Svevning by Fredrik Rasten

released September 30, 2021

Fredrik Rasten: acoustic guitar, voice

Svevning is a Norwegian word meaning levitation or flying, in the sense of flying without
effort – like when a bird is fully supported by the airstream, merely gliding.

Svevning also refers to interference or beating, the acoustic phenomenon that occurs when
two tonal sounds differ in pitch only slightly. When two tones are sustained with stability, their difference in frequency manifests sonically as a pulsating pattern of vibration. As the difference in frequency between the two tones increases, the speed, or frequency of the pulse increases correspondingly until a point or
area is reached where the difference is no longer heard as a pulse, but as a tone. This is
what is known as a difference tone.

I do not know how the two meanings of ‘svevning’ (in German, Schwebung) relate to each
other etymologically, but I find a latent poetry in their combined meanings and connotations.

Svevning is an extension of my earlier piece Limn. The music unfolds as an ever-changing continuum of chords, propelled by open strings and their harmonic nodes, slowly interwoven by retuning, patterns of plucking and occasional
voice.
"

(Fredrik Rasten, July 2021, Berlin)




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Fredrik Rasten (born 1988) is a guitarist, improviser and composer based in Oslo and Berlin. He is mainly focusing on the musical possibilities within just intonation and related sound phenomena, and in his work he is reaching for an actively listening state wherein to intuitively explore the complexities of tone and harmony.

fredrikrasten.com