'H^2' is, curiously perhaps, the third CD release by Hanna Hartman for Swedish Complete label, following 'Longitude/Cratere' (see Vital Weekly 498) and 'Ailanthus' (see Vital Weekly 575). Her instrument is the microphone, used to tape sounds in various locations, which are then put together into a sound collage. Hartman, apparently, doesn't use any sort of processing, but takes the world of sounds as they are and by using the microphone close by/far away, the treatments of sound come by themselves, as it were. There might be quite a gap in between this and the previous release, but Hartman worked hard in those years, won prizes, traveled and worked for commissioned pieces. Maybe we should see these five new pieces as a compilation of those pieces. What's perhaps different from her previous releases is that she incorporates also recordings she made of people playing instruments, such as percussion, violin, trumpet, voice and amplified objects. This she mixes with the everyday sounds of water, insects but also those that are very hard to name. There is a funny collision of an opera voice and car racing. It all works very well. Hartman knows how to splice (digitally no doubt) sounds together and put them together is exciting pieces of musique concrete. Dramatic pieces of musique concrete, which sudden changes and moves, such as a car alarm setting off new events in 'Shanghai Fireflies'. This new CD is again a distinct work of great quality. Hartman's work in the field of musique concrete and field recordings is simply one of the best. (FdW)
