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Teoniki Rożynek
Pathopoeia/Tomba Emmanuelle (LP, Fluo Green)
€21.60
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*200 copies limited edition* "Opposite directions, two different places, other means of expression—and the same extraordinary sensitivity with which Rożynek guides her sonic narrative. Two acousmonia, in which sound gradually gains vibration and density, finally blooming open and unfolding straight towards us. Pathopoeia is a term borrowed from the theory of rhetorical figures used in Baroque music—codified melodic progressions with specific assigned meanings. This figure leads sounds downward, inserting chromatic sighs, notes clashing with the tonal whole. According to some sources, it is not so much a figure as a concept serving to unleash tragic emotions, even to evoke suffering. The resemblance to the word pathos is no coincidence.
In Rożynek’s composition, the bass—foundation of the entire structure—descends gloomily along this path. Other layers are built from various recordings: street sounds, fragments of never-finished pieces.
In Rożynek’s composition, the bass—foundation of the entire structure—descends gloomily along this path. Other layers are built from various recordings: street sounds, fragments of never-finished pieces.
Retrieved from the composer’s vast archive—an old thirteen-year-old hard drive—they form, as she herself puts it, a kind of geological cross-section of her life’s history. She brought them into the acoustics of the Tonarium, spread them across spherical speaker arrays, and guided them gently along the X, Y, and Z axes. Tomba Emmanuelle is a museum-mausoleum created by Emanuel Vigeland. Its crypt is entirely covered in frescoes, where countless figures writhe and entwine. Inspired by ancient mythologies that never separated eroticism from death. All of it converges above in a strange barrel-vaulted ceiling, which fills the entire space with an uncanny reverberation. Though it could not be captured by a recorder, Rożynek managed to recreate it synthetically in the studio and conjure its spirit anew.
The electronic layer immersed in this resonance is built largely from microsamples. The composer peeled them off warped, skipping gramophone records—joyfully discovered at her lodging in Ghent, during a collaboration with a local theatre. Added to this are 22 voices (vocal and instrumental) and 22 sound channels, creating a sonic monument in which one could sit endlessly." - Marta Konieczna
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