for large orchestra. Based on the photographs FIND A WAY OR MAKE ONE, from the artistic project by Anastasia Mityukova.
The Composition
Eisblumen, with a duration of approximately 13 minutes and 30 seconds, draws its deep inspiration from the artistic project by Anastasia Mityukova entitled FIND A WAY OR MAKE ONE. This multidisciplinary project investigates the controversial historical account of Robert Peary, the explorer who in 1909 claimed to have reached the North Pole—an achievement later disproved by scientific discoveries revealing his falsification. Peary manipulated his diaries by adding meteorological data and inventing events, and in the final days of his journey chose to continue with a crew unable to read compasses or maps, thus facilitating the fabrication of his reported positions.
Mityukova’s work reinterprets this narrative through the use of found materials—old photographs, webcams, books, diaries, Polaroids, and, most notably, ice—in order to construct her own “version of the journey”. Her intention is to question the stereotyped vision of the Arctic and the types of images that shape the identity of a landscape. Among her evocative images are surveillance cameras placed in the Swiss mountains recalling Arctic conditions, altered Polaroids depicting constellations from the North Pole, manipulated photographic archives, an igloo built on a tennis court, and representations of the aurora borealis obtained from chemical stains on Polaroids.
The very title of the piece, Eisblumen (“ice flowers”), immediately evokes fragility, ephemeral beauty, and the transient nature of ice. The composer’s intention is to explore “atmospheres, sounds, soundscapes, and colors that melt and liquefy”. This poetic vision is closely linked to the themes of ice and mutability present in Mityukova’s project, as well as to Peary’s deceptive narrative and to the ambiguous perception of a landscape that is both fascinating and elusive.
Orchestral Forces
The orchestra includes flutes (with piccolo), oboes (with English horn), B♭ clarinets (with bass clarinet), bassoons (with contrabassoon), four horns with various mutes, two trumpets and three trombones (with cup, harmon, and straight mutes), timpani, an extensive percussion section (suspended cymbals played with felt, brushes, or sticks; crotales; xylophone; vibraphone played with soft mallets, hard mallets, and bow), and a large string section (minimum 8 first violins, 6 second violins, 5 violas, 5 cellos, and 3 double basses).
Techniques
Microtonality and Trills: The use of quarter tones and semitone trills introduces subtle instability and a “blurring” of pitch, evoking the shimmer of ice or indistinct perceptions.
Mutes and Stopped Sounds: Indications such as “sord.” (with mute) and “gest.” (stopped sound for horns) produce muffled, distant, or metallic sonorities, recalling the vastness and silence of the Arctic landscape.
Extended Techniques: Flatterzunge (flutter-tongue) generates a vibrating, abrasive sound, while “blares” indicate a loud, metallic tone. These techniques add timbral variety, suggesting both the fragility and the power of natural elements.
Random and Spaced Notes: Brief notes in random order (from one to four notes per second) are employed to create dense or fragmented textures, as well as “more or less evenly spaced notes” (not too precisely) within a given time span, contributing to a sense of indeterminacy.
Glissandi and Dissolutions: These elements are central to evoking melting processes:
Multiple Glissandi with Arbitrary Destinations: Each string player slides toward an arbitrary destination within a specified interval, creating a sonic halo or a true dissolution of discrete pitches.
Slow, Diverging Multiple Glissandi: The strings begin in unison with harmonic tremolo and gradually widen their finger spacing in a slow, continuous glissando, with arbitrary speeds and limits within a given interval. This technique vividly represents liquefaction and progressive fragmentation.
Non-linear Dynamics: The piece includes “highly non-linear crescendi”, in which most of the dynamic increase is concentrated in the final portion of a gesture, creating growing tension and sudden moments of rupture or full sonic expansion.
In summary, Eisblumen by Andrea Ravizza emerges as a work that translates the visual and conceptual inspiration of the project Find A Way Or Make One into a richly nuanced musical language. Through innovative orchestral techniques, the piece powerfully evokes the image of melting ice, ambiguous perceptions, and continuous sonic transformations that reflect the fragility, beauty, and mutability of polar landscapes—and perhaps, the fluidity of truth itself.