musicians      composers      interviews      masterclasses      competitions      festivals      MANAGEMENT      cd's    cdarchive    

INTERVIEWS
COMPOSERS

Arnt H. Aanesen NO	Juan M. Abras AR	Ashot Aryan RU	Svitlana Azarova UA
Stephen M. Barchan UK	Christophe Bertrand FR	Linda Buckley IE	Paul Clift AU
Daria Jablonska PL	Elia Koussa LB	Ulrich Kreppein DE	Felipe Lara BR
Sarah Nemtsov DE	Christian Onyeji NG	Tomas Palka CZ	Jakhongir Shukurov UZ
Mirjam Tally EE	Merlijn Twaalfhoven NL	Nicholas Vines AU	Dan Visconto US
James Wade AU/NZ

ARNT HAAKON AANESEN  (NO)

.... When it comes to individualism and future in the digital era, I think inter-individualism will play a larger role, than the composer – listener tradition....

Arnt, you are a young composer from Norway. Can you describe your position in Norwegian and European musical landscape?

You might call me an inventive traditionalist with a post-modern attitude. I like to get inspiration from earlier compositional techniques and theories, and combine them with existing contemporary ideas for composition and my own relationship to the compositional process.
By post-modern attitude, I mean grasping the possibility to borrow identities, and making them one’s own. Although I am very aware of who I am and my taste of music, I like to try concepts and do music that does not immediately correspond with my original ideas.
In this way, both the Norwegian and European musical landscape is open for me to explore, not only when listening, but also when composing. Even so, you will always hear my voice coming out of it. One cannot hide one’s signature.

What is your newest composition and what is your aesthetical point in this composition?

My newest composition is Format Transform, an electro acoustic work, with support from The Norwegian Composer’s Fund, commissioned by Treffpunkt; an improvisation group cooperating within the fields of choreography, extended voice techniques and composition. I am part of this group together with choreographer Helle Siljeholm and soprano Silje Aker Johnsen.
The aesthetical point of Format Transform is inspired by Treffpunkt’s ideas of the appointment theory of O.F.Bollnow; That appointments between man and reality, or between humans, affect us both appalling and comforting. Through these impacts of appointments we develop and become aware.
The piece has no "dramaturgical direction", but more static dramaturgy as if describing a state. It is just a space where these appointments can happen. It is a surrounding or sound platform for body movements and vocals on stage, in interaction between dance, vocal and musical work.
The acoustics Format Transform is based on is extended voice techniques and recorded sounds from dance movements on floors.

I like your Love’s Requiem for vocal quartet (2003) and Paix (2006/2007) for orchestra very much. Expression and emotion are part of it. What do the words ‘feelings’ and ‘emotion’ mean to you?

You read my intentions well. Yes, expression and emotion are a large part of what I am and do as composer. I am very dedicated to reflecting life in music. I know this can be a weird thing to say. And to be clearer; I do not expect listeners to “feel” exactly what I “feel” when composing. But I believe in being aware to the depths of one’s human sides. And possibly this awareness can be reflected in what one does, and further on be something the other can experience resonance in when interacting with one’s works. “Feelings” and “emotions” in this sense, becomes the wholeness of something that is too huge to express in a sentence or within a conversation. Therefore I compose it. I balance it through a process of compositional exercise. And a work becomes the result of it. At this end of processing internal intuitions, I hope to have clarified the issues, the feelings and the following emotions, so that the work itself represents clearness. But the process, for me, is totally dependent on a close relationship between “emotion” and logic. It is in this dialectical ambience, I try to clarify intuition.

Love’s Requiem is inspired on madrigal tradition. Paix feels romantic and poetic, also Paix has beautiful sounds and colours. Same time these compositions are absolutely contemporary music. Composers do not like to be classified in this way. They all are individualists. What does the word ‘individualism’ mean to you in relationship to your profession as a composer?

No existent one is the first one. We all stand in a tradition, and all new has been said before. But we can all say the old sayings in a new way by our own voice, with our identity. In this way we are all individuals and there is individualism. But traces of us have always been there from before. And it is fine. It only tells that we are part of evolution and history.
I believe that one can combine being connected to history, tradition, community and fellow human beings, with independence and the importance of individual self-reliance and liberty.
We are all both unique and just like everyone else. This contradiction is a gift, I think, not a problem.
It should make us feel safe, being in connection to something else; having a “home”. And free, being independent to decide our destiny. But I have felt it myself too, the hopelessness of believing I had made something completely new, just realizing after a short time, that it was old news. But I have found peace with this; and acknowledge my own personal voice, even if my voice is made of the same particles as everyone else’s. I think it is a possibility for mediating music here. If the composer’s voice is like everyone else’s, the composer can say something for many. And so music has a meaning in addition to being music.

You are composing electronic music too. There are musicians who say composing acoustic or electronic music are two totally different things. They say composing electronic music is like ‘sculpting sounds’. Others compare electronics and acoustics like ‘cold’ and ‘warm’ light, which can be a good mixture of sounds. What is your vision about this aspect?

Acoustic and electronic music has completely different equipments and possibilities especially in terms of sound control. But since I see music as one whole thing, and want to let equipments support the ideas, I try to work in similar ways both when composing acoustic and electronic music. But my electronic music tends to have less dramaturgical direction than my acoustic music. I dwell more on sound here. The “now” tends to be more important than “tendency”.
I get ideas for acoustic music, when working with techniques in electronic music, and the other way around. Working with electronic music, makes me dwell more on sound in my acoustic music. And working with acoustic music, makes me focusing more on direction in electronic music. Paix is an example of inspiration from electronic music. It has a certain direction, but is in spite of this a bath in sound and “now”.

Is there according to you a different aesthetical approach concerning feelings and emotion when you are writing (or listening to) acoustic music or electronic music?

I might expect very much of sound inventiveness in electronic music, cause there are not really any limits in what creativity can use of equipments here. But when it comes to aesthetical approach concerning feelings and emotion, I have the same expectation of sincerity as I have when it comes to acoustic music. It is not enough to be a good technician neither in acoustic nor electronic music.

Could you tell some words about the musical structures in Love’s Requiem and Paix or in other recent works?

Love’s Requiem is an extended use of traditional polyphony, inspired from late Renaissance / early Baroque. Imitation is the main principle, in alliance with contra movements.
The tonal and harmonic aggregates, which the linear voices are based on, are constantly in alternation and progress within a twelve-tone system. In spite of this, there is a pretty strong shimmer of traditional functional harmony shining through.
The piece was written intuitively, in the sense of meaning, each new step of the piece was decided intuitively, based on how I “felt” the “harmonic melody” had to go on. But even though this “feeling” held the final decision, the harmonic functions that emerged, was a result of both my experience and view of extended harmony, and predetermined transitions and functional rows.
Paix was much more predetermined when it came to harmony. I generated through vertical modus quaternion four main harmonic aggregates to begin with. The basic one was created to be similar to the overtone row, with additional and altering tones. The other aggregates were placed in octaves to simulate the overtone row.
Based on this I created a harmonic rhythm, with leading tendencies that were fulfilled or not, making a dramaturgical form. Additional aggregates were made, to make transitions, variation within an aggregate etc.
The work presents itself as a dwell between concretized and diffuse material. But the overall form is a more and more established idea, in this case a melody that results both from the harmonies and development of motives. This is culminating in a bi-state, only consisting of one leading harmonic aggregate that is not developing to anything but itself, before the idea/melody in retrograde finishes the piece. The bi-state consists mainly of a variation technique of transposing parts of the aggregate through key tones, and placing alternative overtone rows from certain other tones in the original row.
Another piece I have recently written is WAR. Maybe too obvious that it is the opposite of paix.. Anyway, war and peace are two very possible contradictions of the future for all of us in this brand new century, and I like to call a spade a spade, even if music may only be music.
Whereas harmonic aggregates inspired by overtone spectres were the basis for Paix, variation techniques are for WAR. Although the immediate reflection of it is a pendulum between stasis and progress, quietness and activity, structuralized chaos and free order. It is an ambient piece that has taken a long time to write. I started it in 2005, and it has been revised several times.

What is your opinion about the development of Western music after the 2nd World War until now?

I think it has been a good development. It started with a sincere and eager attempt to create a whole new fundament for music, after the 2nd World War’s vulgar use of music for horrible political frames. This compositional attempt “to built the world again”, on rationalism and logic, is something I highly recognise, respect and understand concerning what Romanticism and passion just had made of world crisis. This turned to reconsidering with Boulez’s “Putting the phantoms to flight” (1960) as an example, realising that the technological rationality may have been quite an absurdity, and so the post-modern age had begun.
At the same time the phonography’s age, which has now turned to the digital age, had an enormous development, giving room for totally new equipments for both saving, sharing and manipulating sound.
We have come to “the land of possibilities”. And I think we can reunite with intuition, passion and emotions, without being afraid of the return of 2nd World War’s use of such music. But I think we will never forget it. I really hope not. Cause being inspired, and the inspired human being, need a space in the world, but only if the responsibility of having this inspiration is considered. If inspiration is to have a larger space, we need a discussion about where the inspired being should be, and what limits to be set, so that Der Führer tendencies never appear again in history. There is a reason why the world has become very concerned with logic and rationality. And if we should try to loosen up, we need to be aware of things, and conscious.  

What 20th century composers are your favourites, and why?

One of my favourites is Igor Stravinsky. Not necessarily because of his music, but first of all because of his attitude. He always changed. For him, I think, music was not about style or concept. It was of something behind the technical scene. He has made strong statements about how music should be written and thought of, but at the same time he changed, and let change happen in his development. And I respect him very much for that. In spite of his harsh statements from time to time, it expresses an overall openness.
Giacinto Scelsi is definitely another one of my favourites, mostly because he at one point in life quit relating intellectual to things. He was a person of strong intuition, and let that spirit guide him to excellent experiences and works.
But I tend to have favourite composers, because of their attitude, not necessarily because of their music. Cause for me the attitude is what gives music sense. The constellations we put around the spirit, is important, but in this aspect of techniques, I like to be inspired by many contradictory traditions and aesthetics. And so, all composers of all times can be my inspirations, depending on what tendency I want the piece to have.

What is your view on Western music at present, the aesthetical aspect, the use of twelve tones, a necessity of a new tone system? Is there a crisis? Has individualism a future in the digital era in which also interactivity plays a role? And what about the influence of electronic means on creating music f.i. artificial intelligence opposite to composer’s intelligence? See also message 2 in my Guestbook.

I think every composer needs to define one’s own tone system, and not overlook that pitch and pitch constellations are one of the most present audible surfaces of a work. I think an awareness and definition of this, is necessary in every work, and if pitch is intended not to be important, the actual pitches used, should be organized in such a way, that there cannot be made any constellation of them. If that is possible..
After centuries of music with harmony and pitch as the main structure, I think we never can escape the listening after structure in pitches among audiences. I might be conservative about this, as about many things perhaps, but I see structure in pitch constellations as possibilities, not an obstacle. And concepts from earlier music can inspire us in this area, I think.
When it comes to individualism and future in the digital era, I think inter-individualism will play a larger role, than the composer – listener tradition. But I hope the human aspect in sound communication will live on; and to be honest, I think it will, too, in spite of artificial intelligence. Human beings have made artificial intelligence. Not the other way around. All technical, supporting equipment made, are made by humans. And the more logic we make, the more human we need to be, in order to make logic serve us, and not the other way around. So I think there will, sooner or later, be a rise of humanism that can fill all the wonderful concepts and equipments we have made. The communication possibilities are many as never before. Now we need much more to say, in order to use them properly.

What do the terms 'new' and 'experimental' mean to you in connection to contemporary music?

As I previously said, I think there is nothing today that can be called new, although, new things can be made of old material. And it is in this creativity of using existing material the term “experimentalism” has potential. But I think there is an unnecessarily huge press today to be fresh, new and experimental. I do not think you can call something art, only based upon being brand new. There are other things that give art today value, besides being new. Sometimes I feel this strive for the next step, the historicism and modernism, is preventing us from reaching the future.

What are your ambitions for the future?

My ambitions for the future are first of all to continue working with musicians and other artists, making projects where all of the participators are part of the process, and where ideas about form and conceptual themes are considered in cooperation.
I also want to work more with orchestras, and do many works where the concepts and techniques from Paix are expressed, for instance those of harmonic aggregates, similar to overtone rows, organized with relational functionalism.
I want to continue using exact notation in my works, and develop my ideas of expressing contemporary concepts of sound and form in traditional notation.
And I will work to make sure, till the very end that the dialogue between my intuition and the predetermination of systems and techniques when composing, will continue to operate, and develop. Therefore I also know, that if my ambitions for the future are to have any possibility to come true, I will have to continue being honest to myself, and acknowledge things and states of mind from my living experience when composing.

What would you like to tell composers of contemporary music, or the music world in general, the audience, organizers of festivals or educational institutes?

Listen to music; all kinds of music. Try to do that not only with your brain’s logic. Open up for your whole spectra of humanity. Music has always and will always be an excellent possibility of getting to know extremely much of everything, in a very sincere and direct way.
And once and for all, kill the war between styles in music. We’re all humans. All of us have something we need to say, and should say. Every depth of the human being has a right to be heard. And one depth of one human can be heard by another depth of another human. We need to interact. There is nothing no one can’t learn from. But at the same time, never give up your own thoughts of what you like and want to do. Just show respect. There is room for everybody and enough money in the world to pay for everything.
“You might say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.” John Lennon.

See also Presentation Arnt Haakon Aanesen.

Mail to: arntie(@)gmail.com.

Interview Heerlen - Oslo by Frans Waltmans   back

  
JUAN MANUEL ABRAS (AR)

....I believe that composing is, in part, writing what you ‘remember’. The musical work already exists, like a Platonic Idea....

Juan Manuel, you are a young Argentine composer living and studying in Poland (Penderecki). Can you explain your situation?

Juan Manuel: It’s a very natural situation for me: I was born in Europe, my grandparents were Europeans and I was raised between Europe and Argentina, where my parents where born. I lived in six different countries through all European regions so far: Sweden (where I was born), Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Austria and Poland. Therefore, it seems so obvious that I can’t help being and feeling European and Argentinian at the same time. I met Krzysztof Penderecki in Austria when I was studying at the University (former Academy) of Music and Performing Arts Vienna; I told him I wanted to become his student, he accepted me as such after looking at my scores and I came to Poland for continuing my studies with him at the Academy of Music in Krakow.

But apart from my personal situation, Argentinians are mainly ‘transplanted Europeans’, as my father used to say (he was a diplomat and journalist). Historically, the concept of ‘Argentina’ only appeared clearly after the tremendous stream of emigration that left Southern, Western, Northern and Eastern Europe (according to UN’s regional division of the Old Continent) settled in a huge but sparsely populated land (its aboriginal groups were numerically few in relation to a territory that is about 3 million sq km) that was regarded as ‘The Granary of the World’ (and from a geographically point of view still remains so), mainly escaping from the European wars and crisis of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. But Argentina not only opened its arms to people of European origin (97% of its population, according to CIA’s World Factbook 2007) but also to emigrants from Middle East, Far East and other regions of the world as well.

The process I just described generated in Argentina a kind of ‘spontaneous European Union’ that, at the same time, gave rise to an Argentine national identity, mainly made up of a mix of European cultures: hence, to be Argentinian is in essence a feeling, a sense of belonging to a new-born nation; there is even a popular saying that goes: ‘Argentina es un sentimiento’ (Argentina is a feeling). Because of this, origin will never normally affect your personal or professional relationships, in contrast –it is said– to what happens in other countries. As my mother always says (she is a sociologist), the concept of ‘foreigner’ is relative in Argentina because the country was mainly built by immigrants: how could you call a person ‘foreigner’ when your parents or grandparents where also ‘foreigners’?

Can you tell a few words about education and schooling in contemporary music at Argentine conservatories/universities?

Some decades ago Argentina was an undisputed place for learning and teaching Contemporary Music in the American continent, thanks in part to the activities Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983) organised and carried out in Buenos Aires between 1963 and 1971 as director of the Latin American Centre for Advanced Musical Studies of the “Torcuato di Tella” Institute, an institution that benefited many young composers of the American continent and abroad.

The Music of Ginastera (his surname –like Abras– is Catalan) started embracing the nationalist orientation that emerged in Argentina during the 19th century –Alberto Williams (1862–1952), Argentine composer of British descent, was one of its most representative artists– and ended by incorporating microtonal and aleatoric elements chronologically preceded in his works by atonal and serial approaches that were favoured and supported in the country during the 1930s by Juan Carlos Paz (1901–1972) and, later and among others, Roberto García Morillo (1911-2003), with whom I studied Composition.

In 1958 Ginastera created the Faculty of Musical Arts and Sciences of the UCA-Catholic University of Argentina (whose present Dean is the prominent Argentine conductor Guillermo Scarabino, with whom I studied Orchestral Conducting), one of the most prestigious music teaching institutions of the country along with the “Carlos López Buchardo” Department of Arts of Music and Sound (former National Conservatory of Music) of the IUNA-National University Institute of Art (where I began the formal music studies I subsequently continued in Venice, Italy and Spain) and the “Manuel de Falla” High Conservatory of Music (a Spanish expression for ‘Academy of Music’), from where I graduated before continuing my studies in Vienna.

Are there differences and similarities between Argentine and European music institutes?

Regarding the similarities, as I said earlier, Argentine people –and Argentine culture too– are mainly a mix and a consequence of the European immigration; and music teaching institutions are not an exception to this fact. Argentine musical tradition was neither imitated nor copied from European models, but inherited; it was brought by the European emigrant-musicians that settled in Argentina in search of a new place to live: from the distinguished Domenico Zipoli (1688–1726) to the legendary Erich Kleiber (1890-1956). This tradition have been continued by younger generations of artists that were born (or raised) in Argentina and pursued their careers there and abroad, like the internationally acclaimed Martha Argerich, Daniel Barenboim, Bruno Gelber, Michael Gielen, Alberto Ginastera, Carlos Guastavino, Mauricio Kagel, Carlos Kleiber and Astor Piazzolla, among others. I think this fact is clearly illustrated by the words John Cage used –it is said– for referring to Mauricio Kagel: “The best European composer I know is Argentinian”. A standing legacy of this tradition, and also a symbol of Buenos Aires, is the famous Teatro Colón, one of the leading Opera houses of the world that –with its unsurpassed acoustics– experienced a Golden Era just some decades ago.

As for the differences, it’s clear that in Argentina –like everywhere– Music can be affected by the nation’s political and economic situation; and despite being a wealthy country from the geographical point of view, the consequences of the many financial crisis the country suffered during the past years were deeply felt in many aspects of musical life, including teaching and learning. After the peso was devalued it became very difficult not only to attract foreign high-level artists but also to import scores and discs, limiting, thus, the contact with external musical influences. However, this situation has been constantly alleviated, for example, by events devoted to Contemporary Music like the Festival Internacional Encuentros, yearly organized by the Argentine composer Alicia Terzian (who studied with Ginastera) and by other musical activities held not only in Buenos Aires, but in the whole country as well. So, despite the crisis and their effects, I agree with the words that Gerard H. Béhague, a prolific scholar of Latin American ethnomusicology, wrote for ‘The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians’: “Among the great Latin American capitals, Buenos Aires now enjoys a musical life of unique importance by virtue of its many theatres, orchestras and choral associations, and its good educational institutions. In addition, frequent contact with visiting foreign composers, musicologists or performers has afforded local musicians a comprehensive view of the contemporary musical world.”

Listening to your music, it is various. Can you describe your position in the compositional landscape?

There is in many of my works –but not in all of them– a variety of inspirations and references (to Literature, Visual Arts, Theology and Religion, Biology, Psychoanalysis, Anthropology and Archaeology, etc.) that probably comes from the fact that I am interested in Arts and Humanities as much as in Science and Technology. In fact, I share a passion for past (I have a Bachelors and a Masters Degree in History) and future (I also wanted to be a Biology researcher); but inspirations and references to current world or personal events also abound, of course, in my pieces. Different styles and techniques are found in them too, but –however– not normally within the same composition (polystylistic or eclectic approaches that would imply the deliberated use of juxtaposed elements or the act of drawing them from various sources are almost rare).

