Emmanuel Holterbach, Blutwurst

Ricercar nell’Ombra grew out of a collaboration between French composer Emmanuel Holterbach and the seven-member Florence-based ensemble Blutwurst, both devoted to the acoustic investigation of slowly transforming sonic patterns. Conceived during residencies at Villa Strozzi and other venues across Florence, the project sets out to pay homage to Italian music history while inventing new forms through a deeply collaborative method. Holterbach’s admiration for Italian music across centuries led him directly to the elegant lines of Francesco Guami’s Ricercar III, whose opening melody becomes the harmonic and melodic DNA of the entire composition. The hour-long piece unfolds by repeatedly reshaping those foundational notes, layering pitches and chords to create a richly nuanced soundscape. Using techniques honed in his electroacoustic work, Holterbach enables the ensemble to generate a wide spectrum of densities and energies, capturing subtle shifts in light and shadow within the music.

Blutwurst’s instrumentation allows for a uniquely colored blend: breathy harmonium and bass clarinet are woven together with the bowing of strings and the gentle intrusion of trumpet, resulting in a texture that balances individual voices with a collective resonance. The ensemble never resorts to overt melody, instead cultivating sustained notes and ambient qualities that invite both attentive listening and environmental immersion. The bass serves as a core, supporting the changing surface above, while the rest of the group merges and separates across the arc of the music.

Ricercar nell’Ombra defies easy classification. Although ambient in its surface, the composition rewards repeated listening with layers that reveal themselves gradually; its perpetual movement invokes the feeling of walking under shifting penumbral light. The work is as much an experiment in collective creativity as a study in acoustic phenomena, shaped by Holterbach’s background in musique concrète and his penchant for “acousmagic” sound objects and spatial machines. The result is a vivid soundscape that is luxurious in its restraint yet brims with detail and subtle expressive force.