Scoring the Landscape

Notes from the Engadin

A small glimpse into some new sounds that have quietly entered my world.

For the past months I have been working on the score for Fexer, the first documentary film of the Grischun project by Otherlands. The film is set in the Engadin and forms part of a series exploring Romansh culture and identity in the south east of Switzerland.

To compose for a landscape is a peculiar task.

First, one must learn to listen to the place itself.

So I walk. Long distances. Exploring. Wandering.
I also work on a farm nearby.

The Engadin does not reveal itself immediately.
The valley is wide, and yet held together
by the weight of the mountains.

A certain patience lingers in the air.

If one stays long enough, other rhythms begin to emerge:
the rhythm of work,
the rhythm of the weather,
the slow cadence of a language
that has lived in these valleys for centuries.

These rhythms do not belong to music.
And yet, they begin to shape it.

A tone sounds different in a place like this.

So I walk. Long distances. Exploring .. Wandering…

The Engadin does not reveal itself quickly. The valley is wide, yet held together by the quiet weight of the mountains. Wind travels through it, almost constantly. There is always wind.

There is a patience in the air.

If one stays long enough, other rhythms begin to surface. The rhythm of work. The rhythm of weather. The slow cadence of a language that has lived here for centuries.

These rhythms do not belong to music. Yet they begin to shape it.

A single note starts to carry more weight. Silence opens. Space grows between sounds