Federico Bonacossa releases Elettroarmonico as a digital only release featuring seven works that explore microtonal, electro-acoustic, and extended timbral contexts. Bonacossa's music unfolds elegantly in large arcs. pacing the evolution of his material skillfully to create a satisfying structural trajectory.

"Shikantaza is the tenth in a series of compositions for solo instrument and live electronics. It represents an important piece in my work in that the approach to tuning, form, and use of electronics feature a variety of techniques that later became the basis for other works. The guitar is tuned to an open harmonic tuning and makes extensive use of a metal slide and gradual detuning in both the instrumental part and the electronics. The electronics feature a combination of real time “sliding” additive synthesis, "moving blocks" loops, pitch shifting, and delays.

Another work in my series of electroacoustic compositions, De Profundis is a real tour de force for the clarinetist, who must juggle challenging technical passages and intricate vocal rhythms. In De Profundis, all the musical material was generated by transcribing spontaneous vocal improvisations using the computer or simply by ear. The material was then chopped up and reassembled within a cyclical structure, an approach I also used in Shikantaza among other works. The effects used are a combination of granular synthesis, loops, delays, pitch-shifting, and ring modulation.

AEDO 5 and AEDO 6 are the most recent compositions featured in the album. The idea for them came from a desire to expand the range of the guitar in an extreme way while simultaneously being able to have flexible tuning. A lofty goal! Both these desires have of course a long history in music, but given that I am not much of a tinkerer, I chose to do this entirely in the digital realm. Most of the tools I used have only very recently become available, including the physically modeled classical guitar library by Modartt. Though the library is far more natural sounding than most, its slightly artificial sound has a certain charm that may be described as a classical guitar tone wrapped in thin cellophane. Both pieces use a limited set of pure ratios that divide the octave nearly but not quite evenly. In AEDO 5 the classical guitar sound is combined with Surge XT, a digital synthesizer with very versatile tuning capabilities.

The large variety of envelopes, timbres, and dynamic levels featured in the percussion part of Tract generated very unique and often unexpected sounds from the electronics. At times the electronics are used to alter or extend the live sound and at others they provide a mechanical accompaniment to it, simultaneously leading and reacting to how and what the performer plays.

Like Flowers in the Sky represents a departure from the fairly rigorous formal structures I used in works like Shikantaza, De Profundis, and Tract and is instead is essentially through-composed. Perhaps for this reason, the pace at which the piece unfolds is slower and more poised, like flowers slowly gliding in the sky.

Originally written for Eric Goldemberg’s 6-string Bichord Drone, DE-FLUIT explores extensively the “live additive synthesis” method I developed in Shikantaza. Although the Bichord Drone resembles a guitar, its physical shape, string size, and tuning are substantially different, and rather unpredictable. These special characteristics suggested alternative modes of interactions between the performer, the instrument, and the computer, and this recording is one of many possible results of this exchange."

- Federico Bonacossa