I think there has always been a dialogue not only with past but also with future through Music History and, thus, all historic styles (including the many ‘isms’ of the 20th century) constitute a rich palette for the contemporary composer that can be accepted or rejected: I like to take from it what I want when I want, modify (or not) its ‘colours’ and add my own ones to it as well. This is due not only to my personal evolution but also to the influences and advices I have received, during my studies and courses, from masters like García Morillo, Schwertsik, Penderecki, Mullenbach, Stockhausen, Lachenmann, Rihm and Gielen, among others. As a result of what I just said, my music can sound atonal, bruitiste (experimental), serial, tonal, aleatoric, minimalist or algorithmic, be related to New Simplicity (including Neoclassicism and Neoromanticism), Sonorism, New Complexity or World Music (including Argentine folklore and Tango). But the style I will choose for a new piece is usually determined by the ‘inner vision’ I often experience prior to starting the compositional process: before writing the first note I can hear passages of the work to be written; I can see images of its future performance. And this is a fact I found linked to the platonic concept of ‘anamnesis’, something that could be put in relation, I think, with what we call ‘artistic inspiration’.

Regarding what I just said, I believe that composing is, in part, writing what you ‘remember’. The musical work already exists, like a Platonic Idea; the more faithfully you can ‘remember’ how it sounds, the better you can do your job; and then comes a lot of work and craftsmanship. It reminds me Michelangelo’s thoughts about freeing the forms that were already in the stone by chipping away all that was not a part of the statue. However, some people see this fact from a lower level of perception and believe the musical ideas exist only in the composer’s mind; and even if they rightly assume that the score is not the work (I think we could call a score ‘the instructions’ for performing a musical composition), they agree that the work exists when you transform it into sound: from their point of view, each musical work is recreated during a performance. Other people think that, even if we could agree that each performance is a recreation, from a deeper point of view, the composer creates the work once and forever; and from an even deeper point of view, the musical work is actually a pre-existent idea: I personally find the latter a more convincing statement.

Another aspect of my works relies in the balance I try to seek between the technical and objective aspects on one hand and, on the other, the way the piece sounds; a balance between theory and practice, between thinking and feeling: by achieving this ‘union of the opposites’, like in an alchemical process, the piece should satisfy my own expectations; when I compose, I am my first listener. But despite embracing the variety of styles and inspirations I described earlier, I believe my works maintain, at the same time, a unity that lies beneath the ‘surface’, the ‘outer skin’ that, from my point of view, a musical style, in part, constitutes. And because the concept of ‘unity in variety’ (and variety in unity) has been always present in philosophical and artistic thinking through History, I often try to include it in my compositions. In them, unity can be found in deeper aspects (like musical discourse, coherency of the work and its musical events, the way these are connected, etc.) that are not necessarily linked to a particular tendency, since unity its inner by nature; it lies on an ontological level. I love languages, dialects and their local peculiarities; and there is no need to think of Leibniz for realizing that some of them –because of their grammatical characteristics– are capable of expressing certain concepts in a more faithful way than others and vice versa. When you can speak different languages, you can also decide which to use for each occasion, not only without changing the core of the message to be expressed but also doing it more faithfully. I think that in the same way a technique should not be a goal in itself but only a mean to achieve the latter, the message must transcend the language, going beyond the boundaries implicit in the aesthetics and techniques of every musical style. However, even if most people think Music is an ‘universal language’ (and some find analogies with Chomsky’s ‘universal grammar’), for others it’s not even a language (Wittgenstein, Langer, etc.). Nevertheless, I believe Music (and Art in general) is capable not only of carrying a message (whether this happens in a language-like way, in a symbol-way or by other means), but also of letting us, during certain occasions, behold the Absolute.

Concerning what I just said, I can’t help remembering some words by Ligeti on how Music can sometimes seem to come from the infinite like an audible moment of the immutable and eternal music of the spheres, and what –it is said– Karajan once told Michel Glotz: “It is music coming from another world, it is coming from eternity”; and speaking on my own behalf, I sometimes experience that, like in some sort of ‘union of the opposites’, the more the Music flows, the more the time stops. However, other people focus on this same process from a less deep level of perception, stating that Music is someway related to an ‘act of illusion’ done against the physical laws, due to the ephemeral nature of sound; for them, Music begins from nothing (silence) and ends in nothing (silence), an approach that –even if obviously exact from a merely acoustical point of view– disregards, for some thinkers, any metaphysical experience, even when claiming to do the opposite by stating that what gives Music a metaphysical characteristic is its capacity to create ‘an illusion’ of eternity within reality (and, thus, not its capacity of letting us actually contemplate the Absolute). On the contrary, I believe Music can momentarily take us from our ontological reality to another; Art can actually overcome reality, rip it and tear it, liberating us –in some way– from the ‘illusion’ in which we live: despite the contextual differences, this reminds me not only some Neo-Platonic approaches but also the Hinduism’s concept of Maya (illusion) and Kant’s definition of ‘phenomenon’ that some artists –it is said–intuited and expressed, for example, through Literature: “Ever drifting down the stream / Lingering in the golden gleam / Life, what is it but a dream?” (Lewis Carroll); “All that we see or seem / is but a dream within a dream” (Edgar Allan Poe); In his play ‘La vida es sueño’ (Life is a dream) –whose action takes place in Poland, by the way– Pedro Calderón de la Barca (1600-1681) wrote: “¿Qué es la vida? Un frenesí / ¿Qué es la vida? Una ilusión, / una sombra, una ficción, / y el mayor bien es pequeño; / que toda la vida es sueño, / y los sueños, sueños son.” (What is life? A frenzy / What is life? An illusion, / a shadow, a fiction, / and the greatest good is small; / for all life is a dream, / and dreams, are dreams.)

What is your opinion about the development of Western music after the 2nd World War until now?

I believe that Culture is a manifestation of the same human spirit that can’t help being wounded by the horror and atrocities of war; and since I also think that a musical work reflects –consciously or not– a composer’s ‘inner world’, it’s clear to me that the devastating consequences of the 2nd World War left an indelible and clearly noticeable mark in the music composed by the generation of artists who witnessed the conflict. I think we could all agree that one of the aspects that characterizes Contemporary Music is the acceleration suffered by the ever-present emergence process of new aesthetic movements that, in only a few years, gave rise to a rapid proliferation of ‘isms’. And even if a reaction against previous times is found in almost every period of Music History (as so clearly manifested, for example, in Vitry’s / Wolf’s term ‘Ars Nova’, opposed to ‘Ars Antiqua’), such a big quantity of styles in such a short period of time was hardly found in the past. Another distinctive aspect of some Contemporary Music (and artistic disciplines in general) seems to be a change in the association that historically existed between Art and concepts like ‘kalokagathia’, ‘telos’, ‘transcendence’, ‘artistic service’ or ‘common good; and it’s not necessary for the general audience to be Husserlian , Platonic-Augustinian or Aristotelian-Thomistic for intuitively perceiving this fact that some people define as “crisis of meaning”.

The existence of what I like to call the ‘Fontana Paradox’ is other particularity of some contemporary artistic productions including Music; I named it after Lucio Fontana (1899-1968), the eminent Argentine visual artist who lived and worked in Italy and founded the ‘Movimento Spaziale’ (Spatialism) around 1947: today, his canvasses, sculptures, ceramics and other masterpieces are included in the permanent collections of hundreds of museums worldwide. For illustrating the paradox, let’s imagine this situation: an unaware observer of the sixteenth century contemplates for the first time a painting by Leonardo da Vinci. Even without knowing who created that, it would have been probably clear for the observer that only a true master could have done such a work: for an untrained person, even to imitate such a painting properly would have been almost impossible. The same thing could probably have happened, for example, through the 1600s with a painting by Rembrandt, during the 1700s with a work of Goya and through the 19th century with a canvass, for instance, by Renoir. But now, let’s imagine another situation: an unaware observer of the twentieth century contemplates for the first time one the several works entitled ‘Concetto Spaziale – Attesa’ by Lucio Fontana: a canvass with a vertical cut. How could the unaware observer, without knowing beforehand who created that, distinguish the work of a true master like Fontana from that of an untrained person who could easily get a canvass and slash it too? There is, of course, a perfectly valid explanation of why this happens nowadays; but that doesn’t change the fact that it still happens.

Going back to Contemporary Music, it wouldn’t be difficult to find analogous situations to the one just described, especially because during some years what in the past was considered ‘The Art of…’ (Fugue, Counterpoint, Harmony, Form, etc.) became for many a kind of taboo, an imposed prohibition, due to logical and historically valid reasons normally unknown, however, to the general audience. Some people think that this apparent inversion and manipulation of values (that turned them from beneath) also opened the door to certain individuals who, taking advantage of this situation, started a sort of ‘revenge of the mediocres’ to hide their flaws, as impostors do, beneath the Art of the true contemporary masters. In the past, this would have been probably impossible to achieve since –despite the sometimes radical differences found between emerging new musical styles and previous ones– the most intrinsic values of Music had always remained untouched.

What is your view on Western music at present, the aesthetic aspect, the personal approach, the use of twelve tones, a necessity of a new tone system? Is there a crisis? Is there a future? How?

As for the “aesthetic aspect” and “personal approach”, I think that was already answered in response to your previous question; but regarding the use of twelve tones in a ‘purist’ way, it seems clear that today –despite the use we can still make of it– we should refer to the ‘Zwolftontechnik’ as a historical method of composition, since almost a century (if we consider the Präludium of Schönberg’s Piano Suite op.25 as the earliest 12-note serial piece) separate us from its emergence. However, just as by the end of the 1950s only a few composers were not influenced by the consequences of Serialism –the first ones being the application of the serial structure to non-pitch elements– it wouldn’t be difficult to find traces of serial approaches in many musical works of our times.

Your question regarding the “necessity of a new tone system” and about “a crisis” makes me think of some scholarly reflections about Rousseau’s ‘Sistême Musicale’ –often defined as a rational and self-contained arrangement of musical phenomena– and its associations with the term ‘tonality’. If a tone system implies a systematic organization of pitches and the relations that exist between them, we can assume that –despite some theoretical disagreements– Western musical tradition witnessed, until the 20th century, a period of modal music (before 1600), followed by one of tonal music (ca. 1600-1910) and then one of atonal music (after 1910). During the past century, most of the many ‘isms’ I mentioned when answering your previous question tried to find new structures even by incorporating, for example, non-Western elements (taken from Indian rāga, Indonesian gamelan music, Arabic maqām, etc.), most of them related to different tuning systems whose exploration (that also gave rise to specifically-designed musical instruments) has always existed throughout Classical Music History since Ancient Greece times, favouring the emergence, for instance, of microtonal elements in the works of composers born in the 19th century (like Ives, Bartók, Milhaud and Hába, among others), the appearance of concepts like Alexander John Ellis’ ‘cent’ (100 cents is equal to one equally tempered semitone), or the instrumental inventions achieved by Harry Partch and the California Group since the 1930s. And if we define crisis (in Greek it literally means ‘decision’) like “an unstable or crucial time or state of affairs in which a decisive change is impending” (‘Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary’) we have to admit that just as we contemplated how the so called ‘dissolution of traditional tonal functions’ arose in the early years of the past century, we also noticed the emergence –only some decades later– of tendencies that have been called ‘New tonality’, ‘New Simplicity’ and ‘Neoromanticism’, which in most cases imply a return to quasi-tonal progressions, predictable metric pulses and former aesthetics.

Therefore, when you ask me about “a future” and “how”, considering what I just mentioned, it seems clear that each time it was said: “Everything is exhausted; what else could come next?” something new appeared; but it also was said: “Nothing is new under the sun. Even the thing of which we say, ‘See, this is new!’ has already existed in the ages that preceded us.” (Ecclesiastes). Thus, I can’t help remembering what George Crumb wrote in his article entitled ‘Music: Does it Have a Future?’: “music can never cease evolving; it will continually re-invent the world in its own terms” and I also can’t help thinking of Giambattista Vico’s ‘spiral’, related to his concept of ‘ideal eternal history’; I really believe in Providence: from my point of view, there will be always a future –also for Music– until the End of Time.

What do the terms 'new' and 'experimental' mean to you in connection to contemporary music?

According to the cultural context, a word that may seem easy to translate from one language to another can have a complete different meaning in each of them despite the identical or similar spelling and common etymology: in Italian, the musical term ‘battùta’ means ‘measure’ whereas in Spanish and Polish the word ‘batuta’ refers to a conductor’s ‘baton’ (and in Spain, by the way, a ‘batón’ is a long type of robe). But since this play of words could go on, we may ask ourselves: can these potential ambiguities might be increased when the terms ‘new’ and ‘experimental’ are applied to Music, being both of them common adjectives instead of musical neologisms? Nevertheless, even if we agreed that in this case most translations would be accurate, it would be also difficult to deny how new and experimental was Mozart’s Music for the European audiences of the 18th century even if now we refer to it using the term ‘classical’ in a double sense: because of its belonging to what we call Classical Music and, within that category, for the reason that it also belongs to the so called ‘Classical Period / School / Style’. And what about Beethoven’s innovations in the fields of Harmony, Orchestration or Form, among others? Weren’t his innovations new and experimental? Going back to languages, just as in the case of using the term ‘classical’ to refer to the Music written by Mozart and other composers of his time, so the use of the word ‘neue’ (new) for designating most of the Music belonging to the 20th and 21st centuries appears to have arisen among German writers (like Paul Bekker and others), in whose production we also find the adjectives ‘moderne’, ‘zeitgenössische’ (contemporary), ‘gegenwart’ (current), ‘avantgarde’ and ‘experimentelle’, a word associated with “the redefining of the boundaries of a given art form” (David Cope’s definition of ‘Experimentalism’) and often related to the exploration of the so called ‘extended techniques’ characteristic of the 1960s and 1970s that lead us back to your question: if the ‘avant-garde’ is defined as ‘an intelligentsia that develops new or experimental concepts especially in the arts’ (Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary), which period of Classical Music lacked it, then?

What are your ambitions for the future?

I would like to be able to keep on composing and conducting, and live from this beautiful profession and way of life that Music is for me.

What would you like to tell composers of contemporary music, or the music world in general?

I love to talk and share my thoughts with others; but in this case, rather than doing that, I think I should let my work speak for itself. Everyone is invited to hear!

Thank you Juan Manuel!

More info www.juanmanuelabras.com
Interview Heerlen - Buenos Aires by Frans Waltmans     back


ASHOT ARIYAN (AM)

....I consider the development of western music to be along the same lines as such negative tendencies as global warming, environmental pollution and moral decline....

Ashot, you are an Armenian composer living and working in Moscow. Can you explain your situation? How is Moscow?

...Moscow is a world centre for music with a very rich and varied musical life. But the best time for composers is over, after the break-up of the Soviet Union. It is equally difficult for Russian composers as for foreigners in Moscow. Nowadays the composer has to be a manager and even a promoter of his music which is sometimes difficult for people of a modest nature.

How does this rich and varied musical life in Moscow look like?

Concert life is really rich in Moscow. There is a lot of choice for music lovers. For example, at the same time you can find different concerts in the Moscow Conservatory concert halls, everything from Iranian folk to French spectral music. Interesting music, well-known artists - what more do you need for a happy music lover? For contemporary music lovers there is the annual "Moscow Autumn Festival", mostly representing the latest compositions of Russian and some foreign composers.

You are a professor in composition at Tchaikovsky Conservatory Moscow. What can you tell about education and schooling in contemporary music at Tchaikovsky Conservatory?

Unfortunately, I am not well-informed about schooling in contemporary music and the Faculty of Contemporary Music but I would say that now there is no difficulty for students to be involved in modern and fashionable styles of music. Any young person who decides to enter the Tchaikovsky Conservatory Composition Faculty should take into account that there are three kinds of teachers. The first category prefers tonal or early atonal styles to modern and post-modern styles. The second focuses on only the newest styles and experimentation. The last category is the most flexible: these teachers recognise every kind of style and are able to get on well with all kinds of students.

What is your newest composition and what is your personal aesthetical approach in this composition?

My current composition is a Cycle of Twelve Fugues and Postludes for Piano. I have written the first four. Why twelve? I allocated fugues and postludes to the overtone series beginning with the note A, rather than C, and then - E, C-sharp, G, B, D-flat, etc. The repetitive tones in overtone scale are not included. I believe there is great potential for the revival of the fugue genre but the perspective should be changed a little.

Listening to your music your compositions are breathing East European national character with a lot of passion, a lot of energy, I could call it a 'late romantic style'. On the other hand your Quartet no. 1 is up to date contemporary music and West European standards. What is your position in this compositional landscape?

...My String Quartet is partly based on old Armenian mood that is very similar to the early Greek interval system called Chroma. I am sure that the old moods (Armenia, Iranian, Indian, etc) have the potential to be linked directly with modern musical styles bypassing previous periods of tonal dominance. I think my "Capriccio" for solo violin is a better example of this juxtaposition.

Are there different streams among the community of Russian composers or is there a homogeneity in all the compositions?

...In modern Russia we can find many composers with different styles, from Rachmaninov's style to super modern electro-acoustic experiments. The different styles are the result of the mixture of Soviet traditions and post-Soviet liberal tendencies. The field of experimentation is not my favourite, so it is hard for me to give any concrete information. I only know that experimentation generally involves acoustic composition.

Is there a regular flow of information about European and American contemporary music and its composers, like "new complexity", Lachenmann, Carter or Boulez (Ircam Paris)?

...To my knowledge, there is contact between the Moscow Conservatory and Ircam. Nowadays young Russian composers are able to find out much more information about western contemporary music from different sources such as the internet, magazines or the department of modern music at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory.

What is your opinion about the development of Western music after the second World War until now?

...I consider the development of western music to be along the same lines as such negative tendencies as global warming, environmental pollution and moral decline.

I feel some sadness in your answer. Why?

Art can't be separated from the rest of human society. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Schoenberg claimed that due to his invention German music would lead the world for the next hundred years, but actually everything is quite the reverse. On the contrary Paul Hindemith uncovered really new musical language for the "German ear" based on chords consisting of fourth and fifth intervals. This would have compensated for the passivity of German music at the time of medieval organum and conductus in the rest of Europe. That was the time of the dominance of fourth and fifth intervals. So the way shown by Hindemith was really a "New Door" for the development of German music in particular and maybe for Western music in general. Hindemith's branch dried up because of the temptation of Schoenberg's 12-tone system which attracted many gifted composers like a huge black hole.

What is your view on music in Russia and Europe at present? Is there a crisis? Is there a future?

...There is an obvious crisis. The point is that modern or contemporary music is very often associated with the dominance of absolute dissonance. The whole area of dissonance - chaotic or organised - can attract people even from other professions, such as engineers, mathematicians, etc, who surprisingly have decided to be composers. Dissonance can attract young people who perhaps could be more talented and useful to society in other professions - I don't know, for example as medical doctors, historians, or why not even labourers? You mentioned Lachenmann. For me he is at most a philosopher-composer rather than a composer-philosopher, and the army of such composers is great. If we add to this the more and more dominating position of pop, rock and jazz music all over the world, any talk of the great future of serious music would be a little strange.

I think there are some main streams in contemporary music (America, Western
and Eastern Europe, Australia). I could call Western music as quite intellectual. From this point of view Lachenmann's personal approach is to create and to develop new ideas, new sounds. Do you mean Lachenmann's and other composers' aesthetic ideas are philosophical more than musical?

Nowadays some composers spend more time writing articles or getting interviews to explain and/or justify their choices. There is a saying in the East:

The people who speak up, don't know
and the people who know, don't speak up.

Today everybody and everything is speaking up! Composers have a chance to
separate themselves from this verbal swarm. No talk can justify unattractiveness and aridity. You may know about a popular modern term "New Beauty". What does it mean? Only recently I understood what it means. In some of his interviews Lachenmann explained an experiment he conducted with children: he showed them two pictures. One of them was a photo of Sofia Loren and the other was Albrecht Durer's famous picture of his old, ugly mother. He asked them in a leading way - I guess - which was the more beautiful, and one child answered "I think the ugly one is the most beautiful"!!! The teacher was amazed by his own explanation that the old woman's face had more energy in it. I think we are entering another zone - that of narrow linguistic influence. I disapprove that he influenced children in this way. Interesting. If we take into account that Lachenmann considers his music beautiful there is no difficulty imagining this kind of "beauty"!

What do the terms 'new' and 'experimental' mean to you in connection to
contemporary music?

..."New" doesn't necessarily mean progress. I believe Schoenberg's creative work was experiment. I would call it "innovation" rather than evolution. Bartok, Shostakovich, Lyutoslavski are genuinely "new" - they evolved from great traditions developing and adding their own stones to the magnificent building of music. In art, the question "why?" is preferable to "why not?".

