Cities And Memory

"Rushing currents, echoing depths — where the haunting calls of water spirits appear and dissolve like currents in motion."This dramatic, immersive soundscape was inspired by Riccardo Fumagalli’s field recording captured at Section 5 of the Lech River at Stanzach, Austria, “where the river bed is at its largest and the water caresses the vegetation around it”. Here the river has been braided, dividing the flow into five groynes that restrict the river’s lateral movement. “They are built to train and constrain the lateral movement of rivers within the surrounding floodplain. Braided rivers tend to be very wide and, under natural conditions, highly dynamic. I believe the groynes were built in the first half of the 20th century, mainly to reduce the active river area, expand farmland, and provide flood protection.” (Martina Cecchetto)."I was immediately drawn to this sound by the purity of the bubbling water recording and by the beauty of the “String of Pearls” river shape created by human intervention, clearly

"The inspiration from this piece was firstly at the surface level - flow, time, motion - are all inspiring for musical exploration. As I dug deeper into the material, the concept of rivers as enablers to civilization, to history, added deeper layers to explore - how rivers slowly but inexorably shape ideas, stories, culture and music just the same as they shape land and place."I wanted to bring all of these ideas together into some way, while also literally exploring the sound material from the original recording using elements (like sediment) from prior pieces, to construct an evolving and moving piece that suggests a continuity rather than an ending."I hope those ideas come across as it builds to its conclusion. No spoilers." Section of the river Lech reimagined by Warren Anthony. -------Flow is a creative exploration telling the story of a river through the power of sound. The project is a collaboration between the University of Padova and the University of Würzburg, with support from Cities and Memory. E

"This segment is sort of ambiguous - am I listening to the Lech or to the Danube? Maybe both, or maybe it’s all Danube, and “Lech” is just what we called it before it got there. I worked on that moment, and I looked at what that could mean for the river water, which had come from all these different places, with all these different sounds. "One of the included photos is a bird’s eye view of the two rivers, side by side - they really appear independent in that photo. The satellite timelapse is different - first, the orientation and curve of the Lech make it feel like it’s contributing to the Danube, visually. Most strikingly, in the timelapse, color changes in the Lech appear to continue into the mixed river - when the Lech changes color, the water in the Danube which came from the Lech also changes color. This may simply show that the two rivers don’t mix right away, but it got me thinking about perspective, direction, and naming: There is a known end point of the Lech, but the Danube seems to exist before a

"Living in Scotland and spending time in the Scottish Highlands, it is clear to me how integral water and waterways are to the landscape and existence. I sense that humanity has all but forgotten this. There seems to be a belief that we can treat these precious ecosystems in any way we see fit without a care that we may be harming or killing them. When I first heard the recording of the Lech River I was instantly drawn to the serenity of the river and the peaceful lapping of the water. The sounds truly emphasised the beauty and importance of this cherished environment. "This recording focusses on the final part of the Lech River before it flows into the Danube. The written description noted this section as the Lech’s ‘quiet goodbye’ and I felt this was a perfect focus for my composition. It made me consider if the river were to actually say goodbye and disappear forever due to human interference. What if the water were to flow from the Lech River into the Danube until every last drop had gone, never to retur

"All posts from the Flow project’s WhatsApp group were saved to a text document and numbered as 'segments'."These segments were then recited as speech and played in random order."Removed from their original sequence, the speech fragments illustrate how meaning is shaped by their place within a broader flow of communications."(Phrases such as 'user name' were used to respect the privacy of group members.)"Section of the river Lech reimagined by Max Greening. -------Flow is a creative exploration telling the story of a river through the power of sound. The project is a collaboration between the University of Padova and the University of Würzburg, with support from Cities and Memory. Explore the full project at https://citiesandmemory.com/flow.

"Cuando el cauce recuerda (When the riverbed remembers) is a piece created for the Flow project, within Cities and Memory, which in this edition focuses on exploring the presence and memories of water in different territories. The work stems from a field recording made on the Lech River, on the outskirts of Augsburg. It is in this stretch of the river where the landscape opens up again: the riverbed reclaims space and its sound expands."The work is situated in a sonic territory that navigates between soundscape and electroacoustic music and suggests, through an everyday moment—a scene of encounter between nature, industrial memory, and community life—that it constitutes the initial material of the composition."The field recording underwent a spectral analysis process that allowed for the separation of different sound components. Each of these layers was subsequently transformed using various sound processing and synthesis techniques, including temporal stretching, filtering, and spectral manipulations. From

"I selected an area of the River Lech within the city of Augsburg, Bavaria. I was intrigued by the changing relationship between humans and river, and the different uses of the natural flowing water in this place. I discovered Augsburg is one of the oldest settled places in Germany (around 2000 years). This fuelled my imagination in considering the scale and scope of change- within both humanity, and the natural environment, that the river has borne witness to over time. I was really struck by the impact of human activity on the river, not least the disruption of its natural flow and use of the Lech for multiple hydro-power plants along its course. "I took a walk along several stretches of the water in and around Augsburg and my overwhelming sense was that it needed our care and attention and that we have a responsibility to the guardianship of its course. Within the composition I wanted to depict contrasting sensations that I felt portrayed something of the complexities of this stretch of river, its history

