II- E-Guitars - On an Inhabited Planet
The second movement has a dialogic structure built into the score: two staves, one for each transducer, with performance indications—lullaby, singing, speaking, heated discussion—that suggest something closer to a conversation than a musical texture. During an improvisation session, I filmed myself, and a particular camera angle—frontal, close to the bass drum, tight on the skin—made the drum surface look like a stage and the two transducers like figures inhabiting a small, circular world. From that point, the process moved in the direction of puppet theatre. I developed a fictional world in considerable detail. The two transducers became characters— Dr. Melian Pirek, an experienced researcher, methodical and somewhat irritable, and Skael Urden, younger, impulsive, full of nervous energy—stranded together on an uninhabited planet after a crash. The fermata signs and short breaks in the score became scene divisions; the performance indications became relational attitudes between two interlocutors. I identified seven scenes, each with its own dramatic character, tracing an arc from a first encounter and an attempt at collaboration, through teaching, private brooding, conflict and estrangement, to a final fragile togetherness. The sounds produced by the transducers shift register depending on the dramatic context— sometimes functioning as the characters' research methods, sometimes as their language, sometimes as expressions of emotional states. The transducers do not speak in human language; instead, I use my own voice as an external narrator, giving the story a frame across the different scenes, alongside visual intertitles—scene numbers and temporal indications appearing on a black screen between scenes.
Plot
Scene 1: Meeting Two researchers, Urden and Dr. Pirek, enter the space from opposite sides. Their first encounter is tentative: surprise, hesitation, curiosity, and a cautious greeting. They approach the cymbals that form their research field, but while Dr. Pirek begins his work with calm assurance, Urden struggles to produce the elusive "H" sound and conceals his uncertainty behind a stream of questions.
Scene 2: Teaching Recognising Urden's frustration, Dr. Pirek steps away from his own work to share his experience. He demonstrates a simple sequence—breath, approach, touch, pressure, release—and patiently encourages Urden to try. Despite moments of progress, success remains inconsistent, and encouragement gives way to quiet frustration.
Scene 3: Nostalgic Song Time passes. Urden continues to practise obsessively while Dr. Pirek withdraws into an evening ritual before singing a nostalgic melody. Effortlessly, and almost absent-mindedly, the song ends with the very sound Urden has been chasing, bringing his practice to an abrupt halt.
Scene 4: Loud Music Several days later, the two have settled into a shared routine. Their contrasting working habits begin to clash: Dr. Pirek seeks silence and concentration, while Urden relies on loud music to remain focused and avoid loneliness. A disagreement escalates into an animated argument about methods, priorities, and authority, ending in an unresolved confrontation.
Scene 5: Conflict The conflict leaves both researchers withdrawn. They return to work from opposite sides of the space, their movements subdued and their attention divided between the research and each other.
Scene 6: Brooding, Murmuring In its aftermath, they retreat to opposite sides of the space. They return to their work separately, murmuring to themselves, absorbed in their own frustrations and unable to hear the other. Gradually, their complaints soften into attentive listening. Brief glances replace avoidance, revealing that they are struggling with the same difficulties.
Scene 7: Togetherness Slowly they move toward one another. Working side by side, they recognise a shared persistence rather than their differences. When Urden finally produces the "H" sound, both react with surprise and delight. The work closes with a moment of closeness, celebration, and shared discovery.