Ed Williams
Studies in Tonality*
This is a set of improvised studies made on the Clavemusicum Omnituonum, a harpsichord designed in1606 by Trasunto with 31 keys per octave. With this 2016 copy made by Markus Krebs for Studio31(Basel), I let the music unfold out of the gestures the hands were able to make thanks to the newpossibilities - and obstacles - created by such a keyboard. As a classically trained harpsichordist, Irelished the opportunity to fully embrace the oblique angles opened up by the keyboard’s disorientinglayout,…
Decomposition Study
Decomposition Study is a collaborative process. The instrument featured here is an arciorgano, a special microtonal organo di legno with two manually operated bellows and 36-key octaves across two manuals, constructed according to Nicola Vicentino’s designs from 1555. The notes of the music, written according to the rules of canonic contrapunto alla mente, are passed between two organists while four other musicians disrupt and amplify the organ’s airflow, acting similarly to cellular enzymes in …