Malte Giesen
German composer born 28 February 1988 in Tübingen.
Malte Giesen composed his first pieces at age 14. In 2007, he began studying composition and computer music at the State University of Music and the Performing Arts Stuttgart with Marco Stroppa and Oliver Schneller, before pursuing his studies at the Conservatoire de Paris with Gérard Pesson and at the Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin with Hanspeter Kyburz and Wolfgang Heiniger. He also took lessons with Beat Furrer, Georg Friedrich Haas, and Peter Ablinger, among others. He was selected as the composer representing Germany at the European Composer & Songwriter Alliance’s 2018 European Contemporary Composers Orchestra project in Brussels, which aimed to promote contemporary music.
In 2015, Giesen began teaching contemporary improvisation at the Karlsruhe University of Music and, in 2016, electroacoustic music at the Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin. He remains active in teaching new musics in various schools and conservatories. A founding member of the Klang Büros e.V. in Stuttgart, he also participated in Initiative für Neue Musik - SUONO MOBILE as well as the Neue Töne (New Tones) day at Open R Festival in Stuttgart.
His pieces have been played in Germany and abroad by the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Sonar Quartett, Quatuor Diotima, the sonic.art Saxophone Quartet, Ensemble Ascolta, ensemble recherche, ensemble mosaik, L’Instant Donnée, and Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, among others, and at festivals such as Donaueschingen Festival, Wien Modern, Klangwerkstatt Berlin, Acht Brücken Cologne, Ars Nova Rottweil, Blurred Edges Hamburg, and Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik. Giesen has been director of the Studio for Electroacoustic Music at the Academy of Arts in Berlin since 2021.
In 2016, the jury of the Composition Prize Carl von Ossietzky of the City of Oldenburg wrote that his compositional approach “is the result of tension between the individual and society, the realization of the self, and socio-political positioning.” Giesen himself affirmed this view, saying that “art does not need to be beautiful, but it must have power.” In fact, Giesen’s works contain a sizable political component. Whether with chamber music, solo electronics, or works for soloists or large orchestras, an accompanying video is often responsible for conveying this political aspect. Two examples are Wolfsschlucht (2019), a musical theater piece that works across the themes of the seven deadly sins, repressive migration policy, climate change, and even pornography, and FRAME (2020), a transmedia musical theater piece that critiques how one’s understanding of the world is informed by the media’s framing. In Stock footage piece 1- business (2019) Giesen turned his eye toward internet archives and their use in art, as is also the case in lowest common denominator (2017), which misappropriates a 1984 German music video that became a YouTube sensation, acquiring the title of fourth worst music video of all time. By reinterpreting this video, Giesen examines the relationship between the composer and their times, as well as the shifting nature of unpopularity.
His works are published by BabelScores and Verlag Neue Musik.
Prizes and Awards
- Composition Prize of the City of Stuttgart, 2017
- Composition Prize Carl von Ossietzky of the City of Oldenburg, 2016
- Winner of the Neue Szenen III competition of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, 2015
- Prize at the masterclass in orchestral composition of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, 2012
- Winner of the German Music Composition Competition, 2009
© Ircam-Centre Pompidou, 2021
Sources
Site du compositeur, Berliner Festspiele, Deutschlandfunk Kultur, arsmondo
- Solo (excluding voice)
- Double, double toil and trouble for solo harp (2010), 4 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- elec 8th litany for Heliogabalus for drums and live electronics (2011), between 6 mn and 10 mn, BabelScores
- elec upcycling study 2 (fast forward) for baritone saxophone and live electronics (2012), between 6 mn and 10 mn, BabelScores
- elec Die Oboe ist mächtiger als das Schwert hymn for a non-existent country, for oboe, live electronics, video score and DVD (2015), 15 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- Chamber music
- Insomnia for saxophone quartet (2008), 8 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- Tango Lineal for saxophone quartet (2010), 13 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- Study (...) for string trio (2011), 6 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- elec Divertimento (modifications des surfaces) for string quartet and tape (2013), 11 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- elec Mit Verlaub (gehoben, eine möglicherweise Ärger erregende Aussage einleitend) for two alto saxophones and live electronics (2013), 11 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- elec screening marketing research for group and public (2013), 5 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- elec septett for e-bay violins, amplifiers and electronic effects (2013), 14 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- unisono 1 for string quartet (2013), 8 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- elec endlosdisk for four instrumentalists and tape (2014), 20 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- elec trio (with remixed surface of Beethoven) for string trio and tape (2014), 10 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- elec Tu M for ensemble and sampler (2013-2014), 11 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- elec easy listening studies for small ensemble and tape (2015), 10 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- elec Stilisierung, mit explosions for contrabass clarinet, percussion, viola and live electronics (2015), 13 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- elec unisono 3: Singer-Songwriter for two guitars and electronics (2015), 16 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- elec Die Paradoxie der Sichtbarkeit for small ensemble and electronics (2016), 14 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- elec Die Paradoxie der Sichtbarkeit II for small ensemble and electronics (2016), 13 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- 4 Sätze une ein Intermezzo über Dichotomien und Kontinuen for guitar quartet (2018), 18 mn 4 s, Verlag Neue Musik
- four mouvements and an intermezzo on dichotomies and continua for guitar quartet (2018), between 16 mn and 20 mn, BabelScores
- elec ohne Titel (musikalische Makroaufnahme nach Brahms op. 119 no. 1) for flute, clarinet, harp, percussion and tape (2018), 20 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- stock footage piece 1: business for string quartet (2019), 17 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- Unisono 4: Reflexe for flute, clarinet, piano, percussion, violin and cello (2019), 13 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- elec Stock footage piece 2: type beats for two pianos, two percussionists and live electronics (2020), 15 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- Instrumental ensemble music
- 7th litany for Heliogabalus for ensemble (), 9 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- Fluchtversuche for large orchestra (2011), 15 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- instant composition for ensemble and optional video projection (2011), 5 mn 40 s, Verlag Neue Musik
- playlist three improvisation concepts for at least six instruments and students (2012), 13 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- elec A(unisono2)A – Teil 1 for large ensemble and electronics (2015), 10 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- elec flatrate_b for large ensemble and sampler (2015), between 11 mn and 15 mn, BabelScores
- elec lowest common denominator for ensemble, electronics and live video (2017), between 11 mn and 15 mn, BabelScores
- elec Massenprozession for chamber orchestra and 8-track electronics (2020), 20 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- Concertant music
- Surrogat/Extension for large ensemble and two pianists (2017), 20 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- elec Concerto for hyperreal piano and orchestra (2018), between 26 mn and 30 mn, BabelScores
- Konzert für hyperreales Klavier und Orchester for large orchestra and special piano installation (2016-2018), 30 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- Vocal music and instrument(s)
- elec flatrate for large ensemble, voices and sampler (2011), between 6 mn and 10 mn, BabelScores
- elec stage unicorn a micro-opera for four singers, large ensemble and sampler (2012), between 11 mn and 15 mn, BabelScores
- 88 dollars for soprano, viola and piano (2013), between 11 mn and 15 mn, BabelScores
- $88 or the poetry of capitalism for ensemble, piano and solo alto and soprano (2015), between 6 mn and 10 mn, BabelScores
- stage Tako Tsubo chamber opera (2017), between 31 mn and 40 mn, BabelScores
- elec stage Wolfsschlucht musical theater (2019)
- elec stage FRAME transmedia musical theater (2018-2020), 1 h 15 mn
- Electronic music / fixed media / mechanical musical instruments
- elec Massenprozession version for 8-track tape (2020), 20 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- 2020
- elec stage FRAME transmedia musical theater, 1 h 15 mn
- elec Massenprozession for chamber orchestra and 8-track electronics, 20 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- elec Massenprozession version for 8-track tape, 20 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- elec Stock footage piece 2: type beats for two pianos, two percussionists and live electronics, 15 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- 2019
- Unisono 4: Reflexe for flute, clarinet, piano, percussion, violin and cello, 13 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- elec stage Wolfsschlucht musical theater
- stock footage piece 1: business for string quartet, 17 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- 2018
- 4 Sätze une ein Intermezzo über Dichotomien und Kontinuen for guitar quartet, 18 mn 4 s, Verlag Neue Musik
- elec Concerto for hyperreal piano and orchestra, between 26 mn and 30 mn, BabelScores
