Research.
It’s been a very busy easter break for me in terms of assignments/composition/performance. Whilst being at home for the most part I have made the most of my time by listening to various composers who have influenced the world of Sound Art- and in some cases bridged the gap between Sound Art and Music. I have also been reading a lot- the most significant notes i’ve made are as follows;
AudioCulture offers a collection of very informative essays/articles which detail the explorations of composers, artists and music theorists during the early-mid 20th century. The introduction opens with the question ‘What is music?’ (the same way in which Julio started the acousmatic module at the beginning of the semester!) In the early 1900’s Russolo said that the traditional orchestra was no longer ‘capable of capturing the imagination of a culture immersed in noise‘ -Russolo (an italian musician and painter) was an innovator of what we now call the ‘futurist movement.’ He created the ‘Intonarumori’ or (noise instruments) which had mechanical like timbres, which he incorporated into his machine based compositions.
The Art of Noises- written by Russolo is another article with in this book which explores the Futurist Movement and it’s principles. Russolo says that ‘Ancient life was all silence. In the 19th century with the invention of machines, noise was born.’ I find it interesting that Russolo himself refers to these sounds as ‘noise‘ rather than music… He argues that ‘Musical sound is too limited in its variety of timbres’ making fun of western classical music – ‘Do you know of a more ridiculous sight than that of twenty men striving to redouble the mewling of a violin?.’
Reading Russolo- I do sense a kind of humour in his thinking. I feel that rather than believe this was the next stage for musical evolution, he himself knew that it would never be commercially accepted as ‘Music’ … therefore refers to it as ‘noise.’ He even goes as far as to classify his Six families of noise- much like the families we group orchestral instruments into!
I also found Pierre Schaeffer’s essays on ‘Acousmatics’ prevalent to the class… (no way!??). The founder of Musique Concrete which as a style/genre doesn’t discriminate traditional sound elements from ‘noise’ or other sounds which are otherwise considered non-traditional. The focus is instead on the sound as the central compositional tool. Essentially it is music made up of sounds of the real world which relied on the most crucial development for 20th century music, in the ability to record sounds with the tape-recorder. Schaeffer was attracted by Edmund Husseri’s idea of ‘Phenomenology’ which disregarded the traditional philosophical distinctions between the ’subject’ and the ‘object’ the actual reality describing the experience without any reference to the source of the subjective mode.
I listened to Shaeffer’s collaboration with Pierre Henry- Symphonie Pour Un Homme Seul (1950) which demonstrates Schaeffer’s Musique Concrete. Shaeffer had three concepts; The Sound Object (identifying an event of sound as a single ‘object.’ , Reduced Listening (consideration of the sound itself- not the source) , Primacy of Ear (the aural experience the only focus of attention.)
Futurism and Musique Concrete obviously had a profound influence on a generation of composers/musicans- noticeably John Cage and Karlheinz Stockhausen- who themselves pushed the boundaries further in terms of acousmatic, electronica and essentially acousmatic music.
I listened to Stockhousen’s piece ‘Gesang Der Junglinge’ (1956) which mixed electronically produced sounds with recordings of a boys singing voice. The piece itself is for four channels which allows for live spacialization- early acousmatic music as we know it!
It seems that whilst the technology to record and manipulate live sounds was getting better and better, as was the ability to generate wholly new electronically produced sounds- as heard in the music of Louis and Bebe Barron on the soundtrack to the Forbidden Planet- (the sounds which seem to have been emulated in sci-fi pictures ever since!)
I have also been listening to a lot of music by Lannis Xenakis- recommended to me by my violin teacher Mifune Tsuji who not only knew him, but who leads the ‘Xenakis ensemble.’ As well as writing a lot of music for orchestra,voice and chamber ensembles- Xenakis worked with tape. The piece La legende d’er for seven channels has a very wide soundworld and mixes subtle electronic sounds with versatile acoustic sounds.Xenakis took the title from the myth of Er as recounted in Plato’s ‘Republic.’ I found it interesting to note that Xenakis (as an architect) constructed ‘Le Diatope’
This building contained 400 mirrors and various lasers- which accompanied by the composition itself/spacialised transcends the intended affect by the composer! What I liked most about this piece was the gradual build of tension, the clear ABA structure and dense feel. Although my first composition aimed to transform road-side sounds, my next piece will concentrate on a more specific sound world- hopefully emulating Xenakis! (But i’ll save talking about that for my next blog =) .
