Irrgärten

Returning to EMPAC for a second residency, Hans Tutschku workshopped and recorded material for Irrgärten, a piece for two pianos and live electronics. The electronics were realized with two iPhones or two iPods running custom software, one for each pianist. The built-in microphone was used to detect piano notes and to synchronize the electronic sounds to the live part. The composer described the work as being about memory and comparable to a walk through different mazes (irrgärten). As the composition progresses, material is repeated, though the electronics alter the piano parts. As when walking through a maze and trying to get a picture of the path—certain places look similar but in reality are different—one gets trapped. Irrgärten premiered in 2011 at the Klub Katarakt Festival in Hamburg, Germany. Hans Tutschku is a German composer who has also taught at Harvard since 2004.