What are your personal ambitions in future as a composer, teacher and musician (piano)?

I am on the brink of emigrating to Canada and expect that this new phase in my life will bring inspiration, creativity and energy for new projects.

What would you like to tell to West European and American composers, or the music world in general?

...I would wish composers lots of energy and determination. For the others, please be honest. Don't use the field of absolute dissonance as a cover for your lack of gift and skill. Dissonance should be respected rather than exploited.

Thank you Ashot. Have a good time in Canada!

E-mail: ashotaryan(at)hotmail.com 

Interview Heerlen - Moscow by Frans Waltmans    back


SVITLANA AZAROVA (UA)

....I do not see any musical crisis at all....

Svitlana,you are an Ukrainian composer working and living in the Netherlands. Can you explain your situation?

In 2005 I moved to Holland because my Danish husband lives there. Although I already have two university degrees, I decided to take a master degree in composition at the Amsterdam conservatory under Theo Loevendie. This was not only to develop myself and get inspiration, but also to get a better chance at integrating myself in the Dutch music society. In this period I have had very interesting meetings with musicians, had pieces commissioned (Marcel Worms and Doris Hochscheid/Frans van Ruth) and have participated in several projects. It has been very rewarding from the human perspective, but I find it very difficult to receive any monetary reward for my work.

What countries or parts of the world are interesting to you in connection to contemporary music and why?

I have only contact with European composers. So I cannot say anything interesting about the rest of the world. I find synthesis between authentic music and contemporary composition interesting. So festivals in Mongolia and Uzbekistan may be very interesting.
If you look very deeply at authentic music (e.g. not contemporary "folk" music) you will find it sounds very contemporary: Polyrythmic and atonal - in this context what is original and what is contemporary.

How is music life in the Ukraine?

On one hand the music situation looks good, because Ukraine has many excellent musicians and composers, a lot of concerts and many festivals where many international artists and musicians visit, such as:
International Festival of Modern Art Two Days and Two Nights of New Music (Odessa)
Kiev Music Fest (Kiev) International Forum of Young Composers (Kiev)Contrastu (Lviv) etc.
On the other hand the political, economical and cultural situation has worsened. For example four years ago several international foundations, the biggest being the Soros Foundation, often helped artists and musicians realize cultural projects, gave travel grants etc. Lately some foundations changed the culture politics and/or closed and during the same period the culture minister(s) did not always have the possibility to support artists. The Ukrainian composer's union of course tried to help a lot but they did not have enough money either. However, Ukraine is a big and nice country with many talents and I expect the situation to become better in the future.

Listening to your music your compositions are breathing East European national character with a lot of passion and energy. On the other hand your compositions are up to date western contemporary music. What is your position in this compositional landscape?

Although my music may sound predominantly eastern, it is not something I am striving to impose on my compositions. I just write music. If anything my influence is visual and I like to add dramaturgical elements to my music.

Are there different streams among the community of Ukrainian composers or is there a homogeneity in all the compositions?

If I have to think of different stream, I think mainly about generation change - composers active in the former Soviet Union who were very established, respected and supported compared to the younger generation, who may travel more and have more contact with other cultures but less supported. This is a philosophical question...

Is there a regular flow of information in the Ukraine about Western contemporary music and its composers, like "new complexity", Ferneyhough, Lachenmann, Carter or Boulez (Ircam Paris)?

Yes of course. Via festivals and my (and other composer's) travels, but also via encyclopaedias like Music Encyclopaedia and Dictionary, where Boulez appears in the 1991 edition. I am sure the newer editions have been kept up to date. Ukraine is not a deep forest kept in the middle ages :)

Can you tell something about schooling in contemporary music at Ukrainian conservatories?

I can only compare to the schooling here in Holland where the Ukrainian methods are stricter and pay attention to humaniora - Here I find the schooling gives the student a lot of freedom and relies on the self discipline of the student.

What is your opinion about the development of Western music after the 2nd World War until now?

Of course all of the composers that I feel most influenced by, arrived on the scene after 1950 - avant-garde, Schöenberg (serial), Webern (pointillism), Cage (aleatorical), Ligeti (sonorica) and composers using electronic elements like Stockhausen and Berio. I always wanted to visit Darmstadt because this was/is a very important musical centre. Also festivals like Warsaw Autumn. The lists go on...

What is your view on the Western music at present? Is there a crisis? Is there a future?

I do not see any musical crisis at all. More and more composers and more and more festivals and concerts. The musical market is growing, but the question is always "to receive money or not to receive money".

And what about the aesthetical aspect and the personal approach? The use of twelve tones, a necessity of a new system?

I feel today all composers may choose what system they want - some composers choose to paint a pretty picture and until recently I preferred to write by hand where the performer would get more information from my scores than now I use the computer more to make the scores readable and easily printable. Some composers need and use twelve tones and some do not.

What do the terms 'new' and 'experimental' mean to you in connection to contemporary music?

I feel all experimental music was in the avant-garde period. Today it is impossible to shock people with something new or experimental, no audience today will come out angry or outraged about style or techniques. It is for me VERY important to amaze people with my music. So perhaps today something different is taking place that I cannot define.

What are your ambitions in future?

I would like to have many good commissions, performances and CDs with my works on it. I will continue to make interesting projects with the many cool musicians I meet. I would very much like to get a maecenas, who would sponsor my ideas, compositions and projects - it is no secret that without support, maintaining a high output with less stress is a lot harder - creative people are not as creative when they have to fight bureaucracy. I do not agree with the stereotypical "hungry" artist who is more creative on an empty stomach. My personal wish is a big house with a grand piano where I can write music and later invite people to hear it and other composers music.

What would you like to tell composers of contemporary music, or the music world in general?

I like positivism, honesty and openness in composers. For the world governments and cultural institutions I would like to ask them to take music and culture very serious with less bureaucracy, because culture can be a very important visit card of the country and music/art can bring people together across borders, religion, race and gender. I believe if people are spending more time on culture they will also think more about nature and spend less time and money on war and pollution.

Thank you Svitlana!

You are welcome.

Info www.azarova.com
Interview Heerlen - Kiev by Frans Waltmans    back


STEPHEN MARK BARCHAN (UK)

....I cannot predict the future, although I do think technology will play a larger role in performance.....

Stephen, you are a young and promising English composer. How is musical life in UK for a young composer and what is your position in this musical landscape?

I have lived in the UK all my life and studied here (along with a few brief spells studying abroad). At present I work as a freelance composer, however surviving from composing alone is very difficult (regardless of which country you live in), and I also work as a music copyist and a conductor.

When I am reading the titles of your works (Deep Desires, Sweet Dreams etc) I can imagine you are a romantic composer. Is that correct?

It depends on what you mean by 'romantic', but maybe the sense of passion evoked in some pieces could lead one to think of romanticism. My choice of titles has attracted interest over the last few years, often for their aggressive or disturbing nature (Violent Shallow Eyes, Dark Times Lie Ahead, Disturbing Thoughts, Feeding The Addiction). Some have a slightly more neutral tone (All That Remains, Unable To Resist) whilst others have a softer centre (Deep Desires and Sweet Dreams). I usually have a title before I start work on a new piece, although it often changes during the compositional process.

In 19th century emotion was an important issue? What does the word 'emotion' mean to you nowadays?

The emotional aspect (along with the character) of the music is important to me. Many of my previous pieces have a dark, melancholic side, and it is something that I want to move away from now. I find comedy very difficult and likewise writing music that is more jovial in character. I am keen to write more music for the theatre, especially since the relationship between the drama onstage and the music that accompanies it is something that I am fascinated by.

A 19th century characteristic was the idea of individuality. What does this word mean to you in relationship with your profession as a composer?

I have always been interested in (what has become known as) a composer's voice. Whilst some composers have a very clear sound world that you can associate him/her, others offer surprises and change from piece to piece. If you follow my output as a composer, you can see that there are features that I have favoured for a period of time whilst gradually introducing new ideas that progress or advance from piece to piece. When I began composing I was drawn to linear gestures, but over the last year this is something that I've moved away from. I have not abandoned melodic or linear writing completely, however at the moment I am very interested in the idea of repetition. In pieces such as A Broken Spirit and Sweet Dreams there is very little in the way of repetition (meaning repeated melodic phrases, harmonic patterns or rhythmic figurations), but in the pieces that followed (such as Injured Love and Unable To Resist) repetition starts to play a small part at various points. More recent pieces such as Spit It Out, Disturbing Thoughts and Feeding The Addiction strongly feature repetition – patterns that are repeated and gradually extended during the piece. Thinking systematically played a large part in the compositional process of these pieces. Systems can appear attractive, but I think they can be dangerous if you start becoming too reliant on what is dictated.

Your repertoire could be called eclectic, and the structure of the compositions is in a way improvisational and organic. What is your point of view about this?  

Whilst all performance includes some element of improvisation, I have not written any pieces yet which allow for the performer(s) to enjoy total freedom. However with regard to structure, I have moved away from writing clear-cut sections and leaned more towards characters and/or processes that gradually change during the piece. One of the first pieces that I wrote which adopts this way of thinking is From The Silence (for four cymbals), which also, interestingly, was the first time that I had allowed the performers greater freedom than previous pieces. Having favoured very detailed notation for some time, I decided to take a risk and write something that would allow the performers to take control over aspects largely concerning the duration of events within the piece. 

Which composers are your favourites, and why?

Certainly Mozart and Stravinsky. I studied The Rite Of Spring when I was about seventeen and it made a strong impression. I had never come across instrumental techniques such as string natural harmonic glissandi, flute harmonics and flutter tonguing (along with many others) until I looked at this piece, but it sparked my interest in the way that instruments can be used. Over the last few years I have kept lists of all the so-called extended techniques that are available on individual instruments, and it is something that I refer to and revise when composing. Other composers whose music interests me include Beat Furrer, Helmut Lachenmann, Olga Neuwirth, Jonathan Harvey, Rebecca Saunders, Simon Bainbridge and Tristan Murail. I listen to BBC Radio 3 very regularly and I am always discovering music by composers whose work I am not familiar with. 

What is your view on Western music at present, the aesthetic aspect, the personal approach, the use of twelve tones, a necessity of a new tone system? Is there a crisis? Is there a future? Has individuality a future?

I do not think there is a necessity for a new tone system. I cannot predict the future, although I do think technology will play a larger role in performance. Technology has advanced greatly in recent years and has found a place both inside and outside the concert hall. Similarly, software programmers and technicians have created programmes that enable an extraordinary wealth of possibilities in terms of live electronics. This is something that I have already explored in my own music and it is something that I want to learn more about. Some people argue that the orchestra will die soon and technology will take over. I certainly hope that orchestras will not fade away. Money is an issue today and too many orchestras and ensembles are forced to give fewer concerts. There are other problems too: fewer commissions are available in the UK than (for example) twenty-five years ago and public attendance at concerts is becoming worrying low.

What do the terms 'new' and 'experimental' mean to you in connection to contemporary music?

I do not like definitions that seem to pigeonhole pieces of music, but I do think it is very difficult to write something that could be deemed 'new' in the sense that it has not been done before.

What are your ambitions for the future?

I would like to continue writing music. That said, I have always been interested in conducting, and this too is something that I would like to continue.

What would you like to tell composers of contemporary music, or the music world in general, the audience, organizers of festivals or educational institutes?

Always do what you believe is the right thing to do. Taking risks can be a good thing, but only if you can justify it in your own mind.

See also Presentation Stephen Mark Barchan.

www.stephenmarkbarchan.co.uk.    back



CHRISTOPHE BERTRAND (FR)

....Chacun est libre de développer les apports du passé dans un langage qui est le sien. Pour moi, un véritable compositeur est un compositeur qui a su réinterpréter les évolutions et créer un style propre: le sien....

Christophe, tout d'abord, félicitations pour votre sélection par l'Académie de France à Rome pour être pensionnaire de la Villa Médicis. Vous êtes un jeune et prometteur compositeur français, vous avez déjà gagné de nombreuses distinctions. Pouvez-vous décrire votre position dans le paysage musical français?

Christophe Bertrand: Eh bien merci! Comme vous le savez, le paysage français actuel est très diversifié, aussi diversifié, quasiment, qu'il y a de compositeurs. On peut toutefois trouver des points communs entre certains compositeurs, même si au fond, plus aucune école n'existe : il y aurait les adeptes d'un certain minimalisme (non pas dans l'écriture, mais dans un certain travail sur la proximité avec le silence) ; les compositeurs qui travaillent sur la relation entre le son instrumental et l'électronique avec une affinité évidente pour le travail du son de Lachenmann ; il y a aussi les compositeurs qu'on pourrait appeler "synthétistes" (qui intègrent l'héritage de nos aînés). Sans oublier les post-spectraux, et j'en oublie (je n'oublie pas les néos, mais c'est un sujet à part). Le panorama est trop diversifié pour l'établir ici.

Mais je crois que la donnée principale est la revendication de l'individualisme. Chaque compositeur écrit dans son propre langage. Certains ont même un véritable style qui leur est propre. Je pense que je suis comme tous les compositeurs de ma génération : je cherche avant tout à développer un langage qui m'est propre ; ce n'est pas une attitude contestataire dans le sens où je chercherais à tout prix à n'appartenir à rien (de toute façon, comme je l'ai dit, il n'y a plus vraiment d'école). Au contraire, par mon éducation musicale et mon travail, je me suis nourri des oeuvres du passé, de tout ce qui a été découvert dans les décennies (et les siècles) passés, et tout cela me permet de réinventer selon mon univers propre. La société cultive l'individualisme (ce qui est loin de n'avoir que des effets positifs), je crois que dans la musique on observe le même phénomène. Chacun est libre de développer les apports du passé dans un langage qui est le sien. Pour moi, un véritable compositeur est un compositeur qui a su réinterpréter les évolutions et créer un style propre: le sien.

Quelle est votre dernière pièce, et quel est votre approche esthétique dans cette composition?

Je viens juste de terminer un concerto pour deux pianos et grand orchestre, Vertigo, qui est ma pièce la plus conséquente jusqu'à présent : en termes de durée (20 minutes) et d'effectif (85 musiciens en tout). Comme j'en ai pris l'habitude, je considère l'orchestre comme un gigantesque ensemble de musique de chambre, dans le sens où chaque instrument est soliste, et possède une partie qu'on pourrait qualifier de virtuose. Il y a donc 43 parties réelles, et à moment, par exemple, 24 parties de violons. C'est un moyen pour moi d'impliquer chaque musicien, pour créer une frénésie collective et conférer une grande énergie à la pièce, et surtout la communiquer au public.

Harmoniquement, j'ai toujours été attiré par un relatif diatonisme, qui est constamment contrarié par l'emploi intensif de la microtonalité ; dans cette pièce, j'utilise également beaucoup d'harmoniques naturelles, aux cordes et aux cors, qui participent de cet environnement microtonal. Mais pour la première fois dans ma production, j'ai introduit l'écriture en clusters, sous toutes ses formes (tenues ffff, rythmiques, gammes clustérisées parfois jusqu'à l'extrême).

Bien sûr, le travail sur la forme a été prédominant, car je voulais écrire une pièce de grande virtuosité, d'énergie constante : il fallait donc trouver des "moyens" de structurer l'écoute (par l'emploi de signaux, de réitération, de variation). Et bien sûr le rôle des pianos a déterminé l'oeuvre entière : j'ai cherché à utiliser nombre de techniques de brouillage : la superposition de vitesses dans des registres similaires, le contrepoint de figures très proches harmoniquement et rythmiquement, et l'impureté induite par l'environnement microtonal (pour donner l'illusion que les pianos sont détempérés). Il en résulte une sensation presque "éthylisée", brouillée, trouble, comme un reflet dans une eau en léger mouvement, ce qui d'ailleurs renvoie au titre : Vertigo.

A l'écoute, votre musique est merveilleuse avec des gestes riches, et ce, déjà dans vos pièces les plus anciennes (Strofa II, 1998 et Treis, 2000). J'y perçois beaucoup d'expression et d'émotion. Que signifient pour vous les mots "sentiments" et "émotions"?

C'est très intéressant que vous utilisiez les termes d'"expression" et d'"émotion", car c'est le grand reproche que font tous les néos à la musique post-sérielle (pour simplifier considérablement), qui, d'après eux, en serait dépourvue. Cela dit, à aucun moment dans ma musique je ne cherche à susciter des émotions, à les dicter : ceci est une attitude très romantique, très passéiste. Chacun est libre de ressentir ce qu'il veut dans ma musique (ou de ne rien ressentir du tout!) Mais j'utilise beaucoup d'indications en italien, qui sont d'ailleurs plutôt pour les instrumentistes : turbolento, astioso, frenetico, teso, con estrema violenza, etc. et qui les guident dans la façon de s'impliquer dans la pièce.

On pourrait qualifier votre répertoire d'éclectique. Vous n'écirvez pas un type d'oeuvre en particulier, mais aussi bien pour orchestre, de la musique de chambre (Quatuor I entre autres), vocale, acoustique et de la musique électronique (Dikha). Quel est votre point de vue par rapport à l'"éclectisme" dans le répertoire musical de nos jours?

Dikha, en tant que pièce avec électronique, est une pièce à part, j'y reviendrai plus loin. Ma musique est essentiellement instrumentale, et même ma musique vocale est en un sens "instrumentale" : je veux dire par là que j'ai un gros problème avec les idiomes vocaux, et je traite la voix comme un instrument (en tenant compte des contraintes organiques) ; je crois que c'est le seul moyen de délester la voix de sa vocalité. De plus, écrire pour orchestre n'est pas foncièrement différent de l'écriture de musique de chambre, d'autant que, comme je l'ai dit plus haut, j'envisage l'orchestre comme un immense ensemble de solistes. Donc, pour résumer, je n'écris que de la musique instrumentale!

Je crois que l'éclectisme, dans l'acception "multimédia" du terme est un écueil. J'ai d'ailleurs écrit un texte sur le sujet, dans lequel je disais : "[Mon] scepticisme a trait particulièrement aux créateurs omniscients, chantres d’une certaine «branchitude», qui pensent que d’une performance multi-artistique ils pourraient maîtriser tous les paramètres, ce qui pour moi relève d’une absurdité mâtinée d’arrogance : comme s’il était possible de fusionner en un être Picasso, Fellini, Nureiev et Ligeti... Je trouve que ces «performances», «installations» et autres expériences «multimédia» sont d’emblée suspectes." C'est une tendance, une mode qui ne me séduit pas.

Vos compositions sont très contrastées, avec de nombreuses strates, plus ou moins complexes. Quelles sont vos idées sur les structures musicales, par exemple dans Quatuor I?

Mon Quatuor a une forme particulière : il est composé de onze mouvements indépendants, se jouant sans interruption. Il a été très important pour moi, car jusqu'à cette pièce, j'envisageais la structure comme un geste unique (un geste certes sinueux), généralement à l'énergie croissante, où le maître-mot était "directionnalité" (la principale leçon de mon professeur Ivan Fedele). Il me fallait donc, pour casser cette manie de structuration processuelle, écrire une pièce où la rupture régissait l'architecture. C'est donc une pièce accidentée, où les mouvements très courts empêchent de s'installer dans un climat : à peine le climat est-il instauré, que la pièce s'arrête ; chaque mouvement développe donc un seul processus, presque exclusivement selon le principe du canon (c'est la raison pour laquelle il s'agit de ma pièce la plus "structuraliste", dans la mesure où chaque note, chaque rythme a sa raison d'être en rapport le principe de base)

Dans l'ensemble de mes pièces, depuis Yet, je crée d'abord l'architecture générale, selon divers procédés, en utilisant souvent les proportions métriques du tanka japonais (pour son équilibre et sa symétrie) ou les fractales. Dans Vertigo, c'est une forme en miroir issu de la suite de Fibonacci 1-2-3-5-8-13-8-5-3-2-1. Mais ce n'est pas une prison : libre à moi de raccourcir ou allonger les sections, voire d'en supprimer, je suis le compositeur et je décide. C'est une des grandes leçons de Ligeti : "Je veux un certain ordre, mais un ordre un peu désordonné. Je crois que l'art doit rester quelque chose de très humain, qui doit contenir des erreurs et ne pas être froid".

Dans votre pièce Dikha, vous utilisez l'électronique. D'après vous, y a-t-il une approche esthétique différente en ce qui concerne les sentiments et les émotions quand vous écrivez (ou écoutez) de la musique acoustique ou électronique?

