Music by Sarah Wéry, Pieter Lenaerts & Annegret Mayer-Lindenberg

partners: Muziekcentrum De Bijloke, …

The musicians of Tiptoe Company enter into a musical biotope of shifting sounds, subtle drones and “instrumental distortion”.

Exploring the origins of bowing and plucking, the familiar Tiptoe instrumentation is expanded with a multitude of string instruments—and more. From Pythagoras’s monochord and the tromba marina (“nun’s trumpet”) to the Vietnamese đan bau, the Indian tanpura, the viola da gamba and violone, and even a “digital bass guitar” in the form of the LinnStrument.

In a new composition by Begian composer Sarah Wéry, natural and non-natural materials are set into vibration. Sound becomes a visual substance. The musicians are literally connected to one another by strings, seeking balance.

Pieter Lenaerts, double bassist of TC and composer, draws inspiration from natural laws (Pythagoras’s “harmony of the spheres”) and new scientific insights into the cosmos (Roger Penrose’s “string theory”). At the same time, Litanie de la taupe questions the obsessive tendencies displayed by the Western world in relation to concepts like “meditation” and “trance.” The tromba marina takes on a central role in the composition, dialoguing with other string instruments. The iconic composer Giacinto Scelsi figuratively looks over the musicians’ shoulders.

Cologne-based composer/violist/instrument maker Annegret Mayer-Lindenberg, who is well versed in composing for unusual string instruments such as the tromba marina and the viola d’amore, is writing a new work for Tiptoe Company, balancing on the edge of the audible.