Christian Lillinger - Composing, Drums, Concepts
Cory Smythe - Grand Piano
Kaja Draksler - Upright Piano
Elias Stemeseder - Synthesizer, Piano
Ron Stabinsky - Synthesizers
Christopher Dell - Vibraphone
Roland Neffe - Marimbaphone, Vibraphone, Glockenspiel
Lucy Railton - Cello
Petter Eldh - Bass, Electric Bass
Robert Landfermann - Double Bass
OPEN FORM FOR SOCIETY (OFFO)
Open Form For Society is Christian Lillinger's most elaborate work to date.
OFFS tracks aspects which make up the qualities of Christian Lillinger's composition. Lillinger develops new chamber music within the sonic realm of PLAIST, new music, avant-garde jazz, hip hop and musique concrète (s. Composition). This takes place in cooperation with nine mostly young European musicians, who are leading instrumentalists in their respective music scenes.
The project as a framework:
Within a specific time-frame and at a specific location with selected musicians and a soundengineer. This creates a space in which structures can be created, interpreted, opened up, connected, opened up again and reconnected simultaneously. The process itself becomes part of the project and since it has been captured on film, each step in the creation can be fully understood.
OFFS is the realisation of Christian Lillinger's project, which started out two years ago with the development of compositions. His focus was on a free, intense, discursive process in the studio. The aim was to work without genre conventions but rather open up a creative flow amongst the musicians. The recording process, during which everyone involved worked closely together at the same location, took five days. It allowed for a realisation and further development of compositions, sound ideas as well as concepts.
The implementation of each step followed a carefully crafted plan and its execution was as intended; from its creative inception and post-production with co-producer Johannes Brecht to the design of the recording medium.
“Nothing was left to chance, no expenses spared. This is intended as a new standard of complexity mediation in music between sound membranes (speakers) and the listener”, says Christian Lillinger.
OFFS's model society should be regarded as a role-model for society in general. So it is no accident that the project is named after Karl Popper's Offene Gesellschaft (engl.= open society), which puts its trust in “people's critical thinking abilities”. The recording is a translation of this very principle into a discursive working progress.
The ensemble is multinational: three key instruments, two percussionists, two bassists, one cello and one drum set allow for high plasticity and depth definition. The musicians link new music, free improvisation, jazz and pop culture.