- Konzert für hyperreales Klavier und Orchester for large orchestra and special piano installation, 30 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- four mouvements and an intermezzo on dichotomies and continua for guitar quartet, between 16 mn and 20 mn, BabelScores
- elec ohne Titel (musikalische Makroaufnahme nach Brahms op. 119 no. 1) for flute, clarinet, harp, percussion and tape, 20 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- 2017
- Surrogat/Extension for large ensemble and two pianists, 20 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- stage Tako Tsubo chamber opera, between 31 mn and 40 mn, BabelScores
- elec lowest common denominator for ensemble, electronics and live video, between 11 mn and 15 mn, BabelScores
- 2016
- elec Die Paradoxie der Sichtbarkeit for small ensemble and electronics, 14 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- elec Die Paradoxie der Sichtbarkeit II for small ensemble and electronics, 13 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- 2015
- $88 or the poetry of capitalism for ensemble, piano and solo alto and soprano, between 6 mn and 10 mn, BabelScores
- elec A(unisono2)A – Teil 1 for large ensemble and electronics, 10 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- elec Die Oboe ist mächtiger als das Schwert hymn for a non-existent country, for oboe, live electronics, video score and DVD, 15 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- elec Stilisierung, mit explosions for contrabass clarinet, percussion, viola and live electronics, 13 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- elec easy listening studies for small ensemble and tape, 10 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- elec flatrate_b for large ensemble and sampler, between 11 mn and 15 mn, BabelScores
- elec unisono 3: Singer-Songwriter for two guitars and electronics, 16 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- 2014
- elec Tu M for ensemble and sampler, 11 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- elec endlosdisk for four instrumentalists and tape, 20 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- elec trio (with remixed surface of Beethoven) for string trio and tape, 10 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- 2013
- 88 dollars for soprano, viola and piano, between 11 mn and 15 mn, BabelScores
- elec Divertimento (modifications des surfaces) for string quartet and tape, 11 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- elec Mit Verlaub (gehoben, eine möglicherweise Ärger erregende Aussage einleitend) for two alto saxophones and live electronics, 11 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- elec screening marketing research for group and public, 5 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- elec septett for e-bay violins, amplifiers and electronic effects, 14 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- unisono 1 for string quartet, 8 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- 2012
- playlist three improvisation concepts for at least six instruments and students, 13 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- elec stage unicorn a micro-opera for four singers, large ensemble and sampler, between 11 mn and 15 mn, BabelScores
- elec upcycling study 2 (fast forward) for baritone saxophone and live electronics, between 6 mn and 10 mn, BabelScores
- 2011
- elec 8th litany for Heliogabalus for drums and live electronics, between 6 mn and 10 mn, BabelScores
- Fluchtversuche for large orchestra, 15 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- Study (...) for string trio, 6 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- elec flatrate for large ensemble, voices and sampler, between 6 mn and 10 mn, BabelScores
- instant composition for ensemble and optional video projection, 5 mn 40 s, Verlag Neue Musik
- 2010
- Double, double toil and trouble for solo harp, 4 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- Tango Lineal for saxophone quartet, 13 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- 2008
- Insomnia for saxophone quartet, 8 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
- Date de composition inconnue
- 7th litany for Heliogabalus for ensemble, 9 mn, Verlag Neue Musik
Liens Internet
- Site du compositeur : www.malte-giesen.de
- BabelScores : www.babelscores.com
- Verlag Neue Musik : www.verlag-neue-musik.de
(liens vérifiés en septembre 2021).
Bibliographie
- Malte GIESEN, « Neue Musik zu Beginn des 21. Jahrhunderts und ihr Verhältnis zum traditionellen Instrumentarium », thèse de master pour l’obtention du diplôme universitaire de Maîtrise de musique en composition, Université de musique Hanns Eisler de Berlin, 2014.
- Malte GIESEN, « Strukturelle Integration von Video in zeitgenössische Komposition », thèse de master pour l’obtention du diplôme universitaire de Maîtrise de musique spécialité musique électronique, Université de musique Hanns Eisler de Berlin, 2016.
- Malte GIESEN, « Nicht-individuelle Musik. Zum Für und Wider ästhetischer Debatten », MusikTexte n° 146, août 2015, p. 58-62.
(liens vérifiés en septembre 2021).
Discographie
- Malte GIESEN, mit Verlaub, dans « Infinite Jest | Invading Pleasures », 1 CD Gruenrekorder, 2016, Gruen 156.