A sense of place

"For the Flow project, a collaboration between Cities and Memory, the University of Padova, and the University of Würzburg, I composed an original piece of music based on a field recording made by researchers along the Lech River near Höfen, Austria.

"Titled “A Sense of Place”, the composition brings together history, atmosphere, geography, and memory, reflecting the moment when the listener arrives inside the landscape. Ambient and restrained, the work carries a quiet archival weight, its textures shaped by the crackle and patina of early 78-rpm recordings. Rather than describing the river directly, the piece allows sound itself to function as a record, letting meaning emerge slowly and intuitively.

"The Lech is one of the last largely free-flowing rivers in the northern Alps. Its mineral-rich waters and shifting gravel banks have shaped both the surrounding landscape and the cultural identity of the Lechtal for centuries. This continuity—between past and present, place and memory—forms the emotional core of the piece.

"Within this context, “A Sense of Place” is intended to feel less like a composition and more like a discovered artefact—  something uncovered rather than authored. Timeless and quietly resonant, it invites the listener to inhabit the river’s memory and allow the sound to do the storytelling."

Section of the river Lech reimagined by  Jeff Düngfelder. 

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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.