Opening our ears and minds to nature

At first it’s just the soft whispering of the wind in the trees. Frogs can be heard croaking from afar, a bird emits its wistful call. And then the rain begins drumming a loud and insistent rhythm on the canopy of the Amazon rainforest where the composer Ludger Kisters has set up microphones, some even underwater. In his work “The Breath of the Forest – Traces of Sound from the Amazon”, Kisters has transformed the recordings produced by this threatened ecosystem’s fascinating biodiversity into an electroacoustic 5.1 surround composition.

“The music I compose is essentially accessible to anyone because it appeals directly to people and works with the sounds of nature and atmospheres,” says Kisters, explaining that the best possible sound system – and above all a peaceful place in which to listen – are all that is needed to enjoy the composition.

A number of factors led Kisters to the music he makes today: postgraduate studies in electroacoustic composition with the installation artist Robin Minard at the University of Music in Weimar; the books of the sound researcher Raymond Murray Schafer, who coined the term “soundscapes” and included in his compositions the twittering of birds, the sounds of passing cars and steps in the snow; and not least a stay in New Zealand that left a lasting impression on him and brought him into contact with the music of the indigenous Māori people. All of this tied in neatly with an interest he had had since his early years: “Even as a child I engaged a great deal with nature and wanted to study biology and become a naturalist. Recording the sounds of nature and using them to compose music was an ideal way to combine these two passions of mine.”

“The Māori I met were very open to sharing their knowledge and music with me.”

Collaboration with different people and musicians is an important element of Kisters’ work. During his studies at Victoria University of Wellington, he attended courses in the dances and songs of New Zealand’s indigenous population at the School of Māori Studies. This is also where he got to know Richard Nunns, a New Zealand musician specialised in Māori instruments. Through him Kisters learnt not only to play the kōauau and pūtōrino flutes but also to swing the bullroarer. “Traditionally, music is closely associated with nature in the Māori culture. It imitates animal noises, invokes deities or is used for healing purposes. That is a very different approach to music than what we are used to in Europe.” While in New Zealand, Kisters recorded musical sequences and instruments that he incorporated into his electroacoustic compositions. He invited musicians to come to Germany to perform in concerts and give workshops. “The Māori I met were very open to sharing their knowledge and music with me.”

In 2009, a DAAD graduate scholarship made it possible for him to study at the Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology (ICST) with Germán Toro-Pérez at Zurich University of the Arts. “I worked a lot there on Ambisonics, the phases of soundwaves in a sound field, and on the use of computer software to visualise sound.” This involves using programs to translate the sound into visible forms, so to speak, rather like in a film. Like finely spun spider webs of lines, these sound sculptures grow in different directions and change their colour, speed and appearance. “When one visually translates sounds and then projects the result onto large screens, another level of interpretation emerges that can also provide a fascinating contrast to the music,” says Kisters.

During this time he also made his recordings in the Amazon. German regional broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk had commissioned Ludger Kisters to create a 5.1. surround composition that was then broadcast on the radio. Kisters set up his microphones – like a kind of acoustic camera trap – and then collected them again hours later. “This allowed us to obtain far more impressive soundscapes because the animals did not feel watched,” says Kisters.

Kisters’ work always seeks to alert people to the vulnerability of nature and the threats it is facing. “I hope my music will open people’s ears and minds to nature – whether I am recording the sounds of the Amazon or of toads here in Schleswig-Holstein in Germany. I hope that people will treat nature with greater care and respect as a result.” —

Ludger Kisters was born in Rheinbach near Bonn in 1975. He graduated in school music at the University of Music Franz Liszt Weimar, and then studied composition and electroacoustic composition in Weimar and Wellington (New Zealand). On a DAAD graduate scholarship in 2009, he studied at the Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology (ICST) with Germán Toro-Pérez at Zurich University of the Arts. Ludger Kister’s oeuvre encompasses chamber music, electroacoustic music, film music, sound installations, vocal music, orchestral works and the chamber opera “Das Laboratorium mundi des Herrn Agrippa” (The Laboratorium mundi of Mr Agrippa). He lives in Berlin, where he works as a composer and music teacher.