Reflections

Reflections

Reflections First performance at Nicolai kyrka, Örebro -99
EAM
Duration: 9´03
Composed: 1999
Co-composer: Jens Hedman
Exists in 2, 8 or 12-channel version

Other performances

Thomas church in Västerås -99
Maria Magdalena church i Stockholm -99
Rien á voir, Canada -99
Paris 8 univ., 01
City university in London -01
Bonk festival, Florida –01
Visby, Gotland –02
“Kretsar kring strängar”, Fylkingen -03
“Gnissel, skrap och stråkdarr”, Gävle -04
“Elektronisk Pingst”, Rålambshovsparken, Stockholm -04
The Netherlands radio -04
Swedish Radio P2 -04
EAM-webcast -06

 

Released on CD Currents:
Elektron EM 1002 www.elektron.nu

Program notes: www.elektron.nu/em1002.html
Reviewed in English at:http://home.swipnet.se/sonoloco6/Elektron/elektronfr.html

Review 1 (3)
http://home.swipnet.se/sonoloco6/Elektron/elektronfr.html
Written by Ingvar Loco Nordin

” The last piece on this – I dare say – revolutionary new EAM CD from Elektron, is again a collaboration between young composers Paulina Sundin and Jens Hedman; “Reflections” (1999). Now, could it be that these guys are aware of the Bardo Thödol – The Tibetan Book of the Dead –, which has lately evolved dramatically through Western minds like Karlheinz Stockhausen and others, dispersing spiritual awareness far and wide? Could it be? The description of the work in the CD leaflet reads: “Reflections is a symbolic journey through life, traveling from birth to death and disappearing into a tranquil pureness…” Now, nothing is mentioned of a rebirth, but it sort of lingers at the end of the sentence…

Anyhow, the music is really wasting me, with drone-like horizons of deep sounds and fast, curly and sharp movements right in front of my eyes, like occasional wind shield wipers in a heavy rain on the road from Särkisalmi to Parikkala and a love so strong by Lake Saimaa in medio of June that even Väinömöinen’s passion for the elusive Aino grows pale in comparison… He who has ears, let him hear…
I have been through – on this CD – a wondrous fairytale adventure of enchanted events and violet dreams, in a luminous preview of the Bardo state of the hereafter, and it all ends with that straight line on the electrocardiogram, when the spirit has left through the Brahma opening on top of the skull, and is floating out like the spirit of the old man in John Holm’s legendary song “Ett enskilt rum på Sabbatsberg” (“A Private Room at Sabbatsberg”) (A Stockholm hospital).
I am grateful for this sound art of Paulina Sundin and Jens Hedman. It has been much more than could ever have been expected. This is the electroacoustic CD of the year for an EAM aficionado like myself!”

Review 2 (3)
Tritonus Nr 1/2001
Written by Daniel Hjort

“Betydligt starkare intryck får jag av den avslutande REFLECTIONS (1999). Här skapar de båda upphovsmännen en suggestiv resa genom aldrig hörda landskap. Bilder blir till rörelser blir till former blir till uttryck blir till…
Valet att lägga detta stycke sist är dessutom mycket passande eftersom Hedman och Sundin här bygger upp en ljudvärld som mot slutet kommer till sin nollpunkt då klangväven slutligen samlar sig runt ett ljuds minsta beståndsdel – dess DNA – sinustonen.”

Review 3(3)
20 September 1999, Nerikes Allehanda
Written by Anna Lundström

“Paulina Sundin och Jens Hedmans “Reflections” är ett oerhört suggestivt stycke musik för band. Stycket utgår från ett tidigare av dessa två tonsättare, “Inside Round”, som framförts vid en rad festivaler världen över. “Reflections” är ett klangligt fyrverkeri som uppfyller varje skrymsle av kyrkorummet. En rent fysisk upplevelse där de låga frekvenserna känns i bröstkorgen. Stycket presenteras som en “symbolisk resa genom livet till ett uppgående i en stilla renhet”. Den stilla renheten gestaltas av en sinuston. “Reflections” är det enda av styckena som i mitt tycke verkligen utnyttjade rummets möjligheter. Titeln skulle kunna vara en slags beteckning för mötet mellan musik och ljuskonst överhuvudtaget. Ljud och ljus uppför sig likartat i det avseendet, de behöver ytor för att reflekteras.”

Program note/Info

REFLECTIONS (by Paulina Sundin and Jens Hedman) is based on our earlier piece, Inside Round, which was made for computer animated video and EAM. Like the earlier piece, Reflections is a symbolic journey, a reflection of life, travelling from birth towards death and purity. Reflections was composed for a concert tour with the theme Life and Death, visiting churches around Sweden in 1999. The piece is also available in 8 and 12-channel versions and these have been performed at, among other places, the Rien à Voir Festival in Canada in 1999.