"生生不息 — translated here as Circle of Life — is one of the most profound concepts in Chinese philosophy, drawn from the I Ching (Yijing or Book of Changes), where it is expressed as “生生之謂易” (“the generation of life is what is called change”). Philosophically rooted in classical Chinese thought, especially interpretations of the Yijing, it views this perpetual becoming as the fundamental character of reality — the “great virtue” of heaven and earth, where change itself is the mechanism of ongoing creation rather than destruction. It’s optimistic in tone: life doesn’t just endure against odds; it thrives through inherent creativity and interconnectedness, producing ever more complexity and possibility. "This principle highlights resilience and harmony in natural processes — how fragility and strength coexist in endless regeneration, how intervention (human or environmental) can disrupt or restore the flow, but the underlying impulse toward generation remains undiminished. In the context of a river like the Lech

"For centuries, the river Lech has played an integral part in the city of Augsburg’s water management system, which is part of the UNESCO World Heritage. In this system, a network of canals carries water from the Lech into the city while a network of streams carries spring water from the forest south of Augsburg into the city for drinking. While the clear spring water is potable, the Lech water, carrying sediments, is more suited to industrial uses (watermills, power generation etc.). In order not to mix the different types of water, the engineers devised a series of culverts or siphons (Düker in German) where underground streams can cross each other without mixing their water. "This (and the fact that in the original field recording from the Flow project, the water from the Lech is completely inaudible because masked entirely by human-made sound) inspired the structure of this piece, which is based, both in time and in space, around the contrast of clear vs sedimentary, natural vs cultural: it starts with a

"I have been to Landsberg several times and am referring here to the place in the old town next to the weir. The piece represents the surroundings at this location with the constant sound of the river and people sitting in cafés and walking around, and imagines that you are in the river itself, drifting along."I only used the field recordings in different pitches, slowed down and sped up, like some parts of the original recordings. I made further edits and built up layers of the different sounds, creating a mixture of natural and alien sounds that interact with each other. The presence of the river and the weir dominates, or at least accompanies, life in this particular environment and influences people's perceptions both consciously and unconsciously."  Section of the river Lech reimagined by EMERGE. -------Flow is a creative exploration telling the story of a river through the power of sound. The project is a collaboration between the University of Padova and the University of Würzburg, with support from C

"I was struck by a paradox in this segment of the river's story. How at the same time, the river here is both so heavily modified - by channelisation and with a dam for hydropower - and yet, this reservoir also offers a kind of nature 'oasis'. As Martina Cecchetto explained; "widely lacking in natural geomorphic dynamics - so much so that there is a redirection of the layer of Quaternary gravels (and unpredictable incision rates to the channel bed - )". "And yet, "Whilst the reservoir also here, is artificial and this place is "devoid of millions of years of minerals...it hosts pristine nature in its present form". I was also struck by the maps and visuals showing the once multiple channels of river - now a straightened single channel river, and the beautiful coloured video realisation. "Taking Flow artist Salma Caller's wonderful suggestion, of incorporating preceding segment sounds, this number 20 sound work requotes and resamples from Bill McKenna's segment 1's offered extract and from Anja Kreysing's seg

"Lo-Fi River Flow reflects the landscape, the people, and the life unfolding along the river’s banks. The listening gradually narrows toward the movement of water itself, while remaining open to the presence of the animals that come to the river and live within its rhythm."The story begins at the edge of the current. At first the river feels like a distant presence — a continuous flow of sound moving through the landscape. But as listening deepens, the surface begins to reveal smaller events: water circling around submerged branches, sliding across gravel beds, whispering through reeds along the bank."With time, the river begins to speak in layers. Dawn arrives with the first birds calling across the water. The current shifts between calm and turbulence. Hippos move slowly through the river they call home, their bodies reshaping the surface of the flow. Further along the banks, baboons call across the valley in scattered groups, while distant Maasai voices occasionally rise and dissolve into the wider sounds

"This location of fish passage exhibits an imperfect balance as humans attempt natural processes, and while total success is not possible the effort is worthwhile. Water is clearly audible in the recording, and echoes reflect the human-created boundaries. Adding to these soundscapes of place, I introduce my own sounds, in the form of cello and vocals. All of the sounds in “Left and Right of Passage” originate with either the field recording, or my playing cello or singing, yet layers of reverb, tuning, and other effects birth myriad sonic identities."Examining the satellite data, the western side of the river seems very uniform and unvaried, whereas the eastern side appears more complex, intricate and waving. I am translating this asymmetry into the way the music is panned, and taking the perspective of the Lech River with “head” waters south (the Lech flows northward), and looking outward towards humans, the left side is stable and uniform, whereas the right side is intricately dynamic. “Left and Right of P

"Flume investigates the acoustic behaviour of a regulated river segment through a post-cinematic compositional approach. The piece originates from a field recording made inside the concrete tube of a fish pass, where water striking the walls produces a narrow resonance between A and B♭. This unstable microtonal field becomes the structural centre of the work. Granular and spectral processes, sine tones, and slowly drifting accordion drones performed on two slightly detuned instruments reorganise the recording into an evolving acoustic space. Rather than depicting the site, the composition amplifies its latent resonances, pressure, and spatial constraints. Section of the river Lech reimagined by Anja Kreysing. -------Flow is a creative exploration telling the story of a river through the power of sound. The project is a collaboration between the University of Padova and the University of Würzburg, with support from Cities and Memory. Explore the full project at https://citiesandmemory.com/flow.

