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The emphasis on environmental sound brings us to the third feature, Samartzis's concern with spatialisation, which involves the rejection of music as an art purely of time, and explores the possibilities of spatial representation which music neglects. It's near the centre of his artistic vision. Soft And Loud was originally conceived for eight-channel surround sound, and Samartzis describes spatialisation as a "compositional technique". Spatialisation is the choreographing of virtual space in a sound-system, using a combination of natural acoustics and amplified sound – even stereo can create the illusion of zones of sound travelling in three-dimensional space outside the normal physical limits of speaker enclosures, including above and below the listener. Cinema sound design, and then concerts by the GRM at Radio France, piqued his interest. "We are immersed in sound as we navigate the world, but musicians still tend to think in a limited stereo sound field. The GRM suggested ways in which listening can be heightened by multi-speaker diffusion, which I've been researching in various projects using surround sound installation." A split album with GRM favourite Bernard Parmegiani on Synaesthesia/Plates of Sound contains selections from Immersion, a series of events focussing on spatialisation that Samartzis curates.
His four solo CDs are Residue (1998), Windmills Bordered By Nothingness (1999), Mort Aux Vaches (2003) and Soft and Loud (2004). To these should be added the 12" Touch Parking with Rasmus B. Lunding (2004) and, in a recent flurry of activity, a reissue of The Complete Gum Recordings 1987-90 formerly on vinyl, Immersion, and Unheard Spaces, a new solo CD. But some of Samartzis's most valuable work is curatorial, promoting the work of others. "Especially in Australia, you have to create your own opportunities", he argues. "Over the past ten years, it's become a very important part of what I do. I get no satisfaction out of working at home in the studio and releasing solo CDs. I want to be part of a community or a culture". These comments are reinforced by Dave Brown, who describes Samartzis's "openness to anything regardless of style or fashion…His belief in sound art, although rigorous and strong, is generous and always encouraging."
I conclude by asking Samartzis who his audience are. "That's an interesting question. As I've grown older, my audiences seem to have stayed young. But the sad thing is that they're never the same faces over time – they dabble for a year or two with experimental or avantgarde music, or improvisation, then disappear and are replaced." OK, it'll never be a large audience, but I believe this single-minded artist has a dedicated core of listeners, as he quietly builds a body of the most beautiful, carefully wrought sonic creations.
The Wire, August 2006
