Pendants for ensemble, live electronics and live video was commissioned and premiered by Ensemble l'Itineraire, conducted by Dominique Dournaud in Paris 28/4 2009. The piece was commissioned with help from Concerts Sweden and was composed in collaboration with Art Zoyd and technical assistant Carl Faia. The piece is in three movements that are also available as three independant pieces – Pendant I, Pendant II and Pendant III. The basic musical ideas in Pendants comes from the hanging bells at the back of the scene, the erratic rhythms created from the rubber balls attached to a Gran Cassa and the pending movements of my own hand. I have made extensive improvisations and playing on an instrument I've built using a Wacom drawing board and a computer. I programmed an environment where I can control the harmonic and rhythmic framework and then, using a pen on the drawing board, I can play freely within this framwork. This is the utlimate tool for me who has always searched for controlled freedom using improvisation in different ways.
Jesper Nordin.