‘Spheres Collapser’ is a work for pipe organ composed by Stephen O’Malley as part of ‘Les Sphères (effondrez-les) Phases I-V’, a suite created for a collaboration with Belgian-Swiss choreographer Cindy Van Acker. The work will now be performed by organist Hampus Lindwall, a composer and performer dedicated to contemporary music and to exploring the possibilities of the organ beyond the traditional repertoire.

The composition was originally performed by O’Malley, Kali Malone, and Frederikke Hoffmeier, and performed and recorded at Église Saint-François in Lausanne on an instrument of extraordinary history: Les Grandes Orgues, comprising elements by Scherrer, dating from 1777, Walker, from 1867, and Kuhn, from 1995. Three centuries of organ building thus converging in a single instrument.The title ‘Spheres Collapser’ refers to the idea of the collapse of the spheres, evoking the celestial structures that for centuries shaped representations of the universe. The work develops this idea through long-form music based on sustained sounds, deep and resonant chords, and extremely slow transformations.

The transition from electric guitar to organ does not represent a rupture in O’Malley’s work. Some of his fundamental concerns remain: duration as a compositional element, volume as a sculptural medium, and the listener’s body as a resonating chamber. The difference lies in the very source of the sound. In the organ, these characteristics are produced mechanically, through air passing through wooden and metal pipes, without the need for electronic amplification.Throughout the piece, deep drones are crossed by higher frequencies and sustained notes, producing different sonic densities. The music moves slowly across the spectrum, alternating between moments of great weight and intensity and areas of greater tension and suspension. The choice of tuning contributes to keeping the different frequencies in constant relation, preventing the sonic mass from becoming static.

The scale of the work is inseparable from its duration. ‘Spheres Collapser’ demands attentive and sustained listening, allowing the gradual transformations to be followed over time. The organ and the architecture that surrounds it are part of this experience: the low frequencies, resonances, and reverberation make the space an essential component of the listening experience.

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Paróquia de S. Martinho de Cedofeita