About

J. Peter Schwalm, born 1970, is a soundscape-ist and composer from Germany.

Schwalm’s music is based on improvised soundscapes made with a unique setup of synthesizers, mixingdesks, outboard euipment and composed fragments, based on composing techniques such as the „multitrack composing technique“.
Since he released his last record „Musikain“ in 2006 Schwalm  has concentrated on different projects including music for ballet, theatre and film .
 
In 2010 he received a commision by "Das neue Werk" for “Neue Musik” by the German NDR  known for its many premiers in the last 50 years of works by composers such as Henze, Ligeti and Stockhausen.
 
He also has worked intensively with the London based choreographer Hofesh Shechter.
 
His actual projects include new music with Norwegian guitarist Eivind Aarset, a live improvisation project with German pianist Michael Wollny and new works for the Icebreaker Ensemble commissioned by the Science Museum in London.
 
He will be releasing his new record „Endknall“ along with a group of as yet unreleased work like his music for 2 pianos, a selection of live remixes he has done over the years in the Punktfestival context and a selection of music for films.
 
His work has been described by Brian Eno:
 
“When we first played, it was an immediately comfortable and synthetic playing relationship. My biggest problem with improvising with people generally is that they retreat into a safe place too quickly for me, and he didn't do that. Sometimes we would get into rather a strange musical place, some emotion that hadn't really been felt before. 
 
Since 1998 they have  enjoyed a fruitful collaboration which has culminated in two longplays „Drawn from Life“ and „Music for Onmyio-ji“, soundtracks for movies (such as „Fear X“), sound-installations and a live tour through Spain, Italy, Japan and Portugal.