Dikha est ma seule pièce qui utilise l'informatique musicale, et probablement le restera. Je ne l'aime pas trop d'ailleurs. Je reste très attaché à l'écriture instrumentale, et pour autant, je ne crois pas que cela constitue une démarche conservatrice. Si vous écoutez la partie électronique de cette pièce, vous verrez à quel point elle est instrumentale! Il n'y a aucun son synthétique, tout est issu de séances d'échantillonnage, lors desquelles la partition était déjà complètement écrite. La partie informatique est finalement une orchestration virtuelle, rien de plus. Mais mon expérience à l'Ircam m'a donné conscience de la spatialité du son, et de techniques comme le delay, l'harmonizer ou les crossed synthesis que j'utilise fréquemment aujourd'hui, mais avec l'emploi d'instruments.

Le problème que j'ai avec la musique électronique, est que les pièces où l'écriture instrumentale et la partie électronique sont de qualité égale, sont très rares. Parfois la partie électronique est merveilleuse, et l'écriture instrumentale très faible, et réciproquement. Les pièces vraiment réussies, qui combinent parfaitement les deux sont rares : il me vient rapidement à l'esprit Repons de Pierre Boulez, ou Richiamo d'Ivan Fedele. Mais que de pièces décevantes!

Cela dit, je crois que cette problématique vient du fait de la différence profonde d'appréhension de l'écriture. Le compositeur instrumental imagine dans sa tête, entend virtuellement et passe par le support papier pour composer ; le compositeur de musique électroacoustique sculpte le son lui-même. La façon de composer est totalement opposée, ce sont presque deux mondes différents. Je dois avouer que je ne suis pas très sensible à la musique purement électroacoustique, sans que je puisse véritablement l'expliquer. Peut-être est-ce justement dû à cette sensation de "bidouillage"?

En tout cas, écrire avec électronique ne m'attire pas. J'aime les instruments, j'aime le contact avec le papier, gommer, griffonner, j'aime imaginer des complexes sonores issus d'instruments acoustiques. Je suis passé par l'Ircam, je ne le regrette aucunement : au contraire, j'y ai pris ce que j'avais à y prendre, mais je n'envisage pas (en tout pour l'instant) de renouveler l'expérience de l'informatique. Je n'en ressens pas le besoin, c'est pourquoi j'ai refusé plusieurs commandes de musique mixte - écrire doit répondre à une nécessité artistique.

Quels sont vos compositeurs du XXe siècle préférés, et pourquoi?

Le premier compositeur qui me vient à l'esprit est György Ligeti. Pour moi, il restera le plus grand compositeur de la seconde moitié du XXe siècle. C'est par lui que je suis venu à la composition (plus précisément par le Kammerkonzert). Il a secoué le monde musical, l'a renouvelé, tout en se renouvelant lui-même constamment, sans jamais se renier. Rares sont les compositeurs dont la production est (presque) intégralement géniale! C'est l'exemple même du compositeur qui a réussi à mêler une grande complexité d'écriture (tout en s'arrogeant le droit de dévier de ses propres commandements) à un émotion intense. Je pense par exemple au Requiem. Il est l'un des compositeurs que j'ai besoin de réécouter et de relire très régulièrement. Il me ressource, m'interpelle, me donne des solutions, me fait avancer. Il m'est encore et toujours indispensable.

Parmi les compositeurs qui comptent beaucoup pour moi, il faut que je cite Iannis Xenakis (pour sa violence terrifiante, son impact émotionnel indéniable), Steve Reich (même si je n'adhère pas à sa conception harmonique, son univers rythmique est passionnant et m'a beaucoup influencé ; et il n'a rien à voir avec les Adams, Glass ou Nyman, qui sont d'une pauvreté affligeante), ou Luciano Berio : son écriture pour la voix est fabuleuse - A-Ronne par exemple est une merveille! Et la plupart de ses Sequenza ont complètement révolutionné l'écriture instrumentale (les compositeurs actuels lui doivent beaucoup) ; et j'ai une affection particulière pour sa Sinfonia dont les harmonies, avec toutes ses tierces, sonnent miraculeusement bien.

Enfin, et même s'il est un peu anachronique, j'ajouterai Richard Strauss : c'est un modèle absolu d'orchestration (quelle virtuosité dans l'écriture, et quelle implication demandée aux musiciens!) ; et sa musique me bouleverse, me transporte. Autant ses trois grands poèmes symphoniques (Till, Zarathoustra et Ein Heldenleben), que ses deux pièces-testament (Métamorphoses et les Vier letzte Lieder), sans parler de Salomé qui reste un modèle de violence et de raffinement orchestral.

Mais j'oublie Stravinsky (celui du Sacre, avec sa rythmique et sa violence), Ravel (dont je ne peux que revendiquer l'héritage, le goût pour ce qui sonne), Messiaen (pour son art unique de la couleur), Pascal Dusapin (sa musique de chambre m'a, elle aussi, beaucoup influencé, dans tout ce qu'elle a d'énergie rythmique, presque jazzy, mais aussi dans sa façon d'utiliser modules mélodico-harmoniques très typiques) ou encore Varèse.

Quel regard portez-vous sur la musique occidentale actuelle, sons aspect esthétique, l'approche personnelle, l'utilisation du dodécaphoniqme, la nécessité d'un nouveau système tonal? Y a-t-il une crise? Y a-t-il un futur?

Vous abordez le terme de crise : si le fait que "tout ait été écrit" est synonyme de crise, alors oui, il y en a une. Je ne vois pas comment d'un point de vue strictement compositionnel, on pourrait trouver quelque chose de fondamentalement nouveau (après les sériels, les spectraux, les écritures de masses de Ligeti ou Xenakis, et ces myriades de courants) : il y a une sorte d'impasse. Comme je l'ai dit plus haut, je crois que l'attitude la plus honnête et la plus représentative de la musique contemporaine, est cette forme de syncrétisme, où finalement chaque compositeur est l'unique représentant de son propre courant. Face à cette situation de surplace, chacun cherche une solution, mais chercher à faire école n'est certainement pas la bonne réponse à donner.

L'attitude la plus grave, la plus dangereuse intellectuellement, est le retour-à. Les représentants de la néo-tonalité ont un positionnement qui n'est pas défendable : pour eux, la musique a connu une pause autour de Poulenc, Roussel, et tout ce qui s'est passé depuis n'est qu'une "parenthèse" dans l'histoire de la musique (c'est une citation du compositeur Nicolas Bacri). Si on les suit, il n'y a qu'un modèle acceptable et naturel : celui de la tonalité (même s'ils n'écrivent évidemment plus comme Mozart ou Beethoven). C'est une attitude fascisante, et je revendique pleinement ce terme. Car elle ignore tout ce qui ne se rapporte pas à ce modèle, et surtout, cherche à le détruire. Mais qu'est-ce qui est naturel? Les harmoniques (donc les micro-intervalles)? Les demi-tons égaux? La fonctionnalité? Rien n'est naturel, tout est système : alors pourquoi le système tonal serait-il le seul a avoir sa légitimité? Et quid des musiques extra-européennes? Alors que dans la musique tonale, il n'y a guère que deux modes (mineur et majeur), la musique indienne, par exemple, en compte plus de 70! Sans parler de leur système rythmique qui est sans conteste le plus élaboré du monde, et ce avec une tradition bien plus ancienne que celui de la musique tonale (la tradition védique remonte à 2000 av J-C...)

L'histoire de la musique occidentale a connu une évolution, comme absolument toute chose vivante : Jacques Chailley (qui n'est pourtant pas un modèle d'avant-gardisme) la résume en l'assimilation progressive de la dissonnance comme consonance selon le schéma des harmoniques. Grossièrement, on pourrait résumer cette évolution en une irrésistible progression vers le chromatisme. L'Ecole de Vienne constitue certes une rupture, mais s'inscrit finalement dans une forme de continuité.

L'attitude dogmatique des sériels de Darmstadt est certainement, en un sens, contestable, par son côté hégémonique, mais elle est née en tant qu'utopie en réaction à la barbarie : il fallait faire une tabula rasa. C'est grâce à celle-ci que le champ des possibles a pu s'épanouir, car il rayait toute trace de l'héritage du passé, rayait la tonalité fonctionnelle comme référence unique, et permettait d'envisager l'inouï, la nouveauté. La musique sérielle ne restera sans doute pas dans l'histoire en elle-même, mais ses répercussions l'inscriront à jamais dans le marbre de la création.

Cependant, malgré l'aventure nécessaire de Darmstadt, nous ne sommes pas entrés dans un nouveau monde : la musique contemporaine non-tonale s'inscrit dans une logique de continuité. Je n'ai pas la sensation, en écrivant ma musique, d'appartenir à un monde qui aurait commencé en 1945, mais dans une tradition qui remonte aux sources de la musique savante occidentale. Sans ignorer ce qui ce passe ailleurs. Encore une fois, j'invoque Ligeti qui s'est inspiré des techniques de l'Ars Nova dans son Lux Aeterna (en l'occurence le taléa) : comme quoi, on peut écrire une musique profondément moderne sans renier l'héritage du passé.

Que signifient pour vous les termes de "nouveauté" et d'"expérimentation" dans le champ de la musique contemporaine?

Je crois que la nouveauté en tant qu'inouï n'existe plus vraiment. Comme je l'ai dit plus haut, je n'imagine pas vraiment de possibilité de créer des sons, qui en eux-mêmes seraient totalement nouveaux. La véritable nouveauté, encore une fois c'est de parvenir à utiliser ce qui a été nouveau dans un contexte qui est nouveau.

Cela dit, je crois qu'il y a encore beaucoup de textures, de complexes sonores qui peuvent paraître nouveaux ; et c'est là qu'intervient l'expérimentation. Le cursus traditionnel (harmonie, contrepoint, fugue, puis seulement composition) est basé sur le paradigme d'écoute intérieure : on nous apprend à entendre avant d'écrire. A l'instar de Xenakis, je crois qu'une attitude spéculative est un complément indispensable : écrire de choses, sans être complètement sûr de ce qu'elles vont donner effectivement, permet une ouverture vers des horizons nouveaux, et de pousser plus avant notre propre langage.

Quelles sont vos ambitions pour le futur?

Mes ambitions pour le futur sont très simples, même si je ne me pose pas véritablement la question en tant que telle. J'ai tout bonnement envie de pouvoir vivre de ma composition et d'être joué, c'est aussi simple que ça! Je crois que j'ai eu déjà beaucoup de chance, puisque j'ai été joué par Pierre Boulez, par l'Ensemble Intercontemporain, par le Quatuor Arditti ; je n'ai simplement pas envie que cela s'arrête!

Que souhaiteriez-vous dire aux compositeurs de musique contemporaine, ou au monde de la musique en général, au public, aux organisateurs de festivals et aux instances d'éducation?

Je n'ai pas la prétention de dire quoi que ce soit aux autres compositeurs ; tous ceux qui cherchent à créer un monde qui est le leur, en quelque sorte à enrichir l'humanité, ont tout mon respect.

En ce qui concerne les organisateurs de festivals ou de concerts, ainsi qu'au public, je voudrais simplement dire qu'il ne faut pas sacrifier à la facilité. Le relatif succès de certains compositeurs néos est simplement dû au fait que cette musique, comme elle ne présente aucune nouveauté, ne froisse pas le grand public. Mais ce n'est finalement pas au public de faire la loi, car ce n'est pas forcément le plus grand nombre qui a raison (je ne vais pas invoquer ici Copernic ou Darwin!) Le public est toujours réticent face à la nouveauté ; le conforter dans une attitude craintive n'est assurément pas la solution. Je pense que la création est, et doit rester élitiste ; ce n'est pas péjoratif : je veux simplement dire que ce n'est pas à la masse de dire ce qui est bien ou pas. Et surtout que ce n'est pas par rapport aux goûts de la masse que doivent se programmer les concerts, que doivent se décider les politiques culturelles. Aucun changement, aucune évolution n'a pu avoir lieu sans une certaine violence. C'est aux programmateurs d'avoir l'audace de contrer les a-prioris.

Mais c'est également au public de se faire violence ; j'ai une jolie anecdote à ce propos. Dans ma ville, à Strasbourg, il y a un très important festival de musique contemporaine, le Festival Musica. Lorsqu'il est né en 1982, trois amies ont décidé de "tenter l'expérience", en ne connaissant absolument pas la musique contemporaine, et en ayant toutes les réticences possibles. Elles se sont en quelque sorte forcées à s'immerger dans ce flot d'inouï. Aujourd'hui, ces trois femmes d'un certain âge sont devenues de véritables connaisseuses, au goût très sûr, et viennent avec plaisir (et j'insiste sur cette notion) à l'intégralité des concerts du festival. Je crois que cette attitude est remarquable. Et il serait bon que cela puisse servir d'exemple.

Merci Christophe pour cette interview!

Christophe's website: http://www.christophebertrand.net. 

Interview Heerlen - Strasbourg by Frans Waltmans    back


LINDA BUCKLEY (IE)

...From a very young age I was fascinated by sound - it always seemed so magical to me, full of mystery and possibility...

Linda, you are a young, promising composer from Ireland, living in Berlin (DE). Can you describe your position in the Irish and European musical landscape?

At the moment I divide my time between Dublin and Berlin. I'm studying for a PhD in Composition at Trinity College Dublin, with Donnacha Dennehy who has been a very inspiring and supportive teacher.
I also lecture at Trinity (contemporary music, composition and orchestration), so am mostly in Dublin during college term-time, then I spend time in Berlin where I can focus more directly on composing.
I've also been collaborating with Berlin-based musicians on electro/acoustic improvisation projects, which is very exciting - to embrace an atmosphere of spontaneity, creating music live 'in the moment', collaborating with other musicians. There is also a vibrant underground electronic music scene in Berlin which has certainly influenced my composing, particularly the 'noise' aspects of this. I feel that it's also good to immerse oneself in the rich cultural and artistic life here in Berlin - this experience nourishes and feeds back into my own work. I feel very lucky to have had the opportunity to experience a wide diversity of music. My background in music came from a strong interest in Irish traditional music from my family which has stayed with me throughout my life - I sing in the sean-nos (old-style) Irish tradition. While an influence of Irish traditional music is not overtly prevalent in my work, it manifests itself in perhaps more abstracted ways, for example the subtle nuances of microtonality that occurs in sean-nos ornamentation has been an interest. I studied piano and flute, but became increasingly interested in non-Western music, particularly South Indian classical music, Javanese Gamelan and African Ewe drumming. I was very fortunate to have practical performance experience of these musics during my undergraduate degree in Cork. Each has informed my own work in various ways (often subconsciously), from the microtonal and 'drone' aspects of Indian music as well as the rhythms of Konokol, to the pure bell-like resonances and repetition of gamelan, to the poly-rhythms of Ewe drumming. Also, quite early on I became interested in exploring the possibilities of electronics (especially in the combination of electronic and acoustic sound) and this continues to be a major interest of mine. There's a great diversity of composers also studying for composition doctorates at Trinity, and it's a very supportive environment. I'm involved with a group of Dublin-based composers, the Spatial Music Collective which focuses on the composition and presentation of spatial music. We're currently in the process of organizing a series of concerts featuring new works which explore spatialization with live performers and electronics.

What is your newest composition and what is your aesthetical point in this composition?

I've just finished working on a piece for string quartet called latitude longitude. Taking this geographical analogy, latitude lines run horizontally, longitude vertically. Latitude lines are also known as parallels since they are parallel and are an equal distance from each other. The piece explores parallel, closely relating lines which take many forms - running in synchronization, weaving intricate patterns in combination and dissipating in different directions. The concept of how latitude and longitude intersect is explored, where the vertical (harmonic) and horizontal (melodic) play many changing roles. At times the melodic material occurs as a direct result of a harmonic process, and vice versa harmonic plateaus are created from the superimposition of differing melodic lines. There is a variation between the degrees of latitude due to the fact that the earth is not a perfect sphere but an 'oblate ellipsoid'. This concept of deviation from the 'perfect' shape may be compared to the derailing or interrupting of a seemingly robust process which occurs throughout the work. There are four movements, but it may be thought of as 'four short pieces for string quartet', as I wished for each 'movement' to be complete in itself. So, each of the four could be performed on their own and exist as separate entities, yet they also work well in combination displaying many different facets of my compositional style.

Keppler said the earth sings the song of mi(sere) and fa(im). Your music is more the music of the spheres, wonderful music with much expression and emotion. What do the words 'feelings' and 'emotion' mean to you?

I often take non-musical concepts as a starting point in thinking about the overall shape or structure of the piece (eg. the notion of latitude and longitude, glaciers, clouds). The actual composing process itself however is shaped by something very different - when I'm writing and 'in the moment' I'm often not directly conscious of these things, I believe strongly in the power of instinct and intuition. It's about taking something that's alive inside of you, this unquantifiable 'feeling' that cannot be perhaps explained in words and expressing this through music. This can of course be then interpreted in many ways, each unique and personal to the individual listener. I'm often fascinated by the power of a single chord - how it can evoke such a strong emotional reaction in the listener for example.

All your works have a personal individualistic touch. What does the word 'individualism' mean to you in relationship to your profession as a composer?

It's not something I really think about consciously, I've always followed my own path and couldn't imagine it any other way. From a very young age I was fascinated by sound (eg, milking machines on the farm, fog-horns from the nearby lighthouse) - it always seemed so magical to me, full of mystery and possibility. My love of sound and music has always been such a part of my life that I suppose the 'individualism' that is referred to in my work is a natural result of this. The music evolves from the myriad of musical and non-musical elements of my life, filtered through my own personal experience. I've always wanted to capture and explore the 'magical' and 'mysterious' in sound, creating a memorable experience for the listener - whether that involves 'other-worldly fantasy' or visceral, exciting energy.

Your repertoire could be called as a good balanced marriage between acoustic and electronic music, all the sounds are integrated. There are musicians who say composing acoustic or electronic music are two totally different things. They say composing electronic music is like 'sculpting sounds'. What is your vision about this aspect?

For me, I don't feel that electronic and acoustic composing are completely separate and opposing entities. I'm interested in exploring both, and each influences and informs the other. At times, composing electronic music is concerned with the 'sculpting of sounds' but this of course depends on the individual piece. This concept of 'sound-sculpting' may also apply to acoustic music which focuses on exploring the details of sound, (eg. in the work of Rebecca Saunders, or Lachenmann). Often, their acoustic music may sound almost 'electronic'. This also occurs in my work, eg. in Amhrain Amergin, there is a combination of bowed vibraphone and crotales with soprano (singing with a pure non-vibrato tone) which sounds almost like electronic feedback with pure sine-tones. I'm interested in playing with this idea - blurring the distinction between 'electronic' and 'acoustic', exploring the rich palette of sounds I have at my disposal.

Is there according to you a different aesthetical approach concerning feelings and emotion when you are writing (or listening to) acoustic music or electronic music?

It's difficult to say without generalizing, but I think from a listening point of view in concert situations the expectations can differ. For example in a 'tape' concert situation the focus may often be on 'sound-sculpting', exploring sound etc, while there can be more of an expectation of 'harmony' and 'rhythm' etc in an 'acoustic' concert. There are of course so many exceptions to this, I'm merely referring to possible listener expectation. This also relates to the previous question, where I feel that there is a 'cross-over' of concerns between my acoustic and electronic work. I've already mentioned how I've been interested in 'sound' experimentation in my acoustic writing and on the other hand, the exploration of harmony and rhythm are often major aspects within my electronic music. Regarding acoustic writing, I am always inspired by the subtle nuances and detail in interpretation that live performers bring to my music - that each performance is unique and will (most likely) never be played in exactly the same way twice. This brings so much more to the music, and I love the process of composer/performer collaboration in bringing the ideas to life.

Bobeobi for large ensemble (2005) is a fascinating composition, full of contrasts, contemporary, and one hears it in the European music tradition. Also Stratus for ensemble and tape (2006) is full of contrasts, and has many layers. What are your ideas about musical structures for instance in these two works?

