PARALLAX+HANNEVOLD

Performers:

Anders Hannevold: organetto portativo

Are Lothe Kolbeinsen: guitar

Torstein Lavik Larsen: trumpet, percussion

Ulrik Ibsen Thorsrud: percussion

A New Commission for Organ Pipes and Ensemble

Parallax & Hannevold are developing a new commissioned work for guitar, percussion, trumpet, loose organ pipes and organetto portativo — a mobile medieval organ. The composition revolves around the organ pipe as both sound object and symbolic artifact.

Hannevold performs on organetto portativo, while Torstein Lavik Larsen has built a custom setup of old organ pipes powered by electric fans, forming an independent sonic organism within the ensemble. Are Lothe Kolbeinsen uses magnetic propellers and transducers to generate feedback loops and sustained resonances in the acoustic guitar, while Ulrik Ibsen Thorsrud integrates ceramic tubes and extended percussion techniques.

The piece unfolds in continuous movements played attacca, creating an unbroken arc of tension. Though inspired by Christian mysticism, steam-punk aesthetics, Japanese folklore, hydraulics and mechanical systems, the work approaches sacred references as historical and acoustic imprints rather than religious statements. The organ is treated as a bridge between the celestial, the ritualistic and the mechanical.

Influences range from the mouth organ shōand gagakutraditions to the mechanical dreamscapes of Hayao Miyazaki’s films such as Spirited Awayand Castle in the Sky. We imagine the work as a large, breathing sound organism — part instrument, part machine.

Microtonality, retuned pipes, beating patterns and shifting overtone structures play a central role. Loose organ pipes interact physically and electronically with the ensemble, often through transducers and instrument-building solutions developed specifically for this project.

The compositional process is collaborative and performative, developed through workshops, shared sound banks and structured experimentation. The result will be a fully composed 45-minute work, suitable for both church spaces and alternative venues.

The ambition is not simply to play the organ — but to enter it.

About Anders Hannevold:

Hannevold has taken an interest in how we as individuals attribute meaning to art and often uses this as a founding pillar for his compositions. By pushing the imagination of the artists and the audience beyond boundaries of the comprehensible, he seeks to further enhance the individual perception of his music.

Anders’s music is featured around the world, but he has a strong bond to the Kansai region of Japan. Searching for alternate artistic qualities than those gained from his bachelor’s and master’s at the Grieg Academy in Norway, Hannevold has studied various traditional forms of folk music and traditional arts in Kyoto.

Besides composing for well-known artists such as Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, the Bozzini Quartet, Neo Quartet, Fukuhara Sawako, and Ermis Theodorakis, Hannevold also performs music himself. While being a trained pianist, he mainly performs on the medieval instrument organetto portativo, experimenting with various extended techniques such as microtonal beatings, glissandi, dynamic variations, harmonics, and subharmonics.

Hannevold was the chair of board at nyMusikk Bergen and a deputy member of the board of Norsk Komponistforening 2022-2024.