Wood Wild Web (2025)
for septet - 8 minutes
written for the Ad Libitum 2024/25 prizewinner's concert
commissioned by the Netzwerk Neue Musik Baden-Württemburg and the Winfried Böhler Kulturtiftung
Still, recording: Marc Doradzillo
From the German score:
Although trees appear to be immobile creatures, they lead very dynamic lives. They are interconnected by their roots and can communicate with each other via electrical signals and smells. There are fungi in the soil that connect them to each other, like a kind of telephone switchboard.
From the moment they fall on the ground as seeds, some of them have a long life ahead of them, filled with sunny photosynthesis, rainwater harvesting and hibernation. That is, as long as they are not stripped bare as seedlings by hungry wildlife! During their lifetime, our little trees have to overcome many challenges: perhaps they will be infested by mistletoe, which slowly grows around the trunk or in the crown, or a family of bark beetles will come along and eat tunnels under the bark... Fortunately, the woodpecker comes to the rescue and eats the beetles. But is it really helpful, or will the carpentry eventually become too much again?
As you can see, the life of trees is never boring! Wood Wild Web shows this exciting tree life in fast motion.
Wood Wild Web was premiered by the WWW ensemble in July 2025 in the music school of Waldkirch (DE). The WWW ensemble are Patricia Germano (musical direction), Marlene (flute), Elise (clarinet), Fedor (tuba), Anton (guitar), Elena (piano), Josephine (violin), and Antonia (cello).
Ad Libitum is a project of the Winfried Böhler Kulturstiftung and the Netzwerk Neue Musik Baden-Württemberg e.V. The project connects professional contemporary composers and performers with music school pupils. In the 2024/25 edition, the Ensemble Aventure from Freiburg collaborated with the music school of Waldkirch, and the seven prize winners of the competition.
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