Sturm is a piece for seven timpani composed from Bruno Hartl, former principal timpanist of the Vienna Philharmonic and composer.

The piece is inspired by a thunderstorm and let the listener literally feel throughout the various stages of a storm: from the calm before, where the wind blows gently and the clouds begin to gather and darken, to the first subtle rain, represented by sixteenth notes running up and down the upper timpani to the wild thunders that make the lower timpani literally roar! 

It must be said that these instruments lend themselves wonderfully to recreating the evocative atmosphere of a thunderstorm, but the real mastery of this piece lies in the compositional skills and in the very deep and experienced knowledge of the instrument of Bruno Hartl.  

The performers co-created this unique work specifically arranging it to dialogue with architecture of the Anton Bruckner Privatuniversität.

Sofia Garzotto (timpani) and Jerca Rožnik Novak (dance) say about the creative process:

“Our collaboration really was a co-laboration. Extremely fruitful. An intense interviewing of the two artistic fields through conversations, rehearsals and the intense preparation of the final presentation. As we consider the Architecture as a third character in the video, an essential part of the work was to include it in the creative process. We explored the space, the colors and the light with lots of imagination, trying out different locations and adapting our choreography to the different possibilities given from the match between the building and the light.”

Jerca adds her choreographer point of view:

“Choreography is based on a closer look at the movements of Sofia. Taking the movement as an inspiration for the form, spacial orientation, changes of weight, intensity and the rhythm. The choreography was made and practiced closely together with Sofia. Understanding the musical patterns, concept and the story of the musical piece in order to translate them into movement.”

The new building of the Anton Bruckner Privatuniversität, designed from the “Architekturbüro 1 ZT GmbH”, is a stunning modern architecture that represents a “New House of Music and the Arts”. 

The building appears as an abstract sculpture in the park!

The Studio says:

“Our goal was to create a building that would be recognizable for its musical use: The curved, organically shaped structure lies in the park like a sounding body. To provide shade, it is surrounded by a light-colored lamellae cladding,

which, through its serial structure, evokes associations with a musical instrument.”

A curiosity about the instrument: Sofia plays the piece on viennese timpani. Unlike the most popular pedal timpani these instruments are to tune through cranks! Also, they are equipped with natural goat skin, which compared to the mostly used calf skin produces a darker and warmer sound. 

Viennese timpani are mostly played just in Austrian orchestras, where they cover up a great part of the repertoire. Nevertheless some examples are to be found all over the world!

Sofia
IG: @sofi_garz8

Jerca
https://jercarozniknovak.com/

Anton Bruckner Privatuniversität
https://www.bruckneruni.at/en/home

Sofia plays on Steiner mallets
https://www.mallets.at/en-gb