Commissioned by the city of Mannheim (Germany) for its 400th anniversary, utp_ was co-composed by Carsten Nicolai (aka Alva Noto) and Ryuichi Sakamoto. The flowing ten-section multimedia work derives its shape from a rasterized structure of the southwestern city, founded in 1608, and the title is derived from the word "utopia."
The world premiere at The National Theatre in Mannheim included the group Ensemble Modern and combined images, acoustic sounds, electronics, and improvisation. During the performance, the music was accompanied by a visual score projecting computer-generated amorphous structures resulting from complex mathematical colour progressions, a slow-paced tableau of stretched-out octaves and skeletal motifs.
utp_ was originally released (2009, NOTON) on a CD+DVD set, the CD included a concert stereo version of the 75-minute work, while the DVD included a video of the performance in 5.1 surround sound and a 40-minute “making of” with interviews of the artists and musicians.
The recording documents the work’s debut, performed by Ensemble Modern at The National Theatre in Mannheim, with the digital visual score created by Carsten Nicolai and Simon Mayer, and lighting design by Nigel Edwards.