Interviews, panel discussions, lectures, and concert talks offered platforms for communication, discourse, and exchange. It was central that the composers themselves would reflect on their own practice and observations. One could say, the processes of the artists Palme, Schimana, Mitchener, Kirchmayr, and Ballon, composing and realising their music, served as living case studies for »On the fragility of sounds«. Palme also composed pieces for music theatre, such as WECHSELWIRKUNG (2020), which are not covered in Ventil’s album. Further research associations included the theatre scholar Irene Lehmann. Anchored to the Center of Gender Studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, the project was conducted by Palme in collaboration with the musicologist and cultural worker Christina Fischer-Lessiak, with funding by the FWF Austrian Science Fund (PEEK AR537) and additional monies from the Mariann Steegmann Foundation and the Land Steiermark (Province of Styria). In this singular research setting, the artistic process of the composer/performers themselves was at the core of this exploration. Due to the pandemic crisis, composers had to communicate online at times, and some of the works could not be performed in public.

In cooperation with the composers, the ensemble Schallfeld, based in Graz, Austria performed, premiered, and recorded the commissioned ensemble works featured on this album. They were free to determine the format and duration of their piece while observing their own process.

All of them were informed about the theme and chose their unique, individual approach. Susanne Kirchmayr, Elaine Mitchener, Elisabeth Schimana and Séverine Ballon were invited to compose and realise music around the fragility of sounds - alongside the initiator and main researcher of this project, composer/performer Pia Palme. What are we exploring when we approach sounds as fragile? This project listened into intersections of contemporary composition, music theatre, and feminist practice from a unique position: from the position of the artist themselves while being at work.Īs the title indicates, possible themes for this compositional exploration were interactions, relationships, and interferences between sounds and space, movement, bodies, cultures, and politics. The music released on this album was composed and performed over the years 2019–2021 within the framework of the artistic research project »On the fragility of sounds«.

Bandcamp artists