Back Interpreting Quantum Randomness, new release in the Phonos Netlabel

Interpreting Quantum Randomness, new release in the Phonos Netlabel

A project by Reiko Yamada and Maciej Lewenstein with contributions by guest improvisers and composers
05.05.2022

Imatge inicial

The third reference in the Phonos Netlabel is an album conceptualised by Reiko Yamada and Maciej Lewenstein, which counts with the participation of guest composers and improvisers, such as Barbara Held, Ilona Schneider, Artur Majewski, Andrés Lewin-Richter, Vasco Trilla and Ángel Faraldo. This digital edition will be shortly released in vinyl. If you want to get a physical copy, please pre-order by writing us an email, because we have the feeling they are going to flight soon. For now, you can purchase your digital copy at our Bandcamp label site.

Interpreting Quantum Randomness is an interdisciplinary research project conducted by composer and sound artist Reiko Yamada and quantum physicist Maciej Lewenstein at ICFO (Institute of Photonic Sciences). This unusual collaboration stems from their common interest in quantum randomness, an area in which Lewenstein is a leading expert. Together with other researchers at ICFO, they had countless conversations on this subject and other key concepts in quantum physics to arrive to the concept of the album.

With methods combining both digital and analogue tools, Yamada created sound gestures and graphic notations for improvising musicians (Barbara Held, Artur Majewski, Ilona Schneider, Vasco Trilla). Additionally, the team commissioned two composer-performers, Andrés Lewin-Richter and Ángel Faraldo to create their own interpretations from quantum random data.

The album was recorded at Phonos, Barcelona, on 27 and 28 October 2021, with kind support from ICFO. It was presented live at the AI+Music Festival organised by Sónar at CCCB, Barcelona, on October 28th, 2021.

Credits

concept: Reiko Yamada and Maciej Lewenstein
artistic direction: Reiko Yamada

Ángel Faraldo: drum machine and objects (4); fixed media (6)
Barbara Held: flute (2, 3)
Andrés Lewin-Richter: fixed media (5)
Artur Majewski: cornet and electronics (1, 3)
Ilona Schneider: voice (2, 3)
Vasco Trilla: percussion (3, 5)
Reiko Yamada: analog synthesizers (1, 3), fixed media (1, 6), graphic scores (1,2,3)

recording engineer: Ángel Faraldo
mixed by Artur Majewski and Ángel Faraldo
mastered by Sebastián García Ferro

special thanks to Samuele Grandi, Albert Aloy, Luca Barbiero, Gorka Muñoz-Gil and Antoine Reserbat-Plantey

Interpreting Quantum Randomness at AI+Music Festival. Photo: Alba Rupérez.

 

Track descriptions

1) Majewski, Yamada: Rabi

The opening track Rabi performed by Majewski on cornet with live electronics and Yamada on analog synthesizers follows the tape part created by quantum random data. This particular data was taken from rabi oscillation’s spontaneous emissions, whose time-interval information are placed in Fourier axis in sound synthesis, producing various musical timbres. Majewski and Yamada’s spontaneous response to this quantum data serves as the core element in this track. The data was provided by Samuele Grandi at ICFO.

 

2) Held, Scheider: Linear transformation

The score for Linear transformation was produced following a sequence of graphics created by Yamada based on this mathematical concept. A linear transformation is a mapping between two vector spaces that preserves the operations of vector addition and scalar multiplication. After studying the scores provided by Yamada, Held and Schneider took freedom in creative expressions while still following closely and faithfully the score. Resulting sound gestures are both calculated and spontaneous at the same time, leaving the mysterious echoes to anyone who listens to this track.

 

3) Held, Majewski, Schneider, Trilla, Yamada: Uncertainty principle

Uncertainty principle is a collective improvisation where the musicians interpret the graphic notation based on quantum randomness provided by Yamada. This track is performed by Held on flute, Majewski on cornet and live electronics, Schneider on voice, Trilla on multiple percussions and Yamada on analog synthesizers.

 

4) Faraldo: Un soroll més pur...

Un soroll més pur... (A purer noise, in English) is an open algorithmic composition for drum machine and resonating objects. A quantum noise generator provided by researchers at ICFO generates random sequences in the drum machine. The performer plays with these sequences, recording, triggering and amplifying them through different objects. Un soroll més pur... is an attempt to find some order in chaos, creating automatic patterns that we familiarize with through repetition. This way, even the purest noise (quantum randomness), becomes comprehensible if just for an illusory moment.

 

5) Lewin-Richter, Trilla: ICFO

For the fifth track, ICFO, Lewin-Richter created a fixed media composition based on the quantum random number sequence of the Rabi oscillation, which controls various aspects of the musical structure, such as envelopes and delay lines. Over this soundtrack, Trilla improvises on percussion, reaching moments of great intensity and subtlety alike.

 

6) Faraldo, Yamada: Probability cloud

Probability cloud is a collaborative track created by Faraldo and Yamada. The materials were slowly developed by the exchange of raw sounds between Faraldo and Yamada, each time editing, processing, and adding additional materials to each other’s addition. Probability cloud refers to a distribution through a region of space of the probability of detecting a given particle, such as an electron in orbit around the nucleus of an atom, determined by the wave function of the particle.

Multimedia

Profiles of the protagonists:

Reiko Yamada
Maciej Lewenstein
Artur Majewski
Barbara Held
Ilona Schneider
Vasco Trilla
Andrés Lewin-Richter
Ángel Faraldo
ICFO

Categories:

SDG - Sustainable Development Goals:

Els ODS a la UPF

Contact