Juan J.G. Escudero - Ice Door (2024)

To the bemusement of the rest of us, mathematicians often describe certain equations, processes, and proofs as “elegant,” “beautiful,” or even “sensuous.” Artworks based on algorithms, conversely, might seem less predisposed to such descriptions. But what if those complex calculations actually produced perceptibly emotional qualities?

Take, for example, the work of Spanish composer-mathematician Juan J.G. Escudero. His cult classic, Shapes of Inner Timespaces (Neuma 134, 2021), evoked such responses as:

“What first strikes one on listening is how gorgeous the sounds are. They are transformational and flowing, waterlogged wet and sometimes metallically plated for an ever-evolving beauty, often pitched yet highly charged with atmosphere and vividly colored. … this is some of the finest electroacoustic music I have heard in a long time and that it makes me want to hear more! That’s the kind of listening experience I hope for every time I listen to new New Music.” – Gapplegate ClassicalModern

Ice Door, his new album, follows a similar acousmatic trajectory but adds two substantial works for acoustic instrumental ensembles. Páginas de Mar and Coincidence Threshold put flesh on the bones of their esoteric workings, and — as performed by some of New York’s most acrobatic virtuosi — bring a whole new emotional immediacy to their deep structural coherence.

As the composer states: “The works on this album employ raw materials obtained from the musical applications of some mathematical techniques found through my parallel research work in geometry, astronomy and – in the case of some of the acousmatic works – improvisation.”

Hinting at the impetus for some of the compositions, he adds: “For the purpose of modelling the behaviour of the light curve of certain multi-periodic variable stars, word sequences belonging to a formal language, where the letters represent sinusoidal fragments, were proposed… Harmonic fields related to the stellar behaviour with multiple periods are then obtained from the Fourier analysis of the function formed by concatenation of the sinusoidal fragments according to the sequences of letters appearing in the words.”

Hear it for yourself. Perhaps while staring at Escudero’s richly-organic visual imagery produced by analogous means. Calculators not required.

Tracklist:
1.01 - Juan J.G. Escudero, Christopher Gross, Molly Morkoski, Emilie-Anne Gendron, Benjamin Grow, Josh Perry - Páginas de Mar (feat. Emilie-Anne Gendron, Christopher Gross, Molly Morkoski, Josh Perry & Benjamin Grow) (9:54)
1.02 - Juan J.G. Escudero - Sur la Pente du Talus (7:03)
1.03 - Juan J.G. Escudero - Das Wort als Horizont (7:25)
1.04 - Juan J.G. Escudero - Underland A20 (9:04)
1.05 - Juan J.G. Escudero - Ice Door (12:15)
1.06 - Juan J.G. Escudero, Christopher Gross, Molly Morkoski, Benjamin Fingland, Benjamin Grow - Coincidence Threshold (feat. Benjamin Fingland, Christopher Gross, Molly Morkoski & Benjamin Grow) (10:03)