"The field recording and other materials immediately suggested a strong duality: natural flow versus human control. The description of a river heavily modified by channelization and reservoirs, combined with the image of a concrete fish passage designed to simulate natural conditions, felt deeply symbolic. The water moves peacefully, yet the echo reveals the artificial structure surrounding it. That tension became the emotional core of my composition."I began the piece using the field recording in its original, unprocessed form. At the opening, the listener hears exactly what was recorded: the calm lapping of water inside a human-made structure. This documentary moment establishes a sense of place and reality."From there, I gradually transformed the recording using granular synthesis. By fragmenting the sound into micro-particles and reorganizing them in time and space, I was able to stretch, disperse, and recompose the water’s movement. The contained flow begins to expand into something more unstable and te

"For this sound piece, I did not have any recordings of water, only ambient sounds from a café and the bells from the square. I modified certain elements of the recordings by reversing them and adding reverb. I also added a synth drone that gradually transforms into an organ sequence in order to give the piece a more “sacred” character and to shape a coherent soundscape."The title refers to the poem of the same name by Paul Verlaine."Section of the river Lech reimagined by 53cm. -------Flow is a creative exploration telling the story of a river through the power of sound. The project is a collaboration between the University of Padova and the University of Würzburg, with support from Cities and Memory. Explore the full project at https://citiesandmemory.com/flow.

"Listening to the field recording and reading about it immediately evoked associations with the sound of movement, electricity, power plants, moraines and the surrounding fauna and flora. First I did slow down the original recording to different speeds, listening closely while allowing the data and contextual information inspire me for my further process."I then divided the field recording into several segments created rhythmic processed elements from the original file. Inspired by this evolving sound environment and my research, I did improvise over the soundscape on multiple tracks with midi controllers, experimenting with different sonic textures and gestures."After returning to my composition some time later, I made further adjustments, adaptions and refinements in speed, volumes and movement. Through this process, I tried to shape a composition that follows and reflects the Lech river."Section of the river Lech reimagined by Steffi Baron-Neuhuber. -------Flow is a creative exploration telling the story

"At this segment of the Lech, the river has left its Alpine origins – its wild and icy rapids are just a memory. Data suggest that the Lech is “heavily modified” by human intervention (i.e., channelization, hydroelectric stations). However, at this point in its journey to the Danube, the river Lech (described as “widely lacking natural geomorphic dynamics”) does not merit restoration plans. Here, it seems to be considered nothing special or remarkable. Yet I was drawn to the “humming of the power station” in the field recording. This hypnotic sound highlights the nearby human activities that draw power from the Lech’s steady flow. "The Wasserkraftwerk’s low drone beneath the lively rush of water awakened my examination of the relationship between nature and technology. In creating “Sink, Surface,” I imagined timeless naiadic spirits becoming entranced by the incursion of human technomagic. Their chaotic, playful noises settle into harmonic relation with the device’s drone. "When I first heard that drone, I a

"Gregory Scheckler’s composition for Flow draws from field recordings at Epfach, where the Lech River bends beside the village. The recording’s distant church bells of St. Bartholomäus and fluttering water evoked memories of the composer's studies in nearby Innsbruck during 1987-88. "Through deep listening, he found the recording's natural rhythm at 104 BPM and created a "Flow Snare" using granular synthesis from the field recording, which he also layered several times to find sonic variety. The composition unfolds as a round—layered voices representing generations along the river—while its form mirrors the river's geography: the middle section broadens like the bend itself. A snippet from the upstream segment connects to earlier waters, and the finale unites the instruments in unison, like waters flowing together downstream. "Bells, waterways, synthesizers, percussion, and layers come together for an adventurous, uplifting palette."Section of the river Lech reimagined by Gregory Scheckler. -------Flow is a

"The combination of the church bells and textural water currents exhibited the relationship to the river from the community, building close to the river one assumes the ongoing relationship to the river. The water sounds shallow, passing over stones. I chose to bounce and defragment these sounds using 1/4" analog tape, a response to the water passing and breaking past stones. "Breaking and disjointing the elements with ambient melodic vibraphones. The piece wanders and intensifies to a textural dissonance of low tones and glitchy static. It resolves with solely the sounds of the river as it leaves beyond the town. The piece was edited together then processed back as a final mix onto 1/4" tape before digitizing to a final version."Section of the river Lech reimagined by Nick Kuepfer. -------Flow is a creative exploration telling the story of a river through the power of sound. The project is a collaboration between the University of Padova and the University of Würzburg, with support from Cities and Memory. E