CREATIVITY

 “I sometimes wonder if my music is essential to the world. But people tell me that it inspires them to write or draw. That's what I liked about David Lynch. He stayed true to himself, didn't seek to become rich and famous, and inspired millions of people to become creative themselves.”

Hildur Gudnadóttir 

VIEWS OF MIND

 

Dear friends,

I am pleased to offer you on my Bandcamp page “Views of Mind,” the intimate ambient album that was released on the Shimmering Moods label at the end of July.

For those who appreciate the physicality of CDs and the unique “collector's item” value of a beautiful object with original packaging, I am also offering the last seven copies of a limited edition, which is now sold out.

Kind regards to all

Christian
——
“Views of Mind” continues my recent trend towards ambient chamber music, blending electronic soundscapes with acoustic instruments, and moving towards a kind of contemporary classical music.

Through its minimalism, this new album is introspective, unwinding the threads of a slow, fluid, serene and meditative musical reverie.

Like a sonic screen on which to project intimate films, “Views of Mind” encourages contemplative listening, away from the tumult of the world...” 

HEARING vs LISTENING

"The groundbreaking electronic music composer and educator Pauline Oliveros (...) dedicated a great deal of her life’s work to spreading her philosophy of Deep Listening, a series of practices and writings teaching the core differences between hearing and listening. 

 

Oliveros long meditated on the concept that hearing is involuntary in nature, while listening requires consciousness. 

 

This is to say, she made a strong case that the act of listening was virtually incompatible with multitasking. 

 

In the Oliveros tradition, listening is something that requires focused attention on the act of listening, to music or sound or the natural world or the person next to you."

 

Quoted in Liz Pelly, Mood Machine. The Rise of Spotify, p. 36.

 

ref: Pauline Oliveros, Deep Listening: A Composer’s Sound Practice (Deep Listening Publications, 2005).

WE LIVE IN A WONDERFUL AGE!

 

"It's a tidal wave that has begun to surge at an accelerated pace. And we don't yet fully understand its magnitude. At the beginning of 2025, 10% of the songs posted on the Deezer music streaming service were entirely generated by AI. Last April, that figure rose to 18%. By the start of the fall semester, nearly 28% of the tracks uploaded each day were affected, representing more than 30,000 titles daily. On Wednesday, November 12, Deezer revealed that 34% of new releases on the platform, or nearly 40,000 titles per day, are now entirely synthetic. In other words, in less than a year, the volume of artificial songs has more than tripled.

 

This trend does not only affect Deezer, the most transparent player on the market. All platforms, from Amazon Music to Apple Music and Spotify, are facing it. The Swedish giant recently revealed that it had removed 75 million unwanted tracks, whose creation was facilitated by advances in AI. This is a colossal amount, considering its catalog of 100 million songs..."

 

(Excerpt from Le Figaro newspaper website this morning!)

[Release] "Floating Indetermination (For Morton Feldman)"

 

 

 Dear friends,

I would like to share with you my new musical project, “Floating Indetermination (For Morton Feldman).”

It is a continuation of my previous work, a form of ambient music evolving towards contemporary, minimalist chamber music.

This album is a tribute to Morton Feldman, the American composer (1926-1987) whose instrumental work has been a source of inspiration for many ambient musicians, including Brian Eno.

Characterized by slowness, silence, and melodic sketches interspersed with sound objects that are echoed in different listening planes, “Floating Indetermination” seeks to explore new musical territories using electronic instrumentation, and in a way, blur the boundaries between ambient and contemporary and minimalist classical music.

The album contains over 90 minutes of music, including a 27 minutes extended version.

In the hope of sharing it as widely as possible, I am offering this album on my Bandcamp page on a “name your price” basis, thanking you in advance for your generosity if you wish to contribute...

QUIET EVENINGS

(BRIAN ENO - OBLIQUE STRATEGIES)

 

I remember

those quiet evenings

the song of swallows crossing the sky

the coolness of the air

the halo of my lamp

my fingers on the keyboard

the first notes carved into the silence

my eyes closed

a dream of music awakens

 

https://christianwittman.bandcamp.com/album/twilight 

GIORGIO III

 

So, when can we expect the VST version?

More seriously, this extraordinary modular synthesizer inspires several thoughts...

 

First, of course, hats off to the designers, Yves Usson and Pierre-Jean Tardiveau, for this extraordinary achievement...

 

We can only hope that this prototype will give Syntesla and French expertise in hardware synthesizer design maximum visibility... and perhaps pave the way for a range of instruments accessible to ordinary musicians...

 

We can also applaud the educational value of such a synthesizer for teaching the basics of sound synthesis...

 

But...

 

What are the uses of such a gigantic device?

 

We can obviously understand its appeal on stage, as a backdrop for Hans Zimmer's concerts. Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream's walls of synthesizers are ridiculously small in comparison... It's also the polar opposite of Kraftwerk's minimalist yet high-tech stage set up.

So Giorgio III is undoubtedly a hyperbolic and breathtaking stage device...

 

It won't be suitable for all concert halls, but Hans Zimmer doesn't seem to be aiming for the intimate atmosphere of jazz clubs at the moment.

 

How many operators are needed to manipulate such an ensemble live? One or two in front of each rack?

 

On the other hand, the real question is undoubtedly that of sonic and musical potential. Where is the added value? In the production of a “big sound” superimposing oscillators? In the possibility of programming completely new and never heard sequences and rhythms? How does it differ from the best existing hardware synthesizers, vintage or contemporary, or even from the most sophisticated virtual emulations?

 

In other words, beyond its sheer size, what is its potential for sonic and musical innovation?

 

It is undoubtedly too early to tell, as the few video clips of Zimmer's current concerts do not allow us to judge...

 

Will Giorgio III significantly change Zimmer's future soundtracks? Basses that make the walls and seats of multiplexes theaters shake? Layers and sequences like we've never heard before?

 

Is there still something to be invented in the sound and musical potential of large modular systems, after more than fifty years of experimentation in all directions, with Moogs, ARPs, Rolands, PPGs, and others?

 

Ultimately, we might question this maximalist temptation to always go bigger, more powerful, and beyond the norm, which runs counter to another current trend toward minimalism and simplicity, as well as the specialization of sound tools for innovative uses.

 

Does the future of electronic music lie in hyperbole, in always more (bigger, more powerful, etc.), or in subtraction, refinement, and simplicity?

 

Does the future lie in ever more massive and thunderous walls of sound produced by ever more excessive walls of synthesizers, or in innovation in terms of composition and musical structures, regardless of the instruments used?

 

Beyond its spectacular appearance, which makes it the ultimate fantasy of any musician who uses (or used) modular synthesizers, Giorgio III invites us to reflect on the evolution of electronic music and its potential for creative renewal.

 

Once again, we can't help but be impressed by the expertise and creative imagination of the designers of this system. There's no doubt that Hans Zimmer will make the best use of it in his concerts and future soundtracks!