Album Notes

the idea behind æ is to use harmonic and rhythmic language developed by mid-20th century classical composers such as Arnold Schoenberg, Gyorgy Ligeti, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Pierre Boulez, Olivier Messiaen, Toru Takemitsu and others in an improvisational context. when the music is composed in the moment, a more immediate, direct connection between emotion and sound is possible. we find the angular, hyper-expressive vocabulary of 20th century masters beautiful in its unpredictability and verve, and challenge ourselves to discover a personal take on the genre.

Æ is:
Daniel Mintseris on piano, sampler, electronics
and
Dave Eggar on cello.

the 12 Convolutions on the album, 7 are for piano and cello ("Side A" - for Acoustic) , 3 are for cello and sampler ("Side E" - for Electronic), and 2 are for piano, cello, and modular synthesizer ("Trio").

the Nord Modular synthesizer, made by Clavia, is able to create self-evolving electronic compositions based on programmed "patches." the online Nord Modular community has shared thousands of patches with the world, and a few of them are used in Convolutions xi and xii as the 3rd member of the Trio.