Music for Sixth-tone Harmonium, by Ian Mikyska & Fredrik Rasten

Music for Sixth-tone Harmonium

by Ian Mikyska & Fredrik Rasten

supported by

	/

Streaming + Download

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

"In" and "Concord" with seamless playback included as hidden bonus tracks with each purchase.

Purchasable with gift card

€9 EUR or more
Subscription

Subscribe now to receive all the new music Warm Winters Ltd. releases, including this album and 39 back-catalog items, delivered instantly to you via the Bandcamp app for iOS and Android. Learn more.

Subscribe Now €40 EUR/year or more
2CD
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
– 6 panel digipack 2CD with matt finish
– includes a 10-page booklet with extensive liner notes by Ian Mikyska
– designed by Miloš Homola
– limited edition of 150 copies
– tracked shipping in late Jan 2024

EU customers can order via SoundOhm
UK customers can order via Boomkat

Includes unlimited streaming of Music for Sixth-tone Harmonium via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Sold Out

1.	Ian Mikyska - In, Part I 03:34	buy track
2.	Ian Mikyska - In, Part II 04:11	buy track
3.	Ian Mikyska - In, Part III 03:58	buy track
4.	Ian Mikyska - In, Part IV 03:07	buy track
5.	Ian Mikyska - In, Part V 01:41	buy track
6.	Ian Mikyska - In, Part VI 01:00	buy track
7.	Ian Mikyska - In, Part VII 05:20	buy track
8.	Ian Mikyska - In, Part VIII 02:09	buy track
9.	Ian Mikyska - In, Part IX 05:24	buy track
10.	Ian Mikyska - In, Part X 02:23	buy track
11.	Ian Mikyska - In, Part XI 02:34	buy track
12.	Ian Mikyska - In, Part XII 04:34	buy track
13.	Fredrik Rasten - Concord, Part I 11:04	buy track
14.	Fredrik Rasten - Concord, Part II 10:11	buy track
15.	Fredrik Rasten - Concord, Part III 05:30	buy track
16.	Fredrik Rasten - Concord, Part IV 04:52	buy track
17.	Fredrik Rasten - Concord, Part V 09:03	buy track
18.	Fredrik Rasten - Concord, Part VI 09:48	buy track

about

Composers Fredrik Rasten and Ian Mikyska present new compositions for Alois Hába’s unique sixth-tone harmonium, performed by Miroslav Beinhauer, who has single-handedly revived the instrument after decades of slumber. Alois Hába, Czech composer and pioneer of microtonal music, commissioned a number of microtonal instruments in the 1920s and '30s, including the sixth-tone harmonium, two of which were built. Hába himself wrote only one solo piece for this instrument, and also included a part for it in his sixth-tone opera 'Thy Kingdom Come'. The opera was first performed in 2018, when the Ostrava Center for New Music organised its world premiere, which inspired a number of initiatives to create new pieces for the harmonium. Nine of these pieces were premiered in 2021, 'In' and 'Concord' among them.

Warm Winters Ltd. is releasing the two pieces as a double CD – each containing seamless audio – with extensive liner notes written by Ian Mikyska, describing Hába's microtonal compositional approaches, inspirations and the context within which these pieces were made. The two pieces by Fredrik Rasten and Ian Mikyska (both created for a project initiated by the Prague Quiet Music Collective aimed at utilising the harmonium) are the longest of these, as well as those written for the smallest instrumentations: Mikyska’s piece is for harmonium and electronics (fixed playback), while Rasten’s features the harmonium along with the composer himself on two fretless electric guitars played with e-bows. Both pieces are performed by Miroslav Beinhauer, currently the only performer on the sixth-tone harmonium in the world.

