SUAL Archives | 2007
Gabriele Proy: Forum Klanglandschaft — presentation
Title: Waldviertel
Duration: 19‘43“
Type: Source recording provided by the artist
Waldviertel (soundscape composition)
“Listening to the changing times of day and the seasons of the year offers a hint of the poetry of the tonal landscapes as they are reflected in the rhythm of the seasons. The Austrian composer Gabriele Proy spent an entire year carrying out sound research in the northwest of Lower Austria. The sound landscapes she composed are meant to give us an impression of the nearly infinite richness of sound in the Waldviertel.
A dawn chorus one morning in spring in the forest near the small village of Friedersbach takes us into the soundscapes of the Waldviertel. The slow and rhythmic sound of oars dipping into the water of Lake Ottenstein and the chirping of the crickets conjure up a peaceful summer day in this northwest region of Lower Austria. The sound of the siren going off at noon on Saturdays and the church bells tell a tale of tradition and everyday life in the small village of Friedersbach. And the sound of crackling logs in the fireplace remind us of long, cold winter evenings.”
The world premiere of Proy’s “Waldviertel”, the Austrian commission for the EU-Japan-Year-2005, took place in Japan in 2005. The composer would like to thank Roland Hille for his assistance during sound recordings. In 2013, “Waldviertel” was published by University of Regina Press, CPRC, in “The Art of Immersive Soundscapes“.
Gabriele Proy
Vienna-born Gabriele Proy is one of Austria’s best-known contemporary composers. In 2013 she received the Music Award of the City of Vienna, the city’s highest honour for music. From 2001 until 2013 she was the President of the European Forum Klanglandschaft. As a pioneer in the field of soundscape composition she has frequently been invited to give lectures and seminars at universities in Europe, Australia, Japan and Canada. Since 2011 she has taught music composition at the IES Abroad Vienna. Her award-winning compositions for choir, orchestra and chamber music have been performed by distinguished orchestras including the Munich Philharmonic Choir, the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Wiener Concert-Verein Orchestra, the Belarus State Chamber Orchestra and the European Union Youth Orchestra in Europe, Belarus, Turkey, Ukraine, China, Iran, Japan, Singapore, Canada, South America, USA and Australia.
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