EMP 10

Svævninger

By Jonas Olesen

Among Else Marie Pade’s surviving reel-to-reel tapes, there are a number of undated so-called ‘material tapes’ – that is, tapes not containing finished works, but rather sonic material that might later be used. Among these are two tapes, both titled Svævninger (Beatings). Both contain sonic material that appears to consist exclusively of sine tones and explore the phenomenon known as beatings, which occurs when two tones with nearly identical frequencies are played simultaneously – the sound ‘shivers’, or ‘floats’, as Pade described it. She employed this technique in a wide range of works – so many, in fact, that it could almost be described as her sonic signature. 

It is unclear whether Pade achieved the effect by manually layering sine tones of different frequencies or by other means, but at the time, the Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR) actually possessed a so-called beat frequency oscillator, a machine designed specifically for this purpose. The device was manufactured by the Danish company Radiometer as a piece of test equipment and can be seen behind Pade in several photos of her working at DR’s studios in the early 1960s.

What distinguishes the Svævninger tapes from Pade’s other material tapes is that the longer of the two appears so carefully worked through and ‘composed’ that it takes on the character of an actual piece. The shorter tape, by contrast, consists only of static, high-frequency tones. For clarity, the two tapes are referred to here as Svævninger (long) and Svævninger (short). It is the long version of Svævninger that comprises a significant part of the sonic material in the collaborative work which sound artist Jacob Kirkegaard and Else Marie Pade, completed in 2012. Both of the original recordings from Pade’s reel tapes have been included here, not only because they are musically interesting in their own right, but also because they allow the listener to identify sonic elements within Pade and Kirkegaard’s collaborative work.

The idea for the collaboration arose after Pade attended a concert by Jacob Kirkegaard at the Medical Museion in 2007, where he performed Labyrinthitis, a work based on so-called otoacoustic emissions – sounds produced by the human ear itself. After the performance, the two of them spoke about the similarities between Kirkegaard’s work and Pade’s own explorations of beatings and interference tones. Their collaboration was thus composed using a combination of Pade’s tapes and Kirkegaard’s recordings of otoacoustic tones.

From the beginning of her career, Pade had been accustomed to collaborating with others on electronic compositions. Nearly all her works produced in the Danish Broadcasting Corporation’s studios were created in collaboration with on-site technicians, who sometimes played a purely technical role, while at other times they were directly involved in the compositional process.

Svævninger consists of six movements entitled Cirrocumulus, Cirrostratus, Stratus, Altocumulus, Cumulonimbus, and Nimbostratus, along with a ‘bonus track’, titled Bortdragende regnskyer (Departing Rainclouds). All the movements were named after cloud formations which underscores how the sonic material can assume many different forms. Through the work Pade’s original sonic explorations appear in a variety of reworkings – some recognisable from her original tapes, others heavily altered. The cloud analogy also reflects something of the music’s underlying mood and tempo, which is generally slow and pulsing, with overlapping sonic textures that interfere in undulating movements. The only exception is Nimbostratus, which uniquely features a rhythmic element in the form of acoustic percussion from an unknown source.

Each of the movements in Svævninger offers a self-contained listening experience, while also contributing to a cohesive whole.

Pade and Kirkegaard presented the work together in a concert at Studio 2 in the Radiohuset as part of the Wundergrund Festival. At this point, Pade was living in a care home, and the event marked her final public appearance. A contemporary review in the music magazine Seismograf describes how, during the concert, the two ‘glance at each other and smile – speak briefly to one another. They are present. It is Kirkegaard who operates the mixing desk and laptop, but he continually checks in with small looks and words to ensure that it also sounds the way Pade believes it should. There is an intimacy between them, and between the audience and the stage’. (Rasmus Holmboe: Sfæriske svævninger og høje omdrejningstal, Seismograf, 2012.)

Pade had not composed an electronic work since 4 Illustrations in 1995, which was also based on reworkings of older material from the 1960s. One exception was a remix she made in 2007 together with composer Thomas Knak of Martin Hall’s track Illustration (Finale). Svævninger thus represents Pade’s final electronic composition and stands as the most tangible example of the inspiration she passed on to a younger generation of composers.

Some years later, Jacob Kirkegaard initiated the collection and digitization of a selection of Pade’s electronic works. This resulted in the release Electronic Works 1958–1995 (2014) on the American label Important Records, which has been reissued multiple times and has played a major role in introducing Pade’s music to an international audience.