Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard - Egis Ce Asc

Music for pipe organ. Study of the major third No. 6-11
Performed and composed by Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard
12” + 10” + 7” recorded in the Brorsons Church, Copenhagen 2017
Supported by the Danish Arts Foundation, KODA & DOKS

TOPOS 03 / Released September 3rd, 2019

Egis Ce Asc is a solo piece for pipe organ and a calibration of the human ear. Across 6 movements the listener is presented to a series of sonic plateaus which ascend from the low range to the high range frequency spectrum. In many ways Egis Ce Asc is thought out to be an abstraction of a sine sweep for the human ear.

The title refers to the major third intervals between E - G#, C -E and Ab - C which in Danish are pronounced Egis Ce Asc.
Løkkegaard holds a special interest in the major third due to the key position of this interval within Western music. The major third is thought to be a "natural" interval but is in fact artificially high pitched within the tempered tuning of Western music, and by playing only major thirds - the ear starts to listen in and capture the low differential tones the upper partials and so on - tones which are all interfering with each other. A major third is not just a major third - it is a micro cosmos - and the normativity of the major third is exposed.

Egis Ce Asc is released as a limited edtion triple vinyl box (released in an edition of 100) containing a 12" + 10" + 7" record - each representing a frequency spectrum. Due to the long wavelength of the lower frequencies it takes up more space when cut to vinyl and therefore the 12" presents the low range frequencies, the 10" - mid range frequencies and the 7" - high range frequencies. The physics of sound becomes visible as Moiré patterns embedded within the vinyl record appear.

12" vinyl - Low range

Egis 1
ƒ̥= 81 & 102 Hz
Duration: 20 minutes

Egis 2
ƒ̥= 162 & 204 Hz
Duration: 20 minutes

10" vinyl - Mid range

Ce 1
ƒ̥= 258 & 324 Hz
Duration: 10 minutes

Ce 2
ƒ̥= 516 & 648 Hz
Duration: 10 minutes

7" vinyl - High range

Asc 1
ƒ̥= 816 & 1032 Hz
Duration: 4 minutes

Asc 2
ƒ̥= 1632 & 2064 Hz
Duration: 4 minutes