The 24-piece Splitter Orchester has teamed up with The Pitch for its third disc. Frozen Orchestra is one single work that runs exactly 60 minutes.
Described in its notes as “a very slowly moving field of harmonic relationships consisting of so-called pitch sets, which are augmented by noise sets,” it features a titanic, haunting performance.
Perhaps better suited for a midwinter launch, Frozen Orchestra is nonetheless one of this spring’s most dramatic releases.
The musicians were each tasked with choosing from a collection of intervals (a music theory term that describes the space between two pitches) or noises over the course of the hour. The result is constantly shifting harmonics and textures.
Put more simply, imagine what Phil Spector’s famous “wall of sound” would’ve sounded like in the hands of Genesis P-Orridge.
The Frozen Orchestra has developed an international following, having been welcomed at the Sonic Acts Festival in Amsterdam, Moscow’s Platform Project, Roter Salon/Volksbühne in Berlin and the GAS Festival in Gothenburg.