Three by Three: Guest Artists in Focus
QUESTION 2. Your setups often involve nonlinear instruments like the Lyra-8 and Dark Marie, which resist predictability. What role does loss of control play in how you listen while performing?
ANSWER 2. For me, to perform is to listen. To be aware of what other musicians do or what your instrument does, and to react, to propose, to develop further. The ideal is the dialogue, not the control.
Gero von Randow
Musician
BIO: After a career in journalism the 1953 born Gero von Randow started a second life as a musician. Coming from a Jazz and Rock background as a guitar player, he has changed his coordinates to explore experimental electronic music. In 2023 he moved from his hometown Hamburg/Germany to Vienna/Austria, where he plays in bands as well as a soloist. His compositions were presented at the Oooh-Festival (17.-20.7.2025, Sicily, Italy), the Klub Montage (16.8. 2025, Schneeberg, Austria), the Sound + Environment 2025 symposion (4.-6. 9. 2025, Univ. of Newcastle, Great Britain), the Ubiquituous Music symposion (15.-17.9.2025, Tech. Univ. of Brandenburg, Germany), the Apnées Festival (14.9.2025, Grenoble, France) and the Sonic Territories Festival (18.10 Vienna, Austria). Another presentation will take place in Santa Catarina (Brazil). In 2026 he will work as artist in residence at the abeceda-Festival in Bled (Slovenia).
WEBSITE: Gero-von-Randow
QUESTION 3. Many of your pieces feel cinematic without functioning as traditional film music. How do narrative or imagery enter your thinking when there is no visual frame present?
ANSWER 3. This is an interesting observation! I never thought about that, but yes, there is always a story, and it comes even with mental images. It develops stepwise when I play or compose. In the end, when I listen to what I did, the picture becomes clear and the title of the track is obvious.
QUESTION 1. Moving from decades in journalism into experimental music is a radical shift in authorship. What did leaving language behind teach you about meaning that sound alone could reveal?
ANSWER 1. Sounds, e.g. music, engage other structures of our brains than written text. Both can reach our emotions and the unconscious, both can trigger mental imaginery. The difference lies in the use of language. I’d like to put it like that, perhaps (and in words, of course): Written language can be richer, sounds can reach deeper. At the historic core of music lies the song, which contains both.
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Artwork may not be reproduced in any form without the artist's express written permission.
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