This piece was the result of a triple commission made by the Dutch festivals Gaudeamus Muziekweek, November Music, and Grachtenfestival, written for the Finnish recorder virtuoso Juho Myllylä. Waves (For Juho Myllylä) is a 9 minutes composition for solo bass(et) recorder and sine waves. This work presents a study on primitive ways of sound synthesis through both acoustic and electronic means, the recorder being one of the oldest ways of acoustic sound production and the sine waves the simplest and purest possible tones that can be created.

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Rather than creating a dialogue between the two, what Waves (For Juho Myllylä) does is blend them in a single narrative line. The stillness of the sine waves’ harmonic structure provides stability and continuity, while the repetitive melodic lines of the recorder push the narration into a progressive movement. The electronics are programmed using the visual programming language Max MSP. They are automatically activated through frequency recognition, using a contact microphone as a sensor to register the different parameters that trigger the individual cues.

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This work was premiered on August 14th, 2023 during Grachtenfestival (Amsterdam), and performed by Juho Myllylä.