Mikyska’s 'In' employs sixth-tones to create shifts and discrepancies within tempered microtonal harmonies, whilst also exploring the possibilities of the harmonium’s interactions with sounds of the “real world” through field and object recordings. 'In' comprises an organic long form music of rich timbres and playful sonic interactions between harmonic and noisy tonalities, and between natural and processed sounds. Rasten’s piece 'Concord' is an extended meditation in long tones that creates vibrant harmonic interactions in its explorations of just intonation harmony. By utilising some of the harmonium’s approximations of just intonation intervals and seamlessly blending them with the electronically produced string oscillations of the two guitars, both static and subtly moving tones create a sense of liminality within the slow unfolding of the piece.

credits

released January 19, 2024

Released by Warm Winters Ltd. as WW029
warmwintersltd.bandcamp.com
___

“In” (2021)
Miroslav Beinhauer – sixth-tone harmonium
Ian Mikyska – electronics

Recorded at Czech Radio “Studio A”, Hybešova 14, Karlín, Prague
11–14 October 2021

Music director, mix – Ladislav Železný
Mastered by – Adam Badí Donoval
___

“Concord” (2021)
Miroslav Beinhauer – sixth-tone harmonium
Fredrik Rasten – two electric guitars, e-bows, preparations

Live recording from the National Museum – Czech Museum of Music, Karmelitská 4, Malá Strana, Prague
Prague Quiet Music Festival 2021
18 December 2021

Recording, mix – Jan Středa
Mastered by – Adam Badí Donoval
___

Graphic design: Miloš Homola / noBrother
Producer (Prague Quiet Music Collective): Nikola Štefková
Producer (Czech Radio): Ladislav Železný

Supported by:
EEA and Norway Grants 2014–2021, Programme Culture, Ministry of Culture Czech Republic, National Museum – Czech Museum of Music, Strings of Autumn Festival, Ostrava Center for New Music

license

about

Warm Winters Ltd. Bratislava, Slovakia

Tender music ~

Record label and music studio operating from Bratislava, est. 2019

All inquiries: contact@warmwinters.ltd

Tracked shipping on all orders :~)

contact / help

Contact Warm Winters Ltd.

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Music for Sixth-tone Harmonium, you may also like:

Living Torch
by Kali Malone

supported by 27 fans who also own “Music for Sixth-tone Harmonium”

My heart is beating slower and faster at the same time kwellou
go to album
A Vibrant Touch
by Aleksandra Słyż

supported by 25 fans who also own “Music for Sixth-tone Harmonium”

Une musique du clair-obscur et des lointains intérieurs, par laquelle nous sommes à la fois emportés et ancrés. Une musique qui se meut, se mue, se meurt et renaît à nos oreilles avec insistance, faisant à chaque fois vibrer l’être et le monde tout entiers de sa tonalité intime, grave et profonde. Interview d'Aleksandra Słyż en français : https://www.larevuedesressources.org/Un-contact-vibrant.html yann-leblanc
go to album
Quintela
by Carme López

supported by 23 fans who also own “Music for Sixth-tone Harmonium”

I promise you've never heard bagpipe quite like this Reed Rosenbluth
go to album
Lee "Scratch" Perry's Guide to the Universe
by New Age Doom

Created in partnership with the Canadian noisemakers, the late legend's final collaborative LP enshrines his ability to lift joint ventures into otherworldly territory. Bandcamp Album of the Day Nov 8, 2021
go to album
Spektralkompass - Sterbendes Hertz
by Håkon Thelin

Composer and bass player Håkon Thelin aims to cut to the essence of the double bass by focusing on technique with these contemporary pieces. Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 11, 2023
go to album
A Second Invitation To An Uninterrupted Katabatic Lens
by Decolonize Your Mind Society

This Hungarian psych-jazz collective works with tonality and tuning to challenge what we think of as catchy according to Western modes. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 7, 2023
go to album
Everyone is here
by Kajsa Lindgren

supported by 23 fans who also own “Music for Sixth-tone Harmonium”

Memory and reality blur in the ambient music of Kajsa Lindgren. Based on archival recordings found in her parents' basement, the Swedish composer sends sonorous strings and piano through echoes of the past. Lars Gotrich
go to album