Maya Bennardo, Etienne Nillesen & Kristofer Svensson
For Violin, Snare & Kacapi
Released February 21, 2025
About the release
For Violin, Snare & Kacapi presents a single-take, 50-minute improvisation performed by a new trio consisting of Maya Bennardo (violin), Etienne Nillesen (snare drum), and Kristofer Svensson (kacapi), recorded in January 2024 at Atlantis Grammofon in Stockholm, Sweden.
On this album, the musicians improvise on Āsthita, a tuning and modality in 13-limit Just Intonation constructed by Svensson around the discrete pitches of Nillesen’s original, tonal 15″ snare drum practice.
Unlike other modal frameworks for improvisation constructed by Svensson, Āsthita presents solely a collection of pitches and their harmonic relationships. It does not dictate progressions through the modality or any melodic motifs. Instead, the musicians engage in a process of collectively learning the mode and discovering its inherent movements and rests. It is about perceiving the pitches’ inner life and feeling–a process similar to what Bashō had in mind when writing about “learning about a pine tree from a pine tree and about a bamboo plant from a bamboo plant”.
Through such learning, the musicians develop music in which a deeply informed articulation of the pitch space is combined with a free, unfettered approach to sound. Their method has similarities to both contemporary free and traditional modal forms of improvisation. The harmonic space of tones and the timbral complexities of sounds themselves are pursued with the same meditative focus. The result is a music of both ritual austerity and melodic lyricism.
About the performers
Maya Bennardo is a performer and composer living in Stockholm, Sweden. She is a founding member of the violin/viola duo andPlay, described by I Care If You Listen as “enthusiastic champions for new music and collaboration”. She performs new and traditional repertoire for violin and piano with pianist Karl Larson in their Bennardo-Larson Duo and has previously been a member of the internationally renowned Mivos Quartet. She works closely with improvisers, Etienne Nillesen, Lisa Ullén, Erik Blennow-Calälv, and Kristofer Svensson where she explores subtle noise shifts, Justly tuned harmonies, and the close timbral relationships between instruments.
Etienne Nillesen is a snare drum player who pushes the boundaries of the instrument’s tonal and harmonic possibilities through innovative techniques and a meticulous approach to sound. By employing circular motions and precise control of contact points, he draws out an extensive range of pitches, harmonics, and overtones from the drumhead. His work reimagines the snare drum as a complete sonic entity, transforming it from a percussive instrument into a rich source of melodic and harmonic material. His interest in diverse forms of music and art has given him the opportunity to work alongside artists and composers such as Nate Wooley, Axel Dörner, Christian Wolff, Ingar Zach, Sarah Davachi, Michael Thieke, Marta Warelis, Magda Mayas and Sofia Jernberg.
Kristofer Svensson is a kacapi musician and composer from Sweden. Svensson’s solo composition for justly tuned kacapi, Andra Segel, was released in 2020 on the kuyin label, and a trio album, two skies, with Maya Bennardo and Erik Blennow Calälv was released in 2022 on the thanatosis label. Svensson’s music has been performed by soloists and groups such as Miyama McQueen-Tokita, Quatuor Bozzini and the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, and at festivals such as MATA (US), Frequency Festival (US), and Edition Festival for Other Music (SE).
Tracklist
1. Improvisation on Āsthita, January 2, 2024
50:35
Credits
Recorded by Calle Gustavsson at Atlantis Grammofon in January 2024.
Mixed and mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi.
Artwork: Eva Jeske, 204.
Photography by Eva Jeske.
Album design by Kristofer Svensson.
photos by Eva Jeske