for orchestra, commission
catcher
2021
Premiered on 22 November 2021 at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow, performed by the Russian National Youth Symphony Orchestra under Fedor Lednev. The piece was commissioned by the Aksenov Family Foundation as part of the Russian Music 2.1 program.
The idea was simple: the orchestra plays almost always on the edge of sound, while eight microphones placed inside the ensemble pick up different fragments and send them to speakers around the hall. Felix Mikensky, an underground Moscow electronic musician, was in charge of this part — “catching” sounds, moving them, showing them from other angles. The orchestra became a field, and Felix acted like a listener with a butterfly net, bringing his findings closer to other listeners, or letting them go again.
The instrumentation is very restrained, connected to my earlier piece Folded Linen, but here it becomes more focused, more itself. Most of the playing is ordinario, with only slight changes — air sounds in brass, overtone effects from percussion (tenor-sax reeds on the snare), faint sine waves creating small beatings. Electronics bring these small details forward, so the texture keeps shifting in the listener’s ear, becoming more of a sculpture, that is standing in the dark, highlighted by 8 flashlights, opening up its hidden cavities and round shapes.
Catcher hasn’t yet been performed again, since the setup requires a specific hall and technical support. The general idea of putting listening and sharing into the core of the piece still is very inspiring to me.
The idea was simple: the orchestra plays almost always on the edge of sound, while eight microphones placed inside the ensemble pick up different fragments and send them to speakers around the hall. Felix Mikensky, an underground Moscow electronic musician, was in charge of this part — “catching” sounds, moving them, showing them from other angles. The orchestra became a field, and Felix acted like a listener with a butterfly net, bringing his findings closer to other listeners, or letting them go again.
The instrumentation is very restrained, connected to my earlier piece Folded Linen, but here it becomes more focused, more itself. Most of the playing is ordinario, with only slight changes — air sounds in brass, overtone effects from percussion (tenor-sax reeds on the snare), faint sine waves creating small beatings. Electronics bring these small details forward, so the texture keeps shifting in the listener’s ear, becoming more of a sculpture, that is standing in the dark, highlighted by 8 flashlights, opening up its hidden cavities and round shapes.
Catcher hasn’t yet been performed again, since the setup requires a specific hall and technical support. The general idea of putting listening and sharing into the core of the piece still is very inspiring to me.
video
/performance
reviews
/opinion
The symphonic segment of the concert emerged as the most coherent and experimental. Catcher by Oleg Krokhalev, the youngest awardee of ‘Russian Music 2.1,’ was a major creative success. Delicate and musical, this piece holds the listener’s attention, and the live electronics—supervised by musician and improviser Felix Mikensky—allowed the sound to be perceived from multiple angles.
— Vladimir Zhalnin, Musical Life Magazine
— Vladimir Zhalnin, Musical Life Magazine
Working with a sonic layer of a different order is the composer Oleg Krokhalev. His piece Catcher (‘The Catcher’) is the result of co-creation with sound engineer Felix Mikensky. The score, exploring a realm of quiet (as the concert host Yaroslav Timofeev noted, the composer follows in the footsteps of Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony, where he marks ‘six pianissimos’), delicate, refined sounds is enriched by a layer that seems to float above the orchestra. Mikensky ‘catches’ the score’s sound (with eight microphones placed inside the orchestra)—and in live transmission weaves a sonic veil that adds volume and unimaginable beauty to the piece.
— Marina Gaykovich, Nezavisimaya Gazeta
— Marina Gaykovich, Nezavisimaya Gazeta
In this sense, Catcher is the evil twin of Event Horizon. I first wrote one orchestral piece, then invented an entirely different one, and there was very little time left to finish. I had to give more freedom to the musicians, stay focused, move only forward, and immediately let go of the written material. These works are compromises: there was no possibility to realize them with another level of detail. What seems more interesting to me in retrospect is the fine motor activity that turns into a ‘field’—a sound in which one can shift attention from one detail to another, where dramaturgy is shaped not by the composer, but by the listener’s ear.
— Oleg Krokhalev, interview with Alexander Goretsky, Music Academy, no. 2, 2023
— Oleg Krokhalev, interview with Alexander Goretsky, Music Academy, no. 2, 2023
The orchestra plays almost always on the border of silence and sound. The material is neutral, a slow, barely changing process. Eight microphones are placed inside the orchestra, transmitting sound to the hall through speakers, alternately bringing instruments closer or farther from the listener. This action has its own rhythm and strategy, developed together with Felix Mikensky.
— Oleg Krokhalev, interview for Srsly.ru
— Oleg Krokhalev, interview for Srsly.ru
Score
/preview
