At a glance, Sond’Ar-te Electric Ensemble did not seem to be anything that special when the group appeared on stage for the sixth session of the KF Gallery Open Stage Concert, held on October 21. However, as soon as the performance got underway, the audience found itself immersed in waves of intriguing sounds totally unexpected from such typical instruments as the flute, cello, and piano. For anyone not familiar with this ensemble’s background, the music might have sounded discordant or even bizarre.

Rapport for Experimental Music

Considering the audience’s general unfamiliarity with the Portuguese contemporary avant-garde music group, the program included brief explanations about its repertoire. Renowned composer Miguel Azguime, who served as an emcee for the event, encouraged the audience to relax and listen to the group’s futuristic, original music with an open heart and mind.

The concert opened with “Orient,” a work by Korean composer Choi Ji-youn. Choi created the work after her visit to the Seokguram grotto in Gyeongju, the old capital of the Silla Kingdom, to express “the boundless creative energy of the East with countless intricate movements that are continuously transformed and condensed.” This energy is represented by delicate sounds from a remote mountain temple, quiet movements of tiny creatures, water drops slowly flowing down the surface of a Buddha image, and a bird suddenly taking flight in the distance.

In the second piece, “No Oculto Profuso”(meaning “hidden by abundance”), composed by Miguel Azguime, the clarinet segment and electronic accompaniment contributed to a diverse transformation of the harmonic spectrum through frequency modulation and shifting. Azguime explained his experimental attempts for the audience.

Collaboration of Various Composers
For its finale and fitting climax, the ensemble presented “Cadavre Exquis” (“exquisite corpse”), which consisted of works by 24 active Portuguese composers a unique blend of experimentalism and postmodernism. Each composer wrote a short piece of 1-3 minutes, without any idea of what the others were working on. The individual pieces were then randomly combined into a single work. Contrary to what might be expected from such a hodgepodge process, the overall work produced a delightful harmony, with an almost seamless transition from one segment to the next, as if they had been carefully planned.
At the conclusion of the performance, the audience responded with enthusiastic applause in appreciation for the group’s artistic ingenuity. Miguel Azguime expressed his gratitude to the musicians for their impressive performance. The concert reaffirmed the universal message: “There is neither boundary nor inequality in the world of music.”
In July 2010, The Times of London reviewed that the ensemble’s performance demonstrated “ferocious panache.” Yet it seemed the group’s innovative music could not be adequately described in words.
The concert marked the 50th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between Korea and Portugal.

Sond’Ar-te Electric Ensemble
The Sond’Ar-te Electric Ensemble is an innovative contemporary music group featuring a regular combination of five acoustic instruments supplemented by electronics and technical applications. Alongside the development and prese-
ntation of original works, its repertoire includes some of the most notable ensemble pieces of the 20th and 21st centuries. A key feature of this group is the commissioning of all-new works for the purpose of extending the repertoire for instrumental music, with a particular emphasis on Portuguese composers. The ensemble has steadily gained prominence since its debut in September 2007, owing to its impressive technical expertise, as successfully demonstrated in concerts at the Warsaw Autumn Festival, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, and the City of London Festival.