Charlotte Hug: In Resonance With Elsewhere

Born in Zurich, Switzerland, in May 1965. Charlotte Hug gained degrees in classical music, pedagogy and fine arts, and won such awards as "Artist in Residence" in London.

By the time she was thirty, Hug had begun recording at various locations in Switzerland, the resulting music being part of her first album, Mauerraum Wandraum (ASM/STV, 1999) on which she played viola and electronics, as well as conceiving, composing and producing it. That album was followed by further solo outings—Neuland (2001-2) (Emanem, 2003) and Slipway to Galaxies (Emanem, 2011), which were much praised, and now In Resonance With Elsewhere, Hug's fourth solo release follows suit.

This album was commissioned by the annual Ruhrtriennale in 2022. On that occasion, Hug performed in a huge former machine hall and created various imaginary acoustic spaces. For In Resonance With Elsewhere, she decided to do the recording in a large hall with an elaborate arrangement of microphones to convey the rich spatial quality of the original performance. This album places a greater emphasis on the artist's voice for the first time, so that the voice is the center of attention rather than the viola as before. Hug has developed her voice in recent years, so it now ranges over four octaves. The YouTube clip of Hug's duo with Estonian voice-violist Kristjan Kannukene gives some idea of the power of her voice. That is not surprising as she has developed her skills throughout her career and has been recognised as a result by the awards she has received. Of the album's nine tracks, which range in duration from 02:52 up to 11:36, a total playing time of 65:50, tracks one to six plus the ninth used no overdubbing or electronic modification; the remaining tracks, the seventh and eighth, use multitracking in composing, very effective as voices from all over the world were used in track seven, "Mormondo del murl."

In conclusion, In Resonance With Elsewhere is strong evidence that Charlotte Hug is in as good a shape as ever as a vocalist, violist, and countless other roles... never to be ignored.

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