'...through itself...'
©2023Chamber Music America
Classical Commissioning Award, 2021
for Senso di Voce (ensemble) &
Esin Gunduz (commissioned composer)
in close collaboration with Megan Kyle, oboist
for voice, composition, tremolo harmonica, bass harmonica, harmonium
︎4th performance, Album release concert (Sept 2025)
Sonic Transmissions Festival, Austin TX
︎3rd performance (Sept 2024)
The Institute Library, New Haven CT
︎2nd performance (Sept 2024)
Red Room, Baltimore MD
︎Premiered (Sept 2024)
Fire Museum Presents, Philadelphia PA
Album Reviews
“Quite a powerful and immersive listening experience.”
– Eyal Hareuveni for Salt Peanuts
Oct 19 2025
︎SENSO DI VOCE «through itself» SONIC TRANSMISSIONS
︎
“Their sound,
replete with vibrations animated by breath,
covers a full spectrum of moods and emotions.
With ‘through itself’,
Senso di Voce has created an immersive sound experience that rewards repeated listening and provides a fitting background for needed contemplation.”
– Ken Shimamoto (Stash Dauber)
Sept 13 2025
︎Things we like: Senso di Voce, Sylvie Courvoisier/Wadada Leo Smith, Satoko Fujii/Natsuki Tamura
︎
“Senso di Voce carries something both primal and contemporary all at once.
There’s a mindfulness in the material, and also in the way Esin and Megan sonically move together. The silence feels just as impactful as the sound. The voice really does meld with oboe at times, becoming a single timbre!”
– Jeremy Nuncio
Sept 17 2025
– Eyal Hareuveni for Salt Peanuts
Oct 19 2025
︎SENSO DI VOCE «through itself» SONIC TRANSMISSIONS
︎
“Their sound,
replete with vibrations animated by breath,
covers a full spectrum of moods and emotions.
With ‘through itself’,
Senso di Voce has created an immersive sound experience that rewards repeated listening and provides a fitting background for needed contemplation.”
– Ken Shimamoto (Stash Dauber)
Sept 13 2025
︎Things we like: Senso di Voce, Sylvie Courvoisier/Wadada Leo Smith, Satoko Fujii/Natsuki Tamura
︎
“Senso di Voce carries something both primal and contemporary all at once.
There’s a mindfulness in the material, and also in the way Esin and Megan sonically move together. The silence feels just as impactful as the sound. The voice really does meld with oboe at times, becoming a single timbre!”
– Jeremy Nuncio
Sept 17 2025
Focusing on the embodied experience of
mind-bending acoustical phenomena
S E N S O D I V O C E
Esin Gunduz voice, composition, tremolo harmonica, bass harmonica, harmonium
Megan Kyle oboe, English horn
Album
t h r o u g h i t s e l f
(cover art links to bandcamp)
release date:
Sept. 12 2025
Senso di Voce
through itself
1. intro (improvisation)
Esin Gunduz, ‘...through itself…’*
2. I. Selam
3. II. Everything is Alive
4. III. Perplexity
5. IV. Oneness
6. outro (improvisation)
Tracks 1-5 recorded live at the Institute Library, New Haven CT.
Track 6 recorded live at Evangelical Lutheran Church of Atonement, for the Fire Museum Presents, Philadelphia PA.
Recorded, mixed by Esin Gunduz.
Mastered by Andrew Weathers.
‘...through itself…’* ©2023 Esin Gunduz.
Produced by Ingebrigt Håker Flaten.
Artwork & design by Juliane Schütz.
Track 6 recorded live at Evangelical Lutheran Church of Atonement, for the Fire Museum Presents, Philadelphia PA.
Recorded, mixed by Esin Gunduz.
Mastered by Andrew Weathers.
‘...through itself…’* ©2023 Esin Gunduz.
Produced by Ingebrigt Håker Flaten.
Artwork & design by Juliane Schütz.
*This commission has been made possible by the Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Program, with generous funding provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
©Sonic Transmission Records 2025
About the piece
‘...through it(self)...’* ©2023 a work by Esin Gunduz, draws inspiration from the mystical and philosophical writings of revolutionary Islamic thinker İbn 'Arabî (1165-1240). This 20-minute chamber work is an exploration of profound philosophical concepts of his, through sound.
The sounds of oboe, English horn, tremolo harmonica, bass harmonica, harmonium and (the specific use of) female voice blend together, embodying İbn 'Arabî’s idea of Unity of Being: the concept of recognizing the unity in multiplicity and multiplicity in unity. – These instruments, while distinct in their historical origins and in their resonating patterns, create a new timbral union when merged. This insight grows as the backbone of the work and expands into other levels of the structure, evolving throughout.
Each of the four movements explores a different concept, their trajectory mirroring that of Sema, a Sufi ritual.
- Selam: yearning to become one with (wajd)
- Everything is alive: the life-force inside all existent things (‘even inside a rock’)
- Perplexity: the state of bewilderment / non-dual awareness (hayrah)
- Oneness: the state of union / higher state of consciousness (‘immediate tasting’)
İbn 'Arabî valued ‘immediate experience’ above all: ‘...through it(self)...' invites listeners to immerse themselves in vibrations, guiding them to the depths of consciousness through sound, to resonate with the timeless wisdom of İbn 'Arabî!
Esin Gunduz New York, 2023
*The title of the piece is part of a quote “... reveal it(self) through it(self), its mystery...” from İbn 'Arabî’s famous Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam / Seals of Wisdom (1229), as translated by Michael Sells (from its Abu Al Ula Afifi edition) as published in: İbn 'Arabî’s Polished Mirror: Perspective Shift and Meaning Event (1998, Studia Islamica).Please ︎contact for booking or more info!