Fantasy Studies

"...but this record is different: the cerebral and the visceral are artfully combined and the mystery of the music yields more with every listen...."
_{Chris Walters}

Reviews und Interviews

UISGE BEATHA [ɯʃkʲe ‘bɛha] – A Guide to Flavours for solo contrabass clarinet (2015)
Uisge Beatha, pronounced ushkeba, means “water of life”. In my piece, different whisky aromas are described in sounds, and the taste experience of liquid gold is transformed into a listening experience. 
I recommend enjoying an appropriately selected whisky with each movement!

1 the smooth flowing one
2 delicate spice and a whiff of smoke
3 mizuwari – mixed with water
4 nutty undertones
5 with a hint of sea salt
7 angels’ share
6 cigar box, smoky
8 peat monster

WÄNDELESEN for alto flute, bass clarinet, and violoncello (2016/17)
This piece was inspired by a text from a book by Sudabeh Mohafez: “das zehn zeilen buch”, ultra short stories about life, love, and writing. An attempt to capture the poetic atmosphere and let sounds speak.

CINNAMON ROSES for two clarinets (2018)
… the breath of the blossoms…

BLANDA for two tenor recorders (2016)
The Blanda, one of the longest rivers in Iceland, originates in the Hofsjökull glacier ice cap and flows into the Arctic Ocean. Here glacier water meets spring water and mixes in a magical way. The Icelandic verb “blanda” means “to mix”.

TROTZIG for three bass clarinets (2013)
The trio makes reference to Wassily Kandinsky’s aesthetic ruminations on hearing colours or seeing sounds as well as to his 1933 eponymous oil painting.

FANTASY STUDIES for flute (piccolo and alto flute), clarinet (E-flat and bass clarinet), soprano saxophone and spring drum, recorder (soprano, tenor, bass recorder) and triangle, and violoncello (2017)
Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited.
– Albert Einstein

1) unbeschwert
2) ruhig, elastisch
3) transparent
4) friedlich
5) Erzählung
6) frei, improvisando
7) launisch

MUSICIANS
Heinz-Peter Linshalm – contrabass clarinet, bass clarinet, clarinet, E-flat clarinet
Thomas Frey – alto flute, piccolo
Roland Schueler – violoncello
Alfred Reiter – soprano saxophone, spring drum
Thomas List – soprano, tenor, and bass recorder, triangle
Katharina Lugmayr – tenor recorder
Caroline Wüst – bass clarinet
Anna Koch – bass clarinet
Petra Stump-Linshalm – clarinet

History
My interest in contemporary music was sparked soon after I had begun studying clarinet at the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts. So intrigued was I by it that I decided to study bass clarinet at the Amsterdam University of the Arts. Already as a young musician I had worked regularly with the composers of the pieces I was playing, contributing actively to the realisation of compositional ideas and at the same time exploring the bounds of my own instrument. The desire to share my enthusiasm for contemporary music has spawned several musical theatre works with New Music for children, numerous pedagogical projects with young people and university students, as well as workshops on various subjects. With the formation of new chamber music projects and ensembles our existing repertoire has expanded steadily. More than 120 works have been composed for the Duo Stump-Linshalm alone. As a duo we also wrote the workbook “CLARINET UPDATE – New Music for Young Clarinet Players”, which was published by Doblinger. There have been awards, distinctions, and countless CD recordings over the years, and amid all this I have not neglected improvisation and the interpretation of classical music. I am also happy to be a senior lecturer in the Joseph Haydn Department of Chamber Music, Early Music and Contemporary Music at the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts and am grateful to be able to pass my experience on to the next generation.

At some point I began to wonder how my own music might sound; it took a while to write my first piece, but I soon began to enjoy imagining how I might express the taste of a particular whisky or the scent of a rose as sound or musically convey a visual image. Other times I would simply look into myself and explore my inner world of sounds. To me composing is not only about being free but about giving expression to my perception of the world. Usually clarinets play a major role in my compositions, for one thing because they are my constant companions and for another because they possess a surprising range of possibilities!

There are many contrasting aspects between interpreting and composing music, but I think the essential difference is that as an interpreter my focus is always to a certain extent on the listeners, I want to make them happy and to help convey the intention of the music; as a composer I am focused on myself and my own happiness.

For this opportunity in my life I would like to thank everyone who has encouraged, inspired, and supported me along the way, above all my husband Heinz-Peter Linshalm.

I hope my listeners enjoy this CD as much as I have enjoyed composing the pieces on it!
www.stump-linshalm.com