Terje Isungset: Ice Instruments, Voice and the Craft Before the Concert

Terje Isungset treats ice as a musical material as well as a visual one. Carved instruments and performances with vocalist Mari Kvien Brunvoll reveal a sound world that is quieter and more varied than the novelty alone suggests.

Listen before looking for familiar equivalents

A horn-like shape and a row of struck pieces invite comparisons with conventional instruments. The interesting part is how the material changes their tone and the performer’s approach.

Making the instrument belongs to the performance story

The archive includes Isungset’s own construction and concert videos. They show that the work begins before a musician steps onto the stage. Ice is temporary and condition-sensitive, so the instrument itself becomes part of the event’s particular time and place.

Explore more: ice as a temporary sculptural material; another creative study of a fragile frozen surface.

Related reading: Shout Out Louds’ Blue Ice Record Project.

Videos: Terje Isungset making ice instruments. Winter 2011. (published by Terje Isungset); Iceconcert live on TV - 2012.Terje Isungset & Mari Kvien Brunvoll (published by Terje Isungset); ICE MUSIC (published by NOOOvideo).

Ice Music and an interest in natural materials

Isungset dates his Ice Music concept to 1999 in his own account of the work. That places it within an ongoing exploration of natural materials and sound. Listen to a sustained note, then to the shorter response of a struck piece: the material is not merely a transparent substitute for a familiar instrument. Its possibilities help determine what the performers can play and how the listener encounters it.

Percussion, horn and voice share the sound

The original feature describes struck ice pieces, a horn and collaboration with vocalist Mari Kvien Brunvoll. Those contrasting sources of sound give the performances variety: the voice is not simply a soundtrack added to a visual demonstration of ice. Listening to how the parts meet is more revealing than trying to decide which conventional instrument each frozen shape most resembles.

Making and playing are connected stages

Watch the 2011 instrument-making film before the 2012 television performance, then return to a short passage of the concert. The earlier sequence gives a physical context to the sound: an object has been shaped and handled before it becomes part of an ensemble. Hearing it after seeing that preparation can shift attention away from the novelty of a transparent horn and towards the decisions involved in making and playing it.

Light changes what the audience sees

Microphones, cables and coloured illumination appear alongside the ice in the original account. These practical and theatrical elements are part of the presentation, not details to hide in order to pretend the music happens without support. The frozen material can look delicate, while the stage arrangement gives it a place within a complete concert.

Choosing a first performance to watch

For a first encounter with this work, choose one making sequence and one performance rather than treating every clip as interchangeable. The construction film shows material taking shape; the concert introduces timing, collaboration and the audience-facing presentation. The older references to international travel and extreme temperatures describe particular projects, not a current touring schedule. Follow Isungset's own site for new work, and let the dated films stand as individual performances with their own conditions, collaborators and character.