Anatomy of Sound
scored for flute (piccolo, alto flute, bass flute), clarinet in b flat (bass clarinet), viola, piano, percussion, mezzo soprano, live visuals, smartphone application and electronics (tape)
duration 40 minutes
Concept and Composition: Mathias Coppens
Visuals: Klaas Verpoest
App: Menno Buggenhout
The work is structured as a series of books, each devoted to a different anatomical domain of listening. In Book I – The Organs of Nutrition, sound is treated as a condition of life: breath, pulse, and resonance nourish the musical organism and set it in motion. The Organs of Generation offers a sonic landscape that is sensual and at the same time melancholic, a reflection on what sexuality can be.
Book II – The Ligaments and Muscles and Book III – The Veins and Arteries introduce tension and circulation. Rhythms contract and release, lines connect and transport energy. The music moves, flows, and responds to impulses from the audience.
With Book IV – The Nerves, the focus shifts to stimulus and reaction. Sound becomes nervous, immediate, and vulnerable. Book V – The Bones and Cartilages is an ode to memento mori, in which paintings of skulls and the human skeleton function as existential symbols. In Book VI – The Senses, brief poetic landscapes open up: …grass, blossoms at dawn…, …in the mist, forgotten moss…, …a shimmering silver lake, metal mirror moon…, …redwood, amber leaves….
What musical form could better capture the brain’s relentless activity than the fugue? This question lies at the heart of Book VI – The Brain. The journey culminates in Book VII – The Heart, where all processes converge in a pulsing center in which physicality, reason, and emotion coincide.
Book I The Organs of Nutrition
Book III The Veins and Arteries
Book I The Organs of Generation
Book II: The Ligaments and Muscles
Book IV: The Nerves
Book V: The Bones and Cartilages
Book VI: The Brain
Book VI: The Senses
...grass, blossoms at dawn...
...in the mist, forgotten moss...
...a shimmering silver lake, metal mirror moon...
...redwood, amber leaves...
Book VII: The Heart
Anatomy of Sound was commissioned by HERMESensemble and will be first performed at het Kanaal for Inspiratum on April 28 2026.
