Alarm Will Sound

Alarm Will Sound is a cutting-edge New York-based ensemble. We look back on the group’s residency at the 2022 Beethovenfest. It will return to Bonn in 2026.

»Emergency exit only – alarm will sound«: Every emergency door has this label in the US. In 2001, Alan Pierson was looking for a name for the new ensemble for contemporary music he was founding at Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York with fellow students. The writing on an emergency door at his gym caught his eye. 

»We liked the connotations of it. It suggested a place to go that might be a little dangerous and scary and adventurous. The idea of going to unexplored places was an appealing association for us.« – Alan Pierson

The ensemble went on to open new doors and proceeded far beyond the limits of so-called new art music. Alarm Will Sound threw open new doors for the audience at Beethovenfest 2022 too. The four concerts that the ensmeble brought to Bonn for its residency showcased the unique characteristics of the chamber orchestra: The close and longstanding collaboration with composers for commissions of new pieces; the passion and immense skill in performing avantgarde music; and the exploration of musical worlds outside of academia, outside of classically trained composers, namely in electronica. New York Times has fittingly called Alarm Will Sound »one of the most vital and original ensembles in the Amerikan music scene«.

The residency's anticipated highlight was the world premiere of a new piece: The ensemble commissioned Irish composer Donnacha Dennehy to write a large-scale work for chamber orchestra. On September 15th 2022, »Land of Winter« was premiered at the Bonn university Aula. Alarm Will Sound has been collaborating with Dennehy for a long time, nearly for 16 years. »Land of Winter« is a sounding year cycle about the moods of the Irish seasons. Conductor Alan Pierson puts the commission into perspective:

»This is Donnacha's largest scale piece. He has never written an instrumental piece of this scale before. The fact he is doing it for us to premiere at Beethovenfest is really exciting.« – Alan Pierson

A second work by the longstanding partner Dennehy was performed by members of Alarm Will Sound as a Late Night concert at Viktoriabad Bonn: »Tessellatum« (composed 2015) in a new live version for five string players, that viola da gamba player Liam Byrne arranged for Beethovenfest 2022. The musicians created an enchanted atmosphere in the blue-lit swimming pool with Dennehy's authentic music.

»Donnacha's music is very very dear to my and the whole ensemble's heart. There is a kind of sensual joy in Donnacha's music. It is just so beautiful and pleasurable and it invites listeners in.« – Alan Pierson

Alarm Will Sound presented themselves from a different side at the special concert in celebration of the re-opening of the largest historic church, the Münster Bonn. The concert was curated by Outernational Music, an artistic research platform for trans-traditional musics. Under the slogan »Orient <> Occident«, the sound world of the organ was explored throughout different epochs and music cultures. Among others, works by the composer from Bonn Hans Thomalla and by the electronic music composer Kaan Bulak were performed.

»Your album Acoustica is actually what caught my attention in general about your group. Because it is quite a, I think, spectacular album of arrangements of music by the legendary electronica artist Aphex Twin. This is really something else… « – Steven Walter to Alan Pierson

About fifteen years ago, they succeeded in an absolutely unique feat: As a chamber orchestra specialising in New Music, Alarm Will Sound recorded an Album with arrangements of electronic dance music. Acoustica (2005) contains instrumental versions of EDM tracks by Aphex Twin, an Irish producer who revolutionised progressive forms of electronica, drum and bass and techno. For artistic director Steven Walter, this was a compelling reason to invite Alarm Will Sound to Bonn: Wild collages of noise, tight beats and complex overlays of rhythms, played completely live – you will not be able to find this style with other ensembles. For the final party of the festival in cooperation with Telekom Electronic Beats, Alarm Will Sound provided the celebrated closing set. »Post-Acoustica« is the name of their current electronica programme. Tracks by Aphex Twin, SOPHIE, Tim Exile, Lucrecia Dalt, Jlin and Igor Santos shattered the Pantheon theatre Bonn.

The fact that electronica is not subsumed under art music is irrelevant for Alarm Will Sound. Musically, the group is drawn to this style for its inventiveness in new sounds and its force and complexity. The collaboration is also about opening up the whole system in music, as Pierson explains:

»What is really exciting to us is to open up the sphere of who can make music for a group like us. We are all very concerned with making the musical world a more inclusive one and a less exclusive one. But conventionally speaking, in order to create music for a group like Alarm Will Sound, one needs to get a ton of training in the very specific technology of notation and instrumentation. So by collaborating with electronic artist, we open up the way for other musicians, who like Aphex Twin are really interesting musical thinkers, but may not have the training in writing instrumental music.« – Alan Pierson