© Yubin Krust
This duet is an encounter between a musician playing on a prepared piano and his digital shadow. Alexander’s piano is prepared with different objects which resonate and vibrate as he plays, and these sounds are manipulated in real time by Nicolas via his computer. The result is mysterious music, where we no longer know who is doing what. The two musicians manipulate the same sound, over which neither has total control, which brings them even closer than a ‘traditional’ duo. This creates poetic music that is sometimes abstract, sometimes powerful, even harsh, but also very intimate. The project started when the two musicians met in Arnhem, where they were both pursuing a Master degree; Alex was doing research on the prepared piano and Nicolas on the expressive possibilities of electronics applied to acoustic sounds.