Bobeobi was composed for the International Young Composer's Meeting at Apeldoorn, the Netherlands, for performance by the Orchestra de Ereprijs. I took the instrumentation and stylistic background of de Ereprijs' members into consideration, feeling that the group was well suited to a loud, punchy sound with much use of brass for dramatic impact and featuring elements of rock and jazz influence. The piece features the use of drumkits, bass guitar and electric guitar, which combine to form the core basis of the work, for their strong rhythmic energy. Many stylistic influences are evident upon hearing the work, from jazz-like harmonies to the driving rhythms and distorted guitar of 'metal' music. When composing the piece I wished to produce a short, sharp shock to the system for the listener. I wanted to grab the listener's attention immediately and offer no respite with constant shifts of gear and mood throughout, producing an almost schizophrenic effect. There are rapid juxtapositions of styles from driving rhythms underpinning dense layers of harmonic development to canonic treatment of melodic ideas. Bobeobi also explores the subject of 'chaos versus stasis', which is a recurring feature of much of my work. This is particularly evident where the quiet, peaceful section is framed by chaotic restlessness.
Stratus developed from a single trombone glissando - this was used to generate the electronic component, then I analyzed the changing harmonic spectra to underpin the harmonic structure of the live component. This may seem like quite a 'spectral' way of working and while much spectral music does interest me, it hasn't been a major focus of my writing. Here, I wanted for there to be a strong integration of electronic and acoustic elements, at times using some 'extended' instrumental techniques to combine with the electronic sound. The title refers to stratus clouds where, if you were to be immersed in the middle of the cloud you would be surrounded by dense fog, but the overall shape is visible from a distance. I was interested in differences of perception here, and this informed the structure of the piece.

What is your opinion about the development of Western music after the 2nd World War until now?

This is a difficult question to answer! A lot of musical 'movements' have been regarded as being 'reactionary', (eg. minimalist and experimental 'drone' music perhaps developing as a reaction against what was seen as the strict world of serialism). I think that there's less a sense now of extreme reactionary activity - there's more an atmosphere of openness and inclusion.

What 20th century composers are your favourites, and why?

There are so many, but the two major figures of interest for me have been Stravinsky and Ligeti. Stravinsky for his imaginative orchestration, such a personal voice, astonishing use of rhythm and unique sense of harmony. Also for the multi-faceted styles he explored throughout his lifetime, from the stark austerely beautiful Elegie for solo violin (echoing Bach), to the dark, at times terrifying use of vocal chanting in the Requiem Canticles.
Ligeti was such a unique figure - I'm particularly interested in how his experience of electronic music informed his acoustic writing (eg. in a piece like Atmospheres) and how this led to his use of micropolyphony (used to such powerful dramatic effect in his Lux Aeterna). I'm also really intrigued by this 'clocks and clouds' dichotomy that concerned Ligeti's writing throughout his lifetime, from the dense textures of the 1960's micropolyphonic works to the 'mechanistic' influences of later works such as his stunning Piano Etudes.

What is your view on Western music at present, the aesthetical aspect, the personal approach, the use of twelve tones, a necessity of a new tone system? Is there a crisis? Is there a future? Has individualism a future?

I don't think that there's a crisis... Regarding the notion of a 'new tone system', recently there has been much more interest in exploring the space between the twelve tones, microtonality. This has also of course been related to a wider dissemination and experience of non-Western music, and more of a cross-pollination of influences and ideas between Western and non-Western music. One of the most exciting things for me as a composer today is the vast diversity of musical styles and approaches. In terms of 'individualism' having a future, I feel that music which is true and honest and comes from the uniqueness of one's individual experience will connect with the listener.

What do the terms 'new' and 'experimental' mean to you in connection to contemporary music?

I don't think about these terms too much - for me every piece I begin is 'new' and 'experimental' as I embark on perhaps unchartered territory, new sounds and directions.

What are your ambitions for the future?

I feel very fortunate to be in a position where I can write the music I want to write, explore ideas and express myself in this way. I want to continue to do this, and to continue to work on projects and with performers who inspire and excite me.

What would you like to tell composers of contemporary music, or the music world in general, the audience, organizers of festivals or educational institutes?

I think it would be interesting to explore ways of narrowing the 'gap' that can sometimes exist between composer and performer, performer and audience. Communication is so important - at times there can be a sense of disconnection between the initial conception of an idea in the composer's mind and resultant 'premiere' where the idea is presented to an audience. With a new work, I feel that it's important for the composer to find ways of developing ideas with the performer/s and to engage in a collaborative process with them if possible. Taking this into consideration it would be wonderful (yet not always practical, I know) for composers and performers to be provided the time and space to 'workshop' and explore ideas in depth. I think that this would lessen the possibility of perhaps important aspects of the piece being 'lost in translation' when experienced by an audience, so I always welcome the opportunity for close composer/performer collaboration.
Also, I'm interested in a diverse and inclusive approach to concert programming. Exploring the connections (and differences) between musics and musical genres could result in a very interesting experience for the audience. The English pianist Joanna MacGregor has spoken about the potential for implementing more diversity in concert programming: eg. a possible programme exploring musical connections featuring gamelan, pieces by Messiaen, Indian classical music, John Cage's music for prepared piano.
My own writing has been informed by such a diversity of music, eg. from Perotin to Bach, from Stravinsky to Ligeti, as well as gamelan and 'electronica' such as Aphex Twin. It would be exciting to see juxtapositions like this, programmed in an imaginative way and becoming more a part of concert life.
It was very interesting to experience a concept similar to this at the Gaudeamus Music Week in Amsterdam a few years ago - the 'Night of the Unexpected'. Stylistic diversity was certainly celebrated at this event - from the live electronics of Alvin Curran, to a 'post-rock' band providing the live score to a film, to Xenakis saxophone music to the 'noise' electronica of 4tet. The breaking down of barriers between musics and cross-genre exploration produced a sense of excitement in the air - this makes for a memorable experience.

Website www.lindabuckley.org.

Interview Heerlen - Dublin by Frans Waltmans    back


PAUL CLIFT (AU)

....Composing in 1/4 tones is still even-temperament, but it allows for infinitely more harmonic exploration than the 12 tones, the great majority of which is yet to be discovered....

Paul, you are a young Australian composer working and living in London, before in France. Can you explain your situation?

I left Australia one year after completing my undergraduate studies. I had always felt a little frustrated by the reticence on the part of many Australian composers and academics to genuinely embrace modernism. I was very attracted to what was going on in Paris, predominantly the so-called 'spectral school' of composition. Upon arriving in France, I found that I was being sucked into the vortex of is spectral thought -it is a very attractive way of working for young composers- and while I adore this music, I felt it would be wise to distance myself from it a little in favour of finding a more personal musical language; hence I came to London which has been a very good experience for me.

Listening to the music my first impression is that your music is up to date contemporary music with poetic feelings. Even your work Entre-Temps I (2005) for solo cello and electronics is poetic. It feels like a duet, acoustic and electronic sounds (and a coming together by means of live electronics?). Could you tell something about this way of composition in Entre-Temps?

Like many composers, more often than not I draw my inspiration from objects and events that are not normally considered musical. I try to match sounds to visual objects, the way in which they might collide, or attract and repel each other. I think that my biggest goal in composition is to create effective sonic representation of very simple, commonplace visual phenomena. Most of my recent works attempt this, though I feel that I still have along way to go, and may perhaps never achieve this fully..
As for Entretemps, I composed that piece using a mixture of real time processing (Max MSP) and various waveform editing tools (mainly ProTools). I mainly treated the cello as if it were an electric guitar; in certain parts I used filters to imitate a Marshal amplifier for example. I suppose the inspiration for this comes from Romitelli's music. I learned from him that the cello is an instrument which is very happy to be played roughly!

In my view there are three main streams in contemporary music, American, European and Australian (+ New Zealand) contemporary music. European music is quite intellectual and when I listen to Australian contemporary music I often think to hear music inspired on the Australian landscape/nature/sea and/or a kind of American minimal music. Do you agree on this point or could I be absolutely wrong?

East coast minimalism has had a huge influence in Australia, which has not necessarily been all good. I think minimalist music was very effective in expressing the preoccupations of its key proponents, and also as an alternative to serialism; this seems very far from what is pertinent to Australian composers born in the 1970's, and for that reason I don't see much point in perpetuating it. I would like to think that there was a solid collective spirit within Australia & New Zealand to challenge perceptions of modern music, but I must admit, I do not think that one can find enough homogeneity to say that there is an Australian 'movement'.
Many composers do attempt to illustrate musically the unique Australian environment. Personally, I have always found this rather trite, as the great majority live in big cities just like American and European composers, and don't necessarily have any particular connection with the Australian outback. It seems to me an easy option, an alternative to genuinely reflecting upon the things that influence our way of thinking. There is something which anyone who grew up in Australia feels as distinct from anywhere else in the world, but I don't believe it has to do with the deserts and rainforests. I think it has more to do with our subtle cultural detachment from the rest of the world.

Many Australian composers are living in America and Europe (among others Great Britain and The Netherlands). Is this important and a necessity to young Australian composers?

Yes, I think it is a necessity for any composer to travel a great deal. Apart from the fact that very few works are commissioned in Australia, I do not believe that one can gain a balanced and comprehensive knowledge of other tendencies without spending many years abroad. 
This being said, I do hate the implications of this sort of colonialist pilgrimage to Britain by young Australians!

Can you tell us a few words about education and schooling in contemporary music at Australian conservatories/universities?

I studied for 4 years at Monash University Conservatorium in Melbourne. Within Australia it is not renowned among composers, but I chose it over the alternatives in Melbourne and Sydney because I felt that there was very little attachment to convention, particularly that of the generation of Australian composers who expatriated themselves to Great Britain in the 50's & 60's.. This was true in part, though I must admit that many great masters of the 20th century were seldom discussed, much to my disappointment. I believe, again unhappily, that this is the case in most major institutions in Australia.

Are there differences and similarities between Australian and European music institutes?

Very few similarities I think. I studied for four years in Paris, and found that there is a much greater emphasis on the linear evolution of music, from medieval to our time... I was initially very surprised, for example, to have important French composers insisting that I must study baroque counterpoint. No one ever told me that at Monash! In Australia, 'modern' and 'classical' are often deemed to be completely seperate entities, which is an attitude I have come to detest. In Europe in general, I believe that one considers that Ravel and Murail have more things in common than not.

What is your opinion about the development of Western music after the 2nd World War until now?

I have always been put off by serialist dogma; I believe it stopped me from composing for several years; I was simply unable to force myself to write in that way. However, given the almost smothering bredth of its influence, a number of (what I would describe as) expressionist movements have sprung into existence with great energy and enthusiasm of musical exploration. Lachenmann's musique concrète instrumentale, Sciarrino's incredible manipulation of time and the use of crafted sound objects, and French spectral music would all fit into this category.

What is your view as a composer/doctoral student on Western music at present, the aesthetic aspect, the personal approach, the use of twelve tones, a necessity of a new tone system? Is there a crisis? Is there a future?

I have been writing microtonal music for several years now, and have great trouble dealing in just 12 tones. Microtonal writing is becoming less and less problematic for musicians, who seem to be adapting quite well to the new requirements which have been placed upon them. Composing in 1/4 tones is still even-temperament, but it allows for infinitely more harmonic exploration than the 12 tones, the great majority of which is yet to be discovered. Therefore I don't feel a great need for a new system of tuning.
Besides that, I believe that there are many crises in terms of modern music, but these are exciting, because they necessitate change. Young composers are having tremendous difficulties not being overshadowed by the modernism of the preceeding two generations.

What do the terms 'new' and 'experimental' mean to you in connection to contemporary music?

New I would simply say anything which takes into account thinking which has appeared in the last 30 years. Experimental has a slightly negative connotation for me, because it is often synonymous with rather trite improvisation. I think that experimental music need not be spontaneous necessarily, but rather the implementation of a concept of which its author is genuinely unsure.

What are your ambitions in future?

Many things! For one thing, I would love to try to start a festival in Australia similar to Royamunt in France, or Britten-Pears in Great Britain. I suppose that I might get around to doing a PhD at some stage.

What would you like to tell composers of contemporary music, or the music world in general?

That’s a difficult one! It's hard to come up with something which doesn't sound horribly pretentious... so how about 'Play my music!' ?

Thank you Paul!

www.paulclift.net

Interview Heerlen - Melbourne by Frans Waltmans    back


DARIA JABLONSKA (PL)

As a composer, I think that I am still in my ‘experimental’ stage: I’m searching, ‘experimenting’, working on my own language.

Daria, you are a young successful composer from Poland. Can you describe your position in Polish and European musical landscape?

For me it’s only a beginning. I am starting to be a part of a landscape you’re talking about. At the same time, I’ve been given few opportunities to show my music at Polish festivals, as well as at festivals worldwide, e.g. I am very happy that my electronic composition was chosen and presented at Festival Synthese in Bourges this year.
After few years of participating in different composition competitions, I am slowly approaching a situation when I receive commissions from various artists and institutions (soloists, ensembles, film artists, contemporary music festivals). Well, things are going in small steps. A friend of mine, also a composer, once said that sometimes it seemed to be a bit like digging a tunnel with a teaspoon or so ;) But I believe I am going in a right direction. On the other hand, I tend not to appreciate what comes too easily.

What is your newest composition and what is your aesthetical point in this composition?

I am working on a composition for violin and tape. It’s commissioned by a violinist, Anna Zielinska, to be a part of her new electroacoustic and visual project. It’s a kind of sound mosaic, strongly connected with rhythm, polyrhythmic and polymetric structures. The bond between violin and tape is very close, although I am not aiming at imitating the sound of violin with electronic means. The part of tape is an extension of instrumental technique (violin palette of colours, dynamics, articulation, etc.).
At the same time, I’m working on a cycle of miniatures for a small ensemble. The Japanese poem, haiku, ethereal and elusive, has become an inspiration for the composition. How to express it without words, through music? I try to explore the shades of silence and time. Listening intently to the sounds swelling and disappearing helps to discover all the colours hidden in them. That is like listening to a whisper, which is more meaningful than a shout.

In Euclase for piano, percussion and tape (2005) you use subtle sounds and instrumentation, the work can be characterized as poetic music, in which expression and emotion are part of it. What do the words ‘feelings’ and ‘emotion’ mean to you?

Intuition, inspiration, improvisation that is what’s important to me when I start composing. Words, phrases and expressions often become inspiration for my music, that is often the first idea or the first impulse making me think of a new composition. It doesn’t matter how big is the distance between the final effect and its source. I don’t really want to illustrate the word with music. Rather, I want to try to explain what emotion or feeling the word causes in me. In that sense emotions and feelings are important to me.
And there is still this personal approach, very emotional relationship with each composition.

In your music silence is essential for you, because only silence can give meaning to the sound. This seems to me your individualistic approach. What does the word ‘individualism’ mean to you in relationship to your profession as a composer?

There are several levels to the word ‘individualism’ in my opinion.
Music and art in general (painting, sculpting, film, literature), creating something out of nothing, is a manifestation of individualism. There doesn’t have to be any new, fresh or unexpected aspect to the work. As far as a composition is not a result of speculation or calculation, but it’s authentic, coherent with an artist’s “self”, simply the act of creating is individualistic.
As for the music itself, there can be an element of music which one treats in a special way and shows an individualistic approach through this. Another level is connecting and adding elements of music to discover individual language inside the well-known language. I don’t think about a hermetic system, but a kind of one’s own formula to express his ideas through music.

About composing electronic music. There are musicians who say composing acoustic or electronic music are two totally different things. They say composing electronic music is like ‘sculpting sounds’. What is your vision about this aspect?

I wrote a series of articles on “sculpting sound” with reference to sound designing in films. I divided a sound sculptor’s tools into 4 categories: choice of sound, the new shape (new form), the new reality, space (spatial shaping). This process can be called sculpting, because it means often working on existing material. I guess sometimes this phrase can be also connected with composing electronic music as well. But often it’s not only shaping, giving a new form to the well-known substance. It’s imagining this substance as well, composing it, searching for its source, exploring and discovering. Are composing acoustic and electronic music two totally different things? No, I don’t think so. Both require imagination and craftsmanship.

Is there according to you a different aesthetical approach concerning feelings and emotion when you are writing (or listening to) acoustic music or electronic music?

This emotional aspect appears when it comes to public performances I suppose. But even if a fixed, recorded form of an electronic composition is presented, I’m not able to program audience’s reaction, which can be slightly different each time.

Can you tell some words about the musical structures for instance in Euclase or in other recent works?

I often start my work on a new composition from choosing the sound material - scales, chords, etc. This usually means that I reduce available twelve-tone material. That was the case with Euclase and compositions I’m working on now. This is often determined by the group of instruments the composition is written for. In Euclase that was piano, percussion and tape. To create electronic layer of the composition, I chose sounds of ethnic, mainly oriental instruments – tam tam besar, wuhan tam tam, Tibetan singing bowls, shell shekere, Bhutan and Vietnam bells, angklung, bamboo and metal wind chimes.
The sounds of those instruments, and vocoder as a main processing ‘tool’ defined the subtle colours and instrumentation in Euclase.
The next idea was to repeat melodic and rhythmic structures in parts of piano and percussion. On the other hand, I’m also interested in instrumentalist’s vision of the work, how they would repeat those structures. That is why I left some space for performers to improvise. That’s creating those structures and a whole composition again and again during every performance.

What is your opinion about the development of Western music after the 2nd World War until now?

Creating individual ways of expression, languages, is very characteristic to Western music after 2nd World War. What is more, countless instrumental and articulating techniques, and close cooperation with instrumentalists have been constantly developed.
I appreciate this heritage of almost six decades. I think highly of that diversity, individualism, discovering ways. There’s a place for different opinions, insights, points of view, which is extremely valuable.
But this diversity has a bad side to it as well. Composers are looking for individual languages or even systems, sometimes very hermetic. This causes a situation, when they want to explain themselves of their music or system they used. Whereas, it’s better to give only some clues rather than a whole lecture of interpretation.
There should be always an element of secret I suppose. “Music takes over where the word becomes powerless”, said Debussy. I think listeners are able to fill music they hear with their own emotions, thoughts.

What 20th century composers are your favourites and why?

Too many to choose… Well, I will try to be concise. First of all, Claude Debussy, as he was the one to start 20th century in music through his harmony, meticulous articulation, dynamic shades, instrumental techniques. There is Anton Webern as a synonym of extremely concise and coherent music. I’m very impressed with an amazing energy closed within the space of few bars. Another important composer that is Olivier Messiaen, who was consistently broadening listeners’ minds, and building his own language imbued with mysticism and deep humanistic reflection. Bela Bartok and Igor Stravinsky’s compositions are so lively and powerful. I like their rhythmic inventiveness and creativity. What’s more, Stravinsky’s adapting the most essential styles of 20th century for his own compositions is impressive for me. There’s also Dymitr Shostakovich with his great orchestral imagination and a fascinating melodic sense. In his works there are both sarcasm and tragedy of creative personality strangled by system pressures. Last but not least, Witold Lutoslawski for his care of every musical detail, logic, culture and a consistent musical vision.
For me their music is a source of inspiration and an example of beauty.
Ah, I have to mention Pierre Boulez, who is a composer as well, but I value him especially as an organizer of music life, founder of a great institution and a conductor.

What is your view on Western music at present, the aesthetical aspect, the use of twelve tones, a necessity of a new tone system? Is there a crisis? Is there a future? Has individualism a future? And what about the influence of electronic means on creating music f.i. artificial intelligence opposite to composer’s intelligence?

Hugues Dufourt says that composers who create nowadays made a fetish out of sounding and colour. He sees a crisis in that kind of approach, and appeals for philosophical and social reflection in music.
This question touches a general problem of meaning of music and reasons for composing. It depends on what we want to say, but what actually goes far beyond words. I believe that music and art are places of meeting, getting to know one another, exchanging ideas and thoughts, platform for interdisciplinary experiences. They are able to build and support respect and understanding. As long as it is happening, there is no crisis.
If there’s a necessity of a new tone system or even new music theory, it will be formed sooner or later. But it won’t happen overnight. New rules can’t be written down one day and applied by composers right the next day, it’s impossible. I think we are all parts of this process of creating ‘a new system’, we are immersed in it, but we don’t keep a necessary distance to evaluate what is actually happening.
As far as electronic means are concerned, I still think about them, even those advanced ones, only as the tools for people to use.

What do the terms 'new' and 'experimental' mean to you in connection to contemporary music?

