Listening - HINT

The first minute of this concert version starts with low tones which cannot be heard through the small speakers of laptops, smartphones etc. If you don't want to miss them, use earphones, or even better, headphones. A good sound system is also a solution of course. The 8-channel sound space has been reduced into a binaural stereo version here.

The composition

In 2007, under the direction of Jan Dekeyser and Dafne Kitschen, the theatre company In Vitro brought the 19th‑century tale Der Sandmann back to life. Spectra contributed the musical component to the production.

It is a bizarre story by E.T.A. Hoffmann, filled with childlike fear, but also with the obsessive love of the protagonist for a mechanical female automaton.

At the centre of the tale stands the eye: threatened by the Sandman who scatters sand into it, yet also the bearer of life within the mechanical doll. The recurring themes of fear and obsession ultimately lead to madness and destruction.

In this theatre project, 19th century visual language was used in a contemporary way. From my electronic musical contribution, this composition later emerged, shaped by a suggestive sonic language (the childrens voices, the barrel organ, the old mechanical clock noises, and other sounds ..) that resonated with that imagery.

The music in this concert version, attempts to tell a story parallel to the director' and actors' narrative. Here, completely independent of the actors and set, the music can develop its logic and tension independently.

Suggestive sound language

The use of the language of sound in this Sandman was done according to a concept not previously applied by me. The music has followed the play in the use of a 19th century pictorial language. In contrast to acousmatic electronic music where sound is used in a completely abstract way, here the sounds have remained strongly suggestive. For example, there are the children's voices, the barrel organ, the old clock mechanism, and other sounds.

The Blind Movie?

I see this use of suggestive elements as a kind of new musical form. In the early film culture there was the 'film muet', the silent movie without dialogues but with the specific sound of the movie projector or of live played piano music. The new thing for me about this form of music is the reverse of that film muet. Here, only sounds are used, a large part of which is suggestive and through which listeners automatically start to make up images. I would call this concept the 'film aveugle'. The blind movie.

The Sandman (version August 2010 / remix 2025) - (Concept In Vitro - August 2007)

laatste update: 2025.12.15