Music from the Minimal Space
Sargasso are honoured to announce the release of Wo bin ich?, an acousmatic work of exceptional concentration by cellist and composer Christina Meißner, created during the COVID-19 lockdown as a commission from Deutschlandfunk. Taking its starting point from an essay by Bruno Latour, the piece approaches the question ‘Where am I?’ not as distance from the world, but as radical proximity, an attentive listening to what lies immediately at hand. The work explores this idea through a strict physical constraint on the cello: a margin of one centimetre. Within this minimal space, microscopic bow movements, subtle shifts of pressure, and minute changes of contact generate a dense and unpredictable sound world. The resulting sounds emerge as autonomous particles rather than expressive gestures, carrying the imprint of isolation without narration.
Known internationally for her close collaboration with composers and her commitment to contemporary repertoire, Christina Meißner presents here her first large-scale composition. Approaching the instrument as both performer and sonic explorer, she transforms the cello into a site of concentrated listening and research. Fragmented traces of a recorded voice appear only as sound material, extending the acousmatic space without assuming a narrative role. The title frames an act of listening rather than a statement. What begins in extreme limitation unfolds, in listening, into resonance and spatial breadth, suggesting that even the smallest space can contain an entire world.
TRACKS:
- Wo bin ich? [41:17]
CREDITS:
Christina Meißner: cello, voice, electronics
John Palmer: recordings and production
Produced at Vision Studio, Heilbronn/Stuttgart
A commission from Deutschlandfunk
www.christina-meissner.de