‘New’ refers to something that has never happened before. At the same time, I guess that’s a kind of a u-turn to create something new only for the sake of novelty. Just as using new instrumental techniques and technical difficulties only for the complications’ sake doesn’t make much sense. Lutoslawski said the novelty was what got older the fastest. That is why composers should be looking for lasting values. And after all, I can imagine that has to be an enormous pressure for a composer to be forced to compose totally new music.
I used the word ‘new’ several times here in the sense of adapting elements, which are new for my language, style or technique.
In my opinion there are few explanations of the terms ‘new’ and ‘experimental’. I see them in a context of putting the audience and listeners’ perception to different tests. Sometimes it’s used to describe shocking, original music. Also the word ‘experimental’ has been used to characterize electroacoustic, electronic, computer music.
On the other hand, the time of studying composition at university or conservatory is often the moment of experimenting in a sense of discovering new composing techniques, absorbing and adapting them (even if it’s only an exercise).
As a composer, I think that I am still in my ‘experimental’ stage: I’m searching, ‘experimenting’, working on my own language.

What are your ambitions for the future?

I would like to compose music for various instrumentalists and ensembles, music to be performed during festivals, concerts, but also for film and theater. Also, my ambition is studying sound engineering and specializing in sound designing for films. Teaching is what I really enjoy, so that’s what I want to continue as well. My students give me so much energy and make me revise some of my opinions. And I hope that among all those plans there’s still a place for my personal life…

What would you like to tell composers of contemporary music, or the music world in general, the audience, organizers of festivals or educational institutes?

“First of all, ladies and gentlemen, you must forget that you are singers” said Debussy. I would expand it to everyone who creates or performs music.
I am a composer, which situates me in a certain context. I wish we all sometimes forgot we were composers, singers, instrumentalists, and we had the sum of experiences with music. It would be perfect to go to the concert and enjoy the beauty of music, to be moved, delighted.

E-Mail: dekajot(at)poczta.onet.pl.

Interview Heerlen - Warsaw by Frans Waltmans    back

ELIA KOUSSA (LB)

....The western music culture has developed a rich and great harmonic language, based on the first 3 octaves of the harmonic overtones. If I look today at Arabic music, I see it somehow complementary in the sense that it was developed horizontally, melodically, on the 4th octave of the harmonics....

Elia, you are a young composer from Lebanon studying with Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf in Leipzig Germany. Can you explain your situation?

When I first came to Germany in 2001, it took me some time to understand what has been happening in music since the end of WW2, and to learn about new composers that I had no opportunity to learn about their music and their aesthetics before. I realized later that I needed a teacher who is interested in some of my ideas that come from outside of the European culture. It wasn’t until last year though that I began my studies at the “Musikhochschule” in Leipzig with Professor Dr. Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf. He is a very active person and he is open to new ideas, other cultures, and other fields than music, so I feel well oriented and satisfied. Besides, there are always opportunities to have my pieces performed.

You participated in West Eastern Divan workshops by Daniel Barenboim, a cooperation between Arabic and Israeli musicians. What is your view about the importance of this co-operation?

I think that the West-Eastern-Divan Orchestra was a brave idea from Daniel Barenboim and Edward Said to work for peace outside politics. Although this might not change the world, Barenboim recognizes that music can teach us to accept the “presence of an opposite” as he says. In a way, I think he has succeeded.

Can you tell us a few words about education and schooling in contemporary music and traditional music in Lebanon?

Contemporary music is not really taught in Lebanon. There is no one to blame. One has to think of the civil war the country went through and the great social and economic difficulties that followed. But everything is improving, and we have a good “Conservatoire” that has made a very good progress after the war, and there are also other universities and institutes that teach classical music. But concerning traditional Arabic music, I believe the “Conservatoire” in Lebanon is one of the best institutions in the Middle East. Especially recently, teachers have been working hard to create new methods for playing traditional Arabic instruments like the Oud (Arabic Lute), Riqq, Darabuka and very good books of theory of Arabic music were created.

What are the differences and similarities between Lebanese and German music institutes?

It’s really hard to compare. I will speak of the highest music institutes in both countries.
There is only one Conservatoire for all Lebanon with many branches, but the main one is in Beirut. In Germany there is over 25 “Musikhochschulen” in the different cities. However, it’s also hard to compare because Lebanon is only about 10500 Km2 and, with 3,5 million inhabitants, it’s almost like Berlin alone.
At the “Conservatoire” in Lebanon, one can start at an early age as a beginner, and advanced musicians have to take an entrance exam. After some years (8 for piano students), the successful student receives their musical “Baccalaureat”, after which they can go on to work for a diploma and then for a Master’s degree. In Germany, there is an entrance exam for the “Hochschule” and beginners cannot be accepted, but only students who already studied music and are advanced enough, and the diploma is awarded in about 4-5 years. In Lebanon, there are some European instruments that are still not taught, like the organ, harpsichord and other baroque instruments. However, as I said, instruments of the oriental Arabic tradition like the Oud, Qanoun, Nay, Daff, Darabuka and others are taught, as well as oriental chant, and religious traditions like “Tajweed” (Quran recitation), and byzantine music and other Christian musical traditions. All students, whether in the oriental or occidental music department have to study the Arabic music theory and history, as well as the history of the old civilizations of the region.

As a first impression I can hear in your music, which is written in a contemporary style, elements of Arabic sounds and rhythms, but it is difficult to describe that. Can you explain a little more about your composition technique?

I believe, this Arabic influence has always been there. It is natural. But today, my approach is more ‘scientific’. I started to develop a musical style, based on the “Maqamat” (Arabic modi) and “Awzan” (Rhythmic patterns or cycles).
There are dozens of Maqamat in the Arabic music. They are modi of different characters. Those Maqamat are not only used in the Arabic world, but also in other countries like Turkey, Iran, and many others. The “awzan” are rhythmic patterns that are often very complicated, some reaching 48 fourth, and they are repeated.
Now this doesn’t mean that all my music is based on these 2 elements but they are a part of it.
To get more into details, those elements remind me of the roots, not only because it’s the music of my region, but also because this music has something totally forgotten in the western music culture. Something that is very natural and pure. If you take the harmonic overtones number 9-10-11-12 of a note, we get a tetrachord of a very often used “Maqam” in Arabic music: the “Rast Maqam”, which is regarded as the basic “Maqam” in Arabic music, just as the major scale was in Europe. The “Rast Maqam” consists of 2 “Rast tetrachords” separated with a whole tone.  Some very used Maqams like the Bayati and Siga, can be extracted from the Rast, in the same way the Dorian and Phrygian scales can be extracted from the Ionian scale, simply speaking, although this comparison is not good because there are differences between the ¾ tone of the “Rast” and the ¾ tone of the “Bayati”, for example, and the same Maqam differs from country to another. Now to come back to the harmonic overtones, there is a whole tone between the 9 and the 10, ¾ ton between the 10 and the 11, as well as another ¾ tone between the 11 and the 12. Those ¾ tones are more consconant than the ½ ton, as a half ton ratio is 16/15.
The western music culture, has developed a rich and great harmonic language, based on the first 3 octaves of the harmonic overtones. If I look today at Arabic music, I see it somehow complementary in the sense that it was developed horizontally, melodically, on the 4th octave of the harmonics.
So the Maqamat play a major role in my music. But I use them as a part of a whole.
Concerning the rhythm, I often go back to the “awzan”, or more naturally to the Arabic language itself which is very rhythmical. And if we go back in history, those “awzan”, were developed from the old Arabic poems that had a very close relation to music. Simply speaking, I want to go back to the most basic and natural things in the nature and myself. I am tired of artificial concepts.

What is your opinion about the development of Western music after the 2nd World War until now?

Objectively speaking, I am for all that happened at the musical level WW2 in Europe, as it was a natural result of the people’s experience. It is interesting to look at history and see how later music has been a mirror of those days, and how it progressed. But I am sure I don’t want to go to the extreme the way Lachenmann went, for example. Before that, serialism was surely a sign of loss of orientation showing that composers needed rules for every step. New-Complexity is also a natural result, and I believe it’s a true mirror of our world today. All this produced geniuses who composed and made masterpieces that I totally respect. I am not saying that I do not appreciate this music. But I am of a different nature, and I wish more balance could return to music. I personally prefer composers like Klaus Huber whose music is so deep and universal and at the same time modern, with a “harmony” of another kind. He still sees beauty and order in the world. And I also like the music of Ligeti.

What is your view on Western music at present, the aesthetic aspect, the personal approach, the use of twelve tones, a necessity of a new tone system? Is there a crisis? Is there a future?

There is always the good and the bad in every age. And it’s the hardest thing now to say who’s good and who’s not. But generally I think one problem is that we are against the nature. But this is how the whole world is going. It’s like eating bad food everyday and then getting sick. There are basic things in life, and humans have a limit. Although I am for the innovation, the problem is that the most are seeking originality at the cost of nature.
Concerning the 12 tones, I sometimes think, had Skriabin lived some more years, he would have used them in another way.  
I don’t think there has been an age before this, where people got amazed with ugliness like today. I am not sure if it’s a good thing. And I think wars, discrimination, racism… are all main reasons for this. Music is surely indirectly affected by that. We don’t live in another world, it’s simple. Music cannot be separated, so there is a crisis, but this doesn’t mean there is no future. There is surely a future, but a better future would be with a better humanity.

Can you compare the Western musical situation with the Arabic situation?

There is no way to compare. It’s another world. There are no composers of Arabic music in the same sense of western composers.

What do the terms 'new' and 'experimental' mean to you in connection to contemporary music?

Those terms are definitely a fixed and very important part of contemporary music. In Germany, new music (Neue Musik) is the more common term used instead of ‘contemporary music’. The “new” is crucial for keeping life into everything including music. Because European music of the 19th and early 20th century is still dominating until today, the term “new” is acquiring more importance everyday for people who realize we are in completely different times and that we need new techniques, instruments and thoughts, and consequently “experimental music is born out of this tendency. Although it is not definitely clear what is the “experimental” music, as many different composers of the 20th century have classified their music under ‘experimental’.

What are your musical ambitions in future?

I hope I will be able to establish a good institute for contemporary music in Lebanon, and keep the cultural exchange with Europe, and other countries.

What would you like to tell composers of contemporary music, or the
music world in general?

I think I’ve said everything I wanted to say. Thank you!

Thank you too, Elia.

Mailto: elia15(at)hotmail.com.

Interview Heerlen - Beirut by Frans Waltmans    back


ULRICH KREPPEIN (DE)

....Nowadays, we can't easily reduce the complex appearance of the world to one idea....

Ulrich, you are a young promising German composer, you have studied with prof. Manfred Trojahn in Düsseldorf, but now working and living on Harvard. Can you tell something about your situation?

After completion of my diplom in Düsseldorf, I decided to pursue a PhD at Harvard. Through my year in New York where I studied with Tristan Murail, I got introduced to american academia and I liked many aspects of it. First I enjoyed being at a University instead of a conservatory (as in Europe) and being able to study musicology and aesthetics and other subjects as well. My music always had an interdisciplinary aspect through my interest in theatre and literature. Thus a University seemed more interesting as an environment. The other factor is that a PhD in the USA includes teaching and thus offers a professional perspective. Nowadays, where funding for culture is cut, composers need to be more flexible to get the free space for composing. The PhD programs in the USA allow such spaces, where one can focus on musical works for a 5 - 6 year period without having to compromise because of financial needs.

What is your newest composition and what is in this piece your musical point?

At the moment I am revising some of my pieces and work for ensemble. I just say that I would think, it is difficult to have a "point" in a piece, as my music is not an essay or a study. There might be re-occuring issues such as polyphony, heterogeneity, etc. but I would not write a piece to exemplify an issue.

Listening to your music I can hear a kind of micro-polyphony and musical clouds, but I can also hear romantic tendencies, even for instance the title “Paysage Nocturne (2006)” sounds to me romantic too. Same time you are using in Paysage Nocturne a clear overall 4-tone motive during the whole piece. What can you tell about your musical aesthetics in this piece?

In this piece the material is quite diverse and includes different stylistic spaces. However, the material is put together in dramatic shapes, that unify the diverse stylistics. Thus we find many internal breaks and heterogenic sounds that are shaped in a homogenous way (the ways that unify the piece is the four tone motive and a three tone ascending motive and general dramatic shapes). It's a balance between diversity and unity which stays ambivalent and is neither collage nor a homogenous piece. I like this ambivalence as it seems to me being quite close to the real world we experience every day, which is messy and heterogenous but not just 'arbitrary'. There is a balance or ambivalence between chaos and logos.
I would use the word 'romantic' for this concept in the sence of early romanticism (Schlegel, Novalis or Jean Paul, etc.). The idea of early romantic thought was combination and connection. In the world of Schlegels 'Athenäums Fragmente' everything could be thought of as being in connection with other things. We find a concept of thinking that used association, combination and transformation more than distinction. Thus the world was seen as a network of diverse realities, concepts and thoughts that communicate and can be connected in the Raum of reflection. For me this idea is very modern and opposed to a clean and onedimensional concept of progress we find in conservative modernism. At the same time it seems to me very close to postmodern ideas such as the concept of 'Rhizome' in the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze.
In this concept of a reality network, micropolyphony, clouds of sounds as well as clearly defined allusions, can all get into context, appear or disappear in a mulitdimensional musical form. In a way, how this musical network could look like is a general question for most of my pieces, thus also in the orchestra piece.

What are your favourite composers in the past and today, and what could we learn from them?

According to my ideas I just outlined about my aesthetic, I feel very much attracted to the music of Mozart (his irony and ambivalence), Schumann (the irony and the literarisation of music that yields very interesting forms), Wagner and Schreker (and his idea of opera). Berg for his ideas of collage (as in Reigen or other pieces) Ives. Among living composers, I admire Hans-Jürgen von Bose (for his polystilistic musical worlds), Lachenmann (whose opera 'Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern' seems more 'postmodern' in the diversity of the sonic material than one may think, given his aesthetics) and Julian Anderson.

Is it easy to a young promising composer to present his works on the program of festivals of contemporary music?

No, it is rather difficult. ;-)

In my view the development of Western music after the 2nd World War was rather complicated and intellectual. Today we can also see neo-romantic tendencies in many compositions. What is your opinion about the development of Western music after the 2nd World War until now?

I think, aesthetically the musical development seems to work together with the societal development. After the world war II many people believed there was a truth (just to be found), there was progress (which had a direction). Thus, aesthetics could be developed and became normative, as the idea of progress in music was sharable. Nowadays, we can't easily reduce the complex appearance of the world to one idea. In accordance there is no normative stylistic any more, there is no clue what is progressive or regressive. Many of those words simply lost their meaning, because our concept of the reality does not deal with such clear oppositions. I don't think, the music nowadays is less or more intellectual or less or more accessible. I rather think, that the basic ideas of how we see reality changed and the music accordingly, too.

What is your view on Western music at present, the aesthetic aspect, the personal approach, the use of twelve tones, a necessity of a new tone system? Is there a crisis? Is there a future?

I don't think the future lies in new tone systems or anything like that. I rather think, tone systems are the results of the ways in which music was thought of at a given time. Mostly, the systems were found after the music was composed and after the composers were dead and the aesthetic of their music was passed. Therefore I also don't think, there is a crisis (exept for people who desperately need a system). So maybe someone may find the way how people compose today in some 60 - 70 years (as Fux did for the renaissance or Riemann for the classic music), for me it only matters to try to have a consistency in my music.
I think, that the idea of having the tone system first and then composing the music of the future with it is a very 'modern' approach and thus a little bit oldfashioned... I am not sure if it is a good idea to plan the future (as the modern aesthetic tried to) and to try to shape its development as the reality is always different than expected and the interesting thing about 'newness' and future is that we don't know how they look like.

What do the terms 'new' and 'experimental' mean to you in connection to contemporary music?

The word new keeps it meaning as I still think, every new piece is new and has not existed before. However, the criterias of what is new or 'experimental' are so vague that I am not sure if it is productive to use them in order to compose specifically something that is 'new' or 'experimental' for the sake of being 'new' or 'experimental'. At the same time it seems logically impossible to decide to make something new, because if I can decide how to make it, it is not new any more... the main point of innovation is that it can't be planned.

What are your ambitions for the future?

Simply writing the music I want to write. Especially I am interested in opera and music theatre and hope I can realise some of my ideas in the future.

What would you like to tell composers of contemporary music, or the music world in general?

I am afraid I don't have anything more to tell... ;-)

Thank you Ulrich!

E-mail: uakreppein@gmx.de 

Interview Heerlen - Frankfurt am Main by Frans Waltmans    back


FELIPE LARA (BR)

....The 20th century, as mentioned above, is a great example of the triumph of individual systems over collective ones....

Felipe, you are a promising young Brazilian composer, studying music composition in New York. Can you describe your position in the musical landscape?

My position as a composer is a very personal one. I’ve been living away from my home country Brazil for almost half my life. In the last dozen years I’ve lived in Stuttgart, London, California, Boston, and currently in New York, having been exposed directly and indirectly to a beautifully overwhelming variety of cultures. I even though I rarely ever compose music that consciously incorporates “Brazilian” expressive elements, I’d be lying if I completely denied that aspects of this Brazilianess could ever be found in one way or another in my compositions. One can almost say that there isn’t such thing as “real” Brazilian culture; it is a cosmopolitan and multifaceted entity in its very definition. The very essence of the country’s collective subject is its multicultural heritage. Portuguese colonizers, African slaves (unfortunately Brazil was the last country in the world to abolish slavery in 1888), native Indians, Dutch pirates and colonizers, Jesuits, and latter, after the World Wars, Japanese, Italians, Lebanese, Syrian, and so on, all in fact are a great part of the constellation which is called Brazilian culture – a culture of diversity as opposed to one of unity. Ironically, the fact that I left Brazil to live in other countries is only a multiplication of an already fragment subject. I’m currently living in Astoria, New York, where cosmopolitanism is taken to almost delusional extremes within the same block…it’s truly complex and beautiful!
In my music I try to allow this interplay of difference to interfere from the very start by setting a number of possible contradicting strata, a multidimensional material which at any given point of the work may make an extreme turn in its very musical grammar or technique, not for the sake of abrupt juxtapositions, but for an expanded palette. The lost dream of a lingua franca is abandoned for the (impossible) synthesis or cohabitation of difference to take place.

What is your newest composition and what is your aesthetical point in this composition?

I’ve just finished a short work for two bass clarinets, which the Kammerensemble Neue Musik Berlin will premiere in here New York. It’s almost an etude that explores various harmonic, timbral, rhythmical, and gestural aspects of “singing” and playing simultaneously. Both bass clarinets are treated as one expanded instrument.

Corde Vocale (2007) for string quartet, dedicated to Arditti Quartet is an excellent composition, and characteristic for contemporary music, concerning expression and emotion. What do the words ‘feelings’ and ‘emotion’ mean to you?

Personally I feel that sensations, emotions, or feelings in music are in a way connected both to intuition and knowledge. The moments in music (or art in general for that matter) that are most transcendental, or emotionally fulfilling to me, are those precious moments of ferocious creative impulse, realized with utmost technical expertise, and individual authenticity. There seems to be synapses when one is faced with a previously unknown aesthetic situation. So, to conclude your question, I much prefer to see these “feelings” in music as a complex interplay of sensations, both bodily and intellectual, then as something specific to a particular affective human state.   

Like all composers of contemporary music you are composing your music in an individualistic way. What does the word ‘individualism’ mean to you in relationship to your profession as a composer?

I don’t think all composers are working in an individualistic way; there are still many writing in very specific, or even conotated styles. The quest for finding one’s individual aesthetic space is a difficult but crucial one in my opinion. Just as crucial is perhaps the ability of moving away from that conquered territory once it has been defined throughout an artist’s career.
I try to deliberately force myself to work in a more or less spiral way, trying to simultaneously avoid territory which has already been conquered in a previous composition but also shed new light or revisit older ideas which perhaps have not been saturated in all possible or fruitful contexts.
Given the endless possibilities of today’s technical and aesthetic complexity I’m often a bit suspicious with works that fall easily into conotated styles, for my a sterile approach. The pursuit for an original voice is a solitary and difficult one, but it is almost guaranteed to provide fuel to the creative stamina, along with fruitful problems and beautifully imperfect results.

Besides acoustic music you are also studying electronic music. About the combination composing acoustic and electronic music, there are musicians who say composing acoustic or electronic music are two totally different things. They say composing electronic music is like ‘sculpting sounds’. What is your vision about this aspect?

I’m extremely interested in electronic music precisely because of this approach – sound sculpture. I haven’t really written a piece yet which really incorporates electronic music with instrumental composition. However I often use many paradigms of the electronic medium in a purely instrumental environment. Carefully sculpting every sound, attack, decay, trajectory is very much my approach in composition.

Is they’re according to you a different aesthetical approach concerning feelings and emotion when you are writing (or listening to) acoustic music or electronic music?

One obvious factor that contributes to the difference in perception between electronic versus instrumental music is the presence problem. In purely electronic music the sound source cannot be located onstage, radically changing therefore the space-time relationship. Also the unidirectional of speakers affect the sense of space very much, thus creating a different emotional impact on the public.

Corde Vocale is a work on high compositional level, with many layers, the sounds are fragile and con fueco, capriccioso and misterioso, complex rhythmics combined with modern play technics. Can you give some explanation about the musical structure in this work ?

Corde Vocale is a work about the integration of contradicting multilingual systems – as a metaphor for techniques applied to particular idioms such as electronic, mobile (intervallic), and gestural. The large-scale musical structure is rather simple. There are four distinct sections, each based on the representation of the timbral structure (sonogram analysis) of each of the four strings of the violoncello. Each section proposes a different non-linear (linear with accidental interruptions) treatment to the respective timbral object, gradually pointing towards the next section. It is a work about difference, the impossibility of translation, and the “perforation” of one “language” upon another.

What is your opinion about the development of Western music after the 2nd World War until now?

One rather obvious tendency since 1945 has been the conscious use of sound per se rather than concepts such as notes, melodies, and tone rows. This inclination has lead composers to extremely distinct, or even contradicting paths. Technology since 1945 has allowed composers to interact with sound in the electronic studio in a much intimate, let us say, setting. Latter, in the eighties, the microprocessor and the personal computer allowed them to quickly record, analyze, process, and treat sounds in the privacy of their homes, thus making the tools for the broader exploration of sounds much more feasible to the general public. These advances quickly changed musical making, popular or concert, as they became an inevitable feature of our culture.

What 20th century composers are your favorites, and why?

There is little to be said about first half of 20th century masters Stravinsky, Bartok, Schoenberg, Webern, or even the second half Messiaen, Berio, Boulez, Stockhausen, Ligeti, Scelsi, Xenakis, Grisey, except that their own musical idiosyncrasies and inventive spirits left us with enough interesting musical problems and musical tips-of-icebergs for several generations. I’d say the same about Murail, Ferneyhough, Lachenmann, and Sciarrino.

What is your view on Western music at present, the aesthetical aspect, the personal approach, the use of twelve tones, a necessity of a new tone system? Is there a crisis? Is there a future? Has individualism a future?

I don’t think there is a crisis in Western Music making...the market for it is a different question which I will not get into it. But I will not be dramatic about it. There is always a future for music, so I don’t think that a fatalistic attitude is realistic. However, regarding a new tone system, how many times did we fail in this utopic quest for a collective tone system?
I think any self-contained, absolute system for creative purposes is doomed to failure or exhaustion – Dionysius would never allow such a system. We have to face the endless friction between the absolute self and the unpredictable forces of chaos.
However, the use of individual, imperfect, and models can prove to be extremely fruitful for creative purposes. Today the complexity is such that composers have an infinite number of windows, speculations, assemblages, contradictions in which the creative subject can imprint its presence. The 20th century, as mentioned above, is a great example of the triumph of individual systems over collective ones.

What do the terms 'new' and 'experimental' mean to you in connection to contemporary music?

These are dialectic terms that to me suggest a positive and a negative facet, and by no means I mean good or bad. The former consisting of more-or-less unpredictable experiments in search of novel results and the latter being the attitude of consciously refusing highly conotated expressive solutions. Of course it is ultimately impossible to reach a tabula rasa, but as a driving motto the speculative attitude can bring more creative benefits than harm.

What are your ambitions for the future?

For the last few months I’ve been enjoying the intimacy of short works for small forces. It’s a nice space for trying new ideas with the help of the performers. I’m about to start a series of pieces for flute and percussion, possibly with electronic, about physical materials (wood, metal, skin, glass) and elements (water, air…)
I’d like to work on several mixed pieces with real-time processing in the near future where the electronic metaphors in the instrumental part would be forced to face its mirror image.

See also Presentation Felipe Lara.

www.felipelara.com.

Interview Heerlen - New York by Frans Waltmans    back


SARAH NEMTSOV (DE)

...Feelings and emotions are most important for my music. I want the audience (in the best case) to feel my music, not only to hear it, as well as the musicians...

Sarah, you are a promising young composer from Berlin (DE). Can you describe your position in the musical landscape?

On the one hand I am quite at the beginning entering the musical landscape, on the other hand I can be happy that I have already got good opportunities to present my work: my pieces were performed at different international contemporary music festivals. I realized a chamber opera and just got a commission for a large one. A number of compositions were published at the Berlin Edition “nova vita” and a CD with my piano cycle “Zwanzig Skizzen” (Twenty Sketches) will come out next year. I am thankful for the chances I got by now and hope my music will find its way to people.

What is your newest composition and what is your aesthetical point in this composition?

With every new piece I want to give myself a new task – it happens anyway concerning the different settings and the respective demands. But also in the inner structure of composition, I try to search and maybe find something new for me. So I did in my last pieces: the string quartet “Im Andenken” (In Memory) is an approach to Franz Schubert. Before starting with the composition I studied a lot of his music. I tried to adapt his composition techniques or abstract from them to my own music. Beginning with the fragment „Andante“ from his string quartet c-minor D 703 I wrote a string quartet, in which every note is referring to Schubert, but often in a hidden way.
With the piece “Kreise” (Circles) for two pianos and percussion I mainly wanted to find out more about some new possibilities of harmonic modulation. I think, contemporary harmonies often are too disconnected.
The composition “Soutine: Paysage de Cerét” for cello solo and sporadically accordion ad libitum is based on impressions of paintings by Chaim Soutine, I somehow felt a closeness between a brush and a bow, just as I was interested in the colourful sounds of one string instrument. At the moment I am writing a piece for voice and piano, it is a commission for the festival “Klangwerktage” in Hamburg. I am using lyrics by Emily Dickinson which fascinate me a lot. It is too early to speak about my aesthetical point in this composition.

The titles of your works are in a way philosophical and contemporary titles, Deconstructions, Ver-Suche, Communication-lost-found. They indicate a personal individualistic approach. What does the word ‘individualism’ mean to you in relationship to your profession as a composer?

I really hope to have an individual language, I am always working on it, but it is not easy. One can not develop without influences. Finding the own language is often a struggle and should be one. For example if you are under time pressure it can be tempting to reproduce yourself – in such situations I try not to follow this temptation and to concentrate on my musical visions instead. But of course some elements of one’s musical language should also remain recognizable as a kind of musical identity. Sometimes I use strict concepts to shape my musical ideas. However, these concepts concern only the form or my composition techniques. So I don’t want them to come to the fore, as the most important thing for me is the expression. Generally my compositions are often inspired from consideration of other arts, literatur, visual arts or choreography. I like philosophic matters (Derrida – deconstruction, but also Heidegger or Hegel), I love to read and to visit exhibitions. All these things accompany my work. Also the Jewish tradition is very important for me, I am not only fascinated by the traditional Jewish Music, I like for example the disputes of the Talmud. Although I can have very firm opinions, I am always afraid of “selling” them as absolute. I feel like my view is only subjective, individual and everything may be different from another point of view.

I can feel the relationship between human beings, and also between the nations, this cares you. It has to do with emotion and you try to express that in music a.o. opera Herzland. What does the words ‘feelings’ and ‘emotion’ mean to you?

Feelings and emotions are most important for my music. I want the audience (in the best case) to feel my music, not only to hear it, as well as the musicians. But definite emotions often have structural aspects in my compositions. Often I feel concrete emotions while composing, but I wouldn’t like other people to guess what I exactly felt. Other pieces have a quite concrete content – I could even say – a political one. Anyway I always try to give feelings a musical mirror.

Your composition Interludien is acoustic music and also electronic music. There are musicians who say composing acoustic or electronic music are two totally different things. They say composing electronic music is like ‘sculpting sounds’. What is your vision about this aspect?

Electronic and acoustic music do indeed require different ways of working with and have different musical material as a result. For me it is just interesting to operate “at the frontier”. I want to connect both – to treat the electronics as a further and a very special instrument. The three movements of “Interludien” for ensemble with obligatory oboe and electronics belong together, they can not be separated. The macro-form corresponds with the micro-form as there are interludes inside of every movement just as the second movement is an interlude between the other two. There are different levels of electronic sounds, which all result from oboe tones and are more or less close to them. Moreover I wanted to integrate electronics into the ensemble – though the acoustic instruments can countermine the electronics: sometimes the ensemble sounds most strange. I think the matter of connecting electronic and acoustic music and creating transitions will determine my future (electronic) compositions.

Is there according to you a different aesthetical approach concerning feelings and emotion when you are writing (or listening to) acoustic music and electronic music?

I must say that I am not as familiar with electronic music as I am with acoustic one. Usually I prefer to work with musicians and to experience their uniqueness in a concert. I find the opportunities of electronic music very interesting and exciting, but in some cases I am also sceptical. For me electronic music is often too fixed, cold in a way and too much at the surface. For example there are a lot of solo-pieces for instruments with live-electronics: I often have the feeling that the technical possibilities destine the form of the piece, and in addition you can often follow the processes: “ah, that was granular synthesis” etc. But of course there are also hundreds of wonderful, astonishing electronic pieces. It is amazing to be able to have such a close view into a sound and to ‘sculpt it’.

In your composition Ver-Suche (2006) for flute, cello, harp and vibraphone you make efforts the instruments to come to harmony, which fails after a number of efforts. (It fails of course because this is the musical point in the piece). What is the relationship between your ideas about musical structures and human beings and nations?

In my compositions a lot of things come together, first of all: there is an exchange between visions of special sounds and ideas of musical structures. Often these structural ideas are influenced by non musical themes: philosophical thoughts, principals or techniques of other arts, political or social aspects. In my piece “Ver-Suche” the heterogeneous setting was also a synonym for four different people trying to speak to each other. The piece “communication – lost – found” has 12 instrumentalists exploring various forms of communication. Generally the form is open, a ‘musical discussion’ is to be created by the musicians. There are several sections, which focus on different aspects of communication and present different musical solutions. You can find ‘confirmation’, as well as ‘conflict’ and ‘annoyance’, ‘answering’ or ‘interrupting’. This composition was commissioned by a very young contemporary music ensemble and I wanted to write a piece for them fostering their creativity and imagination.

What is your opinion about the development of Western music after the 2nd World War until now?

Musicologists often call the ending of the 2nd World War a “zero-point”/turning-point for composition (and other arts). I can understand the interest of composers in completely new ways and as a result their self-isolation in this situation. It is remarkable that the serialists tied on the Second Vienna School which was persecuted and suppressed a few years before. I think the serialism was very important and showed a lot of possibilities for composing, although some compositions probably became too strict and finally not enough individual. (But it is amazing how individual for example the serial music of Nono sounds!). Afterwards so many tendencies were created that it is hard to have an overview. “Aleatoric” brought more freedom into contemporary music and provided the musicians with more influence. I think some tendencies were also problematical, because they only intended to be “new” or “shocking”. In my opinion music needs another starting point for deepness in its expression. However, the situation now is no more the same. On the one hand everything is possible, the globalisation manifests itself also in compositions, on the other hand, I have the feeling that contemporary music is getting more content again. To be “shocking” is not as desired as it was. The audience is more open but so are the composers.

What 20th century composers are your favourites, and why?

The 20th century was a period of time in which composers were affected by various and often very cruel political developments. Many tendencies were explored, and there were extremely different aesthetics. I could name many composers who are important for me. Among others my favorites are: Bartok, Schoenberg and Debussy, who is fascinating me with his sensuous, light, but at the same time dark and sombre harmonies. Bernd Alois Zimmermann, because I like the combination of philosophy, his diverse musical stratums and the emotional attitude of his compositions. Shostakovich, as he is a genius and his is music deep and serious. The contemporary music scene often regards him to be “old-fashioned”, but that is not the point – there is much to learn and experience from him! I love Nono’s music, the early pieces as much as the latest! He is a great composer, his music always has a necessity. The dialecticism and the new quality of sounds in Lachenmann’s music also affect me a lot. I am fascinated by the music of my present teacher Walter Zimmermann (although he doesn’t want to speak about his music during his lessons…) – I think he has a very individual and rich musical language.
For me personally also impulses from music of Jewish composers are important. For example there exists great (but forgotten) music by Joseph Achron, Grigori Krein or Alexander Weprik (from the beginning of the 20th century) creating a very special, deep and “Jewish” character. Listening to this music let me think about my own musical identity and showed opportunities to me. 

What is your view on Western music at present, the aesthetical aspect, the personal approach, the use of twelve tones, a necessity of a new tone system? Is there a crisis? Is there a future? Has individualism a future?

No one can know what the future brings. I can speak only about my ‘present’ impressions and thoughts. Sometimes I miss an honest and deep attitude in the contemporary music. Composers maybe help themselves in focussing and renewing isolated parameters of music. There exist changing fashions for special sounds (for example techniques of instruments or the use of microtonality), but sometimes it affects only the surface, whereas the inner sphere of the composition remain quite conservative. (Besides music is getting less individual in this way.) I think one should try to have musical visions which concern the music as a whole.

What does the terms ‘new’ and ‘experimental’ mean to you in connection to contemporary music?

An artist should always try to be experimental and find something new. The terms ‘experimental’ and ‘new’ are very popular today, but what they describe, is often forced, determinated by general expectations. This concerns also other arts. A new outfit can be an illusion. Like (nearly) everyone I am also not free of these expectations. As a consequence I try to focus on the musical content of my compositions. ‘New’ and ‘experimental’ mostly mean something structural for me, probably not to be seen at first glance.

What are your ambitions to the future?

I will write a large opera – that will take some time. Starting a new piece usually provokes something like a crisis, but somehow it belongs to the process and makes my work more intense. I hope that I will always be able to renew my music – that I won’t stand still. I also hope that I’ll get chances to reach people with my music.

What would you like to tell composers of contemporary music, or the music world in general, the audience, organizers of festivals or educational institutes?

I hope people will always come to concerts and will be courageous enough to face new music which sometimes demands some work to be understood. Concerning the organizers of festivals: I don’t understand why they always want only World Premieres! I think it is quite frustrating for a composer to write again and again only for one concert. After all a piece usually gets much better after several performances! The premiere is often not the best version and the experience of different interpretations enriches the composer as well as the listener.

Thank you Sarah for the interview!

www.sarah-nemtsov.de

Interview Heerlen - Berlin by Frans Waltmans    back


CHRISTIAN ONYEJI (NG)

....I would like the rich and well-known composers in Europe and America to make some contributions to the development of composition in Africa....

Christian, you have specialised on African music. Your native country is Nigeria, called “the heart of African music”. At the moment you are studying in South Africa. Can you explain your situation? Is studying in South Africa important and a necessity to you as an ethnomusicological researcher?

I have always had passion for intercultural study. That, I believe, has helped me to know more about other countries and appreciate their musical cultures. It has also helped me to re-evaluate musical activities in Nigeria to appreciate the strengths and note the weaknesses. I would strongly say my exposure and studies in South Africa has contributed a lot to my ethnomusicological research. It is important to me as a research to have a wide range of exposure and knowledge from different cultures.

What are the differences and similarities between Nigerian and South African music departments on universities concerning African music?

It is quite glaring in the Departments of Music in South Africa that Western music studies dominate. It is understandable though, given the background of the Universities. Some Universities offer African music but it is not emphasised as western music. In Nigeria, on the other hand, every student studies African music without choice. The music programme is bi-cultural, featuring African and Western music on 50-50 basis. Unlike in South Africa, where a student may chose not to take African music courses, it is just part of the programme of study in Nigerian Universities.

The population of Nigeria is composed of many ethnic groups. That means a great diversity in music styles, rhythms, tone systems, etcetera. What is your position in this musical landscape?

Nigeria’s musical landscape is very rich and diverse. The country can boast of wonderful galaxy of musical genres and types from the various ethnic groups and sub-cultures. It would be great to experience it. I draw my musical strength from the creative variety of traditional music in Nigeria for my art music compositions and research studies. I must say I am blessed to be part of the rich musical culture.  

Can you tell something in general about the most typical characteristics in Nigerian music?

It would be necessary to point out that music Nigeria can be distinguished as traditional, popular and art. The three genres are established in the Nigerian context and can be performed at anytime. I believe by Nigerian music you mean traditional. So, I would take that alone. Traditional music in Nigeria is an integeral part of social life of the people. They are composed to accommodate the audience as active participant in the shaping of the outcome of the music in performance. As such the composers ensure that the music is such that would offer the listener some opportunity for direct involvement in the form of dance, gestural responses and other personalized outward show of acceptance, satisfaction or praise. Quite often the structure of a piece of music allows the listener some responsorial opportunity that makes for integration between music makers and the audience. Compositions adopt open form that allow the audiences give them contextual forms in performance settings. Different social contexts therefore, determine the nature and forms of music presented. In this way the music is enriched by different forms of ululations, vocalizations, vowelizations, body rhythms, hand claps, stamping, dance steps, human noise, shouts of acclamation and affirmation, and general movements at various degrees of intensity. Compositional elements such as harmony, melodic structures, rhythmic materials, socio-contextual expressions and interpretations deriving from the cultural context of the listeners combine to give the music immediate acceptance. In general though, traditional music in Nigeria feature highly developed rhythmic materials that could be quite complex sometimes. Harmony (not in the western sense) and tonality are also prominent in Nigerian traditional music.

Stuyding the score of your lovely piece Oga for piano I see some characteristics. Your composition is a Western classical model using the system of the 12 tones (the piano), in a way repetitive, using a rhythm in the left hand (m. 3) that is strange to me. I also think this composition has to be performed in a style called ‘joy de vivre’. Can you explain how you composed this work, your pre-composition? What is African origin, what is European origin? What about your other works?

Oga for piano is a composition that captures the imagery of a rhythmic game by girls also called oga. It is one of my piano pieces for beginners in what I call drummisitic piano works. Any listener that knows the game would immediately feel it from the piano work. I tried to capture the rhythmic sequences and contextual expressions of the game on piano. The game is for two girls engaged in hot clapping and stamping ensuring their legs do not match. It is a highly developed rhythmic game and has been referred to as ‘rhythmic quiz’ by Meki Nzewi. I transferred the roles of the girls to the two hands on the piano. That is why at some points one hand is repeating a pattern while the other develops other patterns. Their points of rest are also captured in the structure of the little piece. As you can see a lot went into the piano piece. It is not just a collection of sound for piano. There is an extra musical background that inspired and shaped it. That little piece has been a great success in Nigeria and in Europe where it has been performed and is now being published by Oxford University Press in an Anthology of piano works by African and Africa Diaspora composers. I have so many other works that contribute to my research-composition style of composition for different media.

Can you tell a few words about education and schooling in Western contemporary music at Nigerian and South African conservatories/universities?

Western music education is, no doubt, very strong in South Africa as I had hinted before. The presence of White settlers have influenced this. There is direct contact and exposure to western art music through performances, lecturers that have western music culture and through constant contact with the west. It is very easy to attract a western performer to South Africa than it is anywhere in Africa. The presence of white lecturers encourage and motivate such international performers to travel to South Africa, convinced they would be safe. The resources are also there unlike in some other places. Many white students that are culture owners and bearers of western music are also in the place, advancing western music education. These have greatly encouraged and promoted western music studies. In the Nigerian context, on the other hand, little or no resources are available for meaningful studies in western music education. Most of the lecturers lack advanced technical skills and expertise needed for the job. Some of the students encounter serious western music education at the tertiary level without relevant background. As such, they get scared. For most of them western music education is constant struggle for solution. I would say western contemporary music education in south African is stronger than it is in Nigeria. But, this is quite understandable.       

What is your opinion about the development of Western music after the 2nd World War until now?

Music in this period has become more nationalistic, more ambitious and the techniques and styles more personal. This period has also featured more experimental works, electronic and computer related works than ever. This is a period when no one can say s/he is sure of the direction of musical arts the next moment as there is no unified method as in the baroque, classical and romantic periods. It has continued to be an age of individualism in compositional styles. I also feel that this is a period of great dynamism in composition. It is a period when composers achieved the long term desire to liberate music from stifling rules and conventions, making it possible for the art to grow healthily. Music to my mind, has developed more in this age than in the previous periods when one style was recycled till it snapped.

What is your view on Western music at present, the aesthetic aspect, the personal approach, the use of twelve tones, a necessity of a new tone system, f.i. an ethnomusicological tone system? Is there a crisis? Is there a future?

