CD – Kohlhaas

Alessandro Bosetti, a sound artist originally from Milan and currently based in Marseille, has built his research on an alchemy of fragments. Always fascinated by the metamorphosis of digital archives into musical scores, Bosetti weaves hidden correspondences between different sounds, carefully manipulating sound materials – both found and purposely arranged. His work develops through the patient decomposition and reassembly of human voices, the juxtaposition of apparently distant timbres and tonalities, and the analysis of the characteristic traits of each vocal expression, from everyday speech to the most elaborate singing. On Portraits de Voix, Bosetti combines the technique of professional singers (soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, baritone and bass) with anonymous voices captured in different locations, creating a balance between male and female presences. This vocal material is deconstructed and recomposed into a palimpsest comprised of three distinct levels: a polyphonic structure – realised through the meticulous collage of countless fragments and the vocal writing for a portraitist – an electroacoustic composition, and an immersive stage architecture. The effect is both that of an alienating musical theatre and an experimental radio drama crowded with disembodied voices: a whole that transcends simple sound reproduction to explore the sculptural properties of language. Each element is arranged in a sound field that oscillates between the familiar and the unknown, between the recognisable and the transformed, allowing the listener to navigate through vocal landscapes that defy traditional narrative conventions. The physical release of the work, expertly mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi and with artwork by Canedicoda, crystallizes this sonic architecture in a form that maintains the creative tension of the live performance. This is a document that bears witness not only to the evolution of Bosetti’s compositional practice, but also to a method of investigation into human communication, its hidden rhythms and its multiple semantic stratifications. The recording preserves the energy of the performance, capturing that ephemeral and transitory quality that characterizes the encounter between technology, structured composition and guided improvisation. The project, the result of an international collaboration that includes institutions such as GMEM, Deutschlandfunk Kultur and Neue Vocalsolisten, is part of a tradition of European sound research that questions the boundaries between contemporary music, sound art and performance.

 

Alessandro Bosetti with Neue Vocalsolisten – Portraits de Voix