hall of the Royal Danish Academy of Music. Written with support from the Danish Arts Foundation and Copenhagen Phil. Cover photo by Anne Sandner.
December 2020: My latest album at Soundcloud uploaded March 2020
December 2020: The single Nine Waves – Deep
Available at Spotify and Apple Music from December 4, 2020
Nine Waves – Deep is the third movement of the work Nine Waves featuring Nordic String Quartet.
The title Nine Waves refers to the nine types of waves, who are the maidens of Ægir and Rán. In Norse mythology, Ægir is a sea giant, the god of the ocean and king of the sea. Ægir’s wife is Rán the sea goddess. She is by Ægir mother of nine billow maidens. One of these waves, that I am composing in Nine Waves – Deep is called Himinglæva; it means ‘the heaven-shining one, the transparent one’. Focus is the static sound, constantly mirrored in the reverberation. Behind the transparency, one can sense the eternal.
Nine Waves is supported by the Danish Arts Foundation.