The use of the word crisis points to a state of confusion. I do not believe there is crisis in Western art music at present. What I see is blooming of peoples creative styles which is very important in the complex contemporary global situation and needs. Proliferation of styles and systems of composition is welcome to cater for divers needs of musical consumers. As in every other product, I believe music is responding to the needs of the consumers. The technique of achieving this is what has been affected in the form of scale structures, tonal systems, extra musical contents etc. The aspiration is still the same – to satisfy music consumers. It would have been a serious disaster to constrain all music consumers to mono-brand of music. Stereotyping scale system would be meaningless. The future of western music and those of other cultures of the world is creativity in diversity to cater for divers aesthetic needs of music consumers. I think we should leave it at that. When the situation warrants it, new scales and styles would emerge.

What do the terms 'new' and 'experimental' mean to you in connection to contemporary music?

These are attempts by composers to explore non-conventional styles, techniques and media of composition. These are, very often, applied to electronic and computer music in modern times. Composers are always reaching out to the unknown or unheard. So, they make serious attempts to find ways of achieving these by exploring new sound sources, scale types, textural contents, sound choices/combinations etc. The degree in recent times have been quite high. Such attempts become experimental when the techniques are being tried out or not yet fully developed. The result of such works may also be called ‘new’. But, in actual fact, all works are new to those not familiar with the styles/technique.

What are your ambitions in future?

I have always wanted to have my music accepted and appreciated in different cultural and geographical locations. This means I would like to compose more works and have them performed. I also need to have opportunity to discuss my works in conferences and symposia to enable other composers know what goes into the composition of my works such as the little piece Oga. I need exposure for my works.

What would you like to tell composers of contemporary music, or the music world in general?

I appreciate their sincere efforts to contribute to the development of the art. I would like the rich and well-known composers in Europe and America to make some contributions to the development of composition in Africa. Their sacrifice would be significant in this direction. They need to motivate and encourage composers in Africa who are struggling with very difficult conditions to contribute to global music art. They need to show some interest in what is going on in Africa and support their colleagues. They could also collaborate with composers in Africa in composition projects. They may be shocked at the result of such collaborations. Institutions can fund African compositional projects or performances. I just need to say Africa is making serious efforts. Recognise the efforts.  

More info e-mail: 21020655(AT)nwu.co.za; uconyeji(at)yahoo.com; uconyeji(at)unn-edu.net.  
Interview Heerlen - Abuja by Frans Waltmans    back


TOMAS PALKA (CZ)

....the idea of flowing water, which symbolizes for me eternal circulation. I try to get near to the sound, to get inside the structure of sound and play with its colour by slow changing....

Tomas, you are a promising young Czech composer. You are co-founder of Konvergence – Young Composers' Association Prague. Can you describe your position in Czech and European musical landscape?

It is just five years, we have established our association. Our first idea was to perform pieces not really known in our country. It is first of all through the communistic system in our country during 50th and 70th years. This period has completely destroyed artistic activities searching new systems, new sounds. The main stream, controlled by government, was more or less traditional in the way of thinking about musical ideas, harmony, melodic lines… Experiments were not allowed. Music and especially the new music had lost its listeners. The continuity was stopped. Today, 18 years after the revolution in 1989, we still fight against this discontinuity and try to regenerate musical platform for performing of new art directions. We organize and offer concerts with programs which are quite common in Germany, France, Britain or The Netherlands, simply in the west of Europe. It is really hard work to persuade public in our country, that art has also different lines more than traditional. In Europe measuring we start to collaborate with not only composers but also ensembles – in the nearest future we manage collaboration with ensemble Klangforum in Wien.

What is your newest composition and what is your aesthetical point in this composition?

My newest composition is written for electro acoustics, piano and vibraphone and crotales. I have worked on this composition on courses for composers in August in Semmering (AT). I wanted to join two ideas: first – very subtle poem of Zdenek Volf /Czech poet/ named Submersion (The weir creates your hair, even your voice, my river of death, not to drown, please, to drink). His gentle poems allows me to stay in merits of contents and in reduce musical elements; second – the idea of flowing water, which symbolizes for me eternal circulation. I try to get near to the sound, to get inside the structure of sound and play with its colour by slow changing.

Your music is impressive and poetic, with much expression and emotion. What do the words 'feelings' and 'emotion' mean to you?

I use very often poems of different poets (mostly Czech) like inspiration for music as a motto or a real text used in composition in vocal line. “Emotion” means for me to get to the listener most possible musical elements for starting him to get or to live in the emotion, in the world of poems’ sense in my way of view… “Feeling” I would understand like more objective – trying to get to common level of received experience.

The works I have listened to, have an individualistic touch, good balanced with original instrumentation. What does the word 'individualism' mean to you in relationship to your profession as a composer?

It is really hard to answer this question. “Individualism”, I think, in our age, is very slowly getting to be replaced by collectivism. It’s a question, how to observe individualism today. It’s seen in positive but also very negative view (like something what wants to be different or better than…). I try to find in every composition, maybe in general, in all my work (not only in artificial field) the way of communication. The individualism doesn’t symbolize any effort to be different, but to find the best way for content – for the message saved in the piece. Final individualism creates collective (less or more) connection to listener(s).

You are also composing electronic music, f.i. “In Your Mind”, and compositions acoustic sounds mixed with electronic sounds. About the combination composing acoustic and electronic music, there are musicians who
say composing acoustic or electronic music are two totally different things. They say composing electronic music is like 'sculpting sounds'. Others compare electronic/acoustic sounds like cold/warm sounds, which can give a colourful and fascinating sound mix, and there are musicians who compare electronic music like an etude from the laboratory. What is your vision about this aspect?

We live in sound. The sound encompasses us all our life – it is the same like view. Even deaf people can “hear” or blind people can “see”. All depends on our point of view. We can listen to our inner voice or watch our inner images, if we are ready for it. I think that every work with sound doesn’t matter if acoustic or electronic is a process of “sculpting sounds”. The only difference is, that in electronic world I work directly with the sound, in traditional way of composing I work through my idea of sound and I pass it later on to the performers, interprets. But in both ways is one point very important. You have to know what you want to say. If not then electronic music as well as any acoustic music stay closed in the composer’s laboratory as his etude.

Is there according to you a different aesthetical approach concerning feelings and emotion when you are writing (or listening to) acoustic music or electronic music?

Yes, it is different in feeling or emotion. I can recognize what is what. And it makes me considering more on it. There are also compositions working with both elements together. It is more interesting for me – the comparing of acoustic sounds with electronics or changing one sound by the other (for example Kaija Saariaho, or other composers of Ircam). Very impressive are also acoustic compositions looking for electronic sounds (by imitating of them). In aesthetical approach is it other way – it depends on the used material and how is it used.

String Quartet 2, Subpainting, With you and Petit Prince. Good balanced works, original instrumentation and good tension during the whole work. Can you give some explanation about the musical structure in these works and about your aesthetical ideas?

Musical structures always dependent on aesthetical ideas. I could describe this on easy example. The idea is like a top of a pyramid. I can choose various ways to get to the top but every way has some specific difficulties, barriers. If you were a good pupil, you know lots of artifices for repressiveness of such barriers. However, you yourself can get further only if you find (for yourself) some way “new”.
20th century has plenty musical structures, also music history, music of various nations, ethnic music… I see it all like a big planet of music, of musical structures. And I try to get something new to this, to get another connectivity, to create new space of sound, of musical structure and finally of aesthetical ideas, too.

What is your opinion about the development of Western music after the 2nd World War until now?

In my point of view is this period most explosive in the sense of plurality. We are still not enough far to be able to reflect all the period seriously. But I really like to appear every day something new in this period, something, what is different and I didn’t know about. It is an infinite “puzzle” and it is very fascinating to arrange slowly a mosaic of musical languages.

What 20th century composers are your favourites, and why?

The list of them would be very long, but perhaps some of them: Morton Feldman – was the first, whose music I had loved very much. Morton’s thinking about time extension got me by listening of his music to different level of thinking, different level of living. Kaija Saariaho – so colourful music! colours by listening are more “coloured” I have ever seen by eyes… Györg Ligeti – tension of folk melodic structures inside his music, experiments with organ or orchestra, Olivier Messiaen – nature in sound, beautiful harmonies – like harmonies of universe, Witold Lutoslawski, Luciano Berio, Giacinto Scelsi, Miloslav Kabelac…

What is your view on Western music at present, the aesthetical aspect, the personal approach, the use of twelve tones, a necessity of a new tone system? Is there a crisis? Is there a future? Has individualism a future? Influence of informatics on music?

Everything is going through its own way. And it is working. No limits, it is a freedom for composers but also for listeners. It is up to us to find our own borders for not to be blurred in everything and nothing. Similar limits (and maybe even more intricately than a creator) has to find a receiver. If not, he can easily get lost in plurality. Not to understand musical language. There is no crisis. Sense of crisis depends only on our volition to remain in previous. But everything is changing. Sometime slowly, sometime very quickly. We are not ready for quick change. It makes us nervous, unsure. It is not a reason to hurry somewhere but also not to stay on one place. The only important thing is to find sense of what I am doing and why…

What do the terms 'new' and 'experimental' mean to you in connection to contemporary music?

If we are really looking for something new, we have to experiment. Without experiments we would stay in caves and without clothes. But this point of view has also its opposite: if we experiment a lot, we can loose orientation in such flood of “new” and can be paralyzed by misunderstanding of huge space of experimental content.

What are your ambitions for the future?

I would be happy, if I find time for creation. I am searching this by connections to people, connection to myself, connection to universe, to God…
Who is it “me” and who is it “you”. It is a mystery. And it is a mystery in music…

What would you like to tell composers of contemporary music, or the music world in general, the audience, organizers of festivals or educational institutes?

Don’t fear to create, don’t fear to organize, don’t fear to educate, don’t fear to listen to. If you are doing it honestly, frankly, it has a sense…

Thank you Tomas for this interview.

See also Presentation Tomas Palka.

www.wisiart.com

Interview Heerlen - Prague by Frans Waltmans    back


JAKHONGIR SHUKUROV (UZ)

....Actually, every music must be beautiful and interesting. That has nothing to do with contemporary music, classical or so on....

Jakhongir, you are a young composer working and living in Uzbekistan. How is music life in Uzbekistan? What is your newest composition?

In Uzbekistan musicians are trying to do something as everywhere. For example, jazz concerts, rap concert, pop music, contemporary music, but I must say a lot of classical and pop music. We had the only contemporary music festival “Ilkhom XX” in Tashkent. Every year in April a lot of foreign ensembles were visiting Tashkent. And every year the duration of festival was 10 days. But after 10 years (last year) unfortunately this festival stopped.
And now, Omnibus ensemble (unfortunately the only ensemble which plays classical and contemporary music) has its contemporary music festival Black Box in Tashkent. (About Omnibus you can read on the website: www.ilkhom.com)

In the past you took part in international workshops. Is that important to you and a necessity to young Uzbek composers?

Yes of course. It’s very important not only for me, it’s important also for all young composers. Because, each professional workshop is laboratory for young composers. And each young composer needs it.

Are there different streams among the community of Uzbek composers or is there a homogeneity in all the compositions?

We have a few interesting composers in Uzbekistan who write serious (contemporary) music. Leader of the music in Uzbekistan is pop music.

Is there a regular flow of information in Uzbekistan about Western contemporary music and its composers, like there is "new complexity", Lachenmann, Carter or Boulez (Ircam Paris)?

As I said, now there is the only contemporary music festival “Black box” in Uzbekistan where we can meet on the stage with compositions of Western composers. Another time we can listen to them on the tape only.

What compositions and ensembles did you meet?

Over the recent years not only in Uzbekistan, but also worldwide a stereotypical opinion was formed about serious academic music being accessible only to a small group of “experts”. Different ensembles and orchestras all over the globe actively pursue a quest for a new concept of academic concert. The Omnibus ensemble is an active participant of this process, and its most concert programmes integrate music with other art forms, such as painting, video art, dancing, theatre and poetry. The unusual, creative and versatile character of these programmes made us raise the question about combining them into a festival of music and visual arts.
In February 2006 the Omnibus ensemble presented its first Black Box programme, where three films by three young directors from Tashkent (N.Leonov, R. Esanov and B. Nazarmukhammedov) were premiered. The soundtracks for all these films were composed by Peter Adriaansz (Holland).
In February 2007 the Omnibus ensemble presented a few new programmes for the Black Box festival. On this festival Omnibus ensemble only plays. We invited composers Peter Adriaansz and Richard Rijnvos with their pieces.

I have listened to your composition "Breathing" and studied the score. It is a wonderful piece with elements of Uzbek music and Western contemporary music. What is your position in the compositional landscape?

I’m very interested in Western composition technique. And I think composers must know about different techniques. Maybe this position helps composers to find their style. And I’m trying to work over music elements from the East with the help of Western technique.

What is your opinion about the development of Western music after the 2nd World War until now?

It’s a difficult and interesting question. After 2nd World War until now there was an enormous development in music. And I must say that I don’t know all of it. But when you listen to them you understand that it’s important and very interesting. And we have a lot of interesting composers in the world whose technique we can use, like Uzbek composers Felix and Dmitry Yanovsky, S. Varelas and more young composers. My personal favorites are George Crumb, Pierre Boulez, from Uzbekistan Dmitry Yanov-Yanovsky.  

What is your view on Western music at present, the esthetic aspect, the use of twelve tones? Is there a crisis? Is there a future?

I think it’s interesting if composers use it in a right way. But it’s interesting to them who can find other ideas with the help of twelve tones. For example Pierre Boulez’ piece “Structures” for two piano. Boulez with the help of twelve tones did his pitches, think ideas with his 12 different dynamics, 12 different ways of play, 12 different rhythms and so on. And who can say that it is bad his piece? I think it’s very interesting.

What do the terms 'new' and 'experimental' mean to you in connection to contemporary music?

Actually, every music must be beautiful and interesting. That has nothing to do with contemporary music, classical or so on. But of course, American composers George Crumb said that “each composers must present in music something quite new”. And something new must be very beautiful. If you remember, for example among his works “Black Angel” when musicians from Kronos String Quartet play on their instruments and play on the glasses and gongs with the bow. Or in the ghost opera of China’s composers Tan Dun when famous pipa player Wu Man plays on pipa and sings and plays on the cong with bow and puts cong in the waters it is really news sound, because it is beautiful, and not simple or if we remember his concert piece for percussion with orchestra, we understand that musicians can play on the water and keep control it...
They are really experimental, but they also present beautiful sounds. I can say that they are doing interesting things. 

What countries or parts of the world seem interesting to you in connection to contemporary music and why?

The countries with a lot of festivals of contemporary music. Because places with a lot of culture events are interesting more than places without cultural events.

What are your musical ambitions in future?

To have more concerts in Uzbekistan, in West Europe, America as a composer and as a conductor.

What would you like to tell composers of contemporary music, or the music world in general?

My answer is: Study scores as much as possible, and listen, listen, listen to the music.

Thank you Jakhongir!

You are welcome!

E-mail: jshukurov(at)mail.ru

Interview Heerlen - Tashkent Frans Waltmans    back


MIRJAN TALLY (EE)

Electronic world is like “cold” light, what can be a more or less lifeless. My main idea is to bring together both electronic and acoustic possibilities. Acoustic sounds bring in some warmness.

Mirjam, you are a promising young composer from Estonia, living and working as a freelance composer in Visby (SE). Can you describe your position in the musical landscape? 

Youngness gives you excuse or reason to experiment, composing process is like musical laboratory to test your ideas and musical skills. Feels good to be “on the way” in your creation, so, wandering person both in life and in art.

What is your newest composition and what is your aesthetical point in this composition?

I continue work with combining acoustic and electronic instruments, what always has been an important part in my aesthetics. Other thing, what has been important to me for long time, is to combine composition with improvisational elements (with different proportions of improvisation, it can be more or less limited, also only free note figures, etc). In recent times I try to push improvisational elements more to limited borders, to create “controlled freedom”.

Your composition Swinburne (2000) based on a poem by Hasso Krull is poetic, expressive and emotional. What do the words ‘feelings’ and ‘emotion’ mean to you? 

A lot! But it’s important to find balance between emotion and clearly structured handwork. Sometimes one part weights more than the other. Little unbalance can also be exciting... Best if all is not predictable, otherwise it’s not art anymore. It doesn’t mean to throw out technical skills and only lie on emotions. Technical skills give you this freedom to express yourself.

Swinburne has a personal individualistic touch, acoustic and electronic music, a kind of free jazz mixed with collage-like Bach elements. What does the word ‘individualism’ mean to you in relationship to your profession as a composer?

Composers work means loneliness. You have to make most of hard decisions alone. Maybe that is the reason, why I’m searching projects, where you can find more contacts with others - t. ex writing music for film. There are not only your own ideas. You have to absorb and reflect the ideas, what picture brings, too. And mix them with your own personality and style. I think, the best ideas are born in collaborations, in discussions and dialogues, not in isolated loneliness. But you need the distance sometimes, to concentrate on the most important things. Distance is good for hard work, and that can an artist find here on the island of Gotland, and local flora and fauna only supports your attempts.

Working with electronic means is important to you. There are musicians who say composing acoustic or electronic music are two totally different things. They say composing electronic music is like ‘sculpting sounds’. What is your vision about this aspect?

Electronic world is like “cold” light, what can be a more or less lifeless. My main idea is to bring together both electronic and acoustic possibilities. Acoustic sounds bring in some warmness.

Is there according to you a different aesthetical approach concerning feelings and emotion when you are writing (or listening to) acoustic music or electronic music? 

Yes, these two worlds are opposite to each other - electronic “cold” and liveness colours and acoustic world, what brings “warm” colours and liveliness. Technically, for me, it’s much easier to work with electronic sounds. You hear the final result directly and it’s easy to stay on abstract level. You need less writing-skills to get good results. In acoustic music it takes lots of time to learn yourself to express your ideas in abstract or philosophical level.

Swinburne is a beautiful composition, contemporary, and one can also hear it in the European music tradition. What are your ideas about musical structures for instance in this work or in recent works?   

Always, if I’m working with text, has the text main focus and musical structure develops according to this.

What is your opinion about the development of Western music after the 2nd World War until now? 

Stilistic pluralism, hard to follow or understand really the main picture, the wholeness. Seems that the whole art-world consists of small kaleidoscopic details, with some more or less isolated parts. Individualism and independence leads to isolation sometimes.

What 20th century composers are your favourites, and why? 

I listen to all kinds of music from classical to pop, so maybe easier is to answer instead, which style is my favourite - jazz. In jazz you still feel power and freedom, what tends to disappear from contemporary music. Sometimes contemporary music feels “pale”, colourless, over-thought, weak. To express emotions is sometimes forbidden.
Just now I like listen to silence. Or sea, wind, storm sounds - what can also sound as music. Emptiness gives you the possibility to load yourself again and find freshness for your creation.
Generally, working and experimenting with electronics brings fresh winds also to my written music.

What is your view on Western music at present, the aesthetical aspect, the personal approach, the use of twelve tones, the use of electronics? Is there a crisis? Is there a future? Has individualism a future?

I don’t believe that individualism gives any positive results. Our society seems to develop towards individualistic/egoistic tendencies, but the same time world is going to be smaller and smaller to human civilization, so I believe, collaboration is our key to future. Western culture is the culture of wasting, it has to change dramatically or die. Personally, maybe music is for me like a secret oasis, like the spring with clear water. Maybe the place, where to escape from reality, search the “absolute” beauty what doesn’t exist? Soon we don’t have anything clean and wild surrounding us.

What do the terms 'new' and 'experimental' mean to you in connection to contemporary music?

To have searching mind and will to develop and experiment, even if you suddenly find yourself in sound-jungle and have to cut yourself the way out of there.

What are your ambitions for the future? 

The most important question to me as a composer is never stop developing, but it’s quite hard to break out from your own shadow, take some new brave steps both in life and in music. And to be open-minded. Your own skills create you basis, but important is never stop to learn yourself something new, a composer can’t work like a copy-machine or composing factory - repeating same patterns again and again.

What would you like to tell composers of contemporary music, or the music world in general, the audience, organizers of festivals or educational institutes? 

Oh... Maybe to be so open-minded as possible.

Thank you Mirjam for this interview.

See also Presentation Mirjam Tally.

www.mirjamtally.com.

Interview Heerlen - Visby by Frans Waltmans    back  


MERLIJN TWAALFHOVEN (NL)

....Componisten claimen hun stukje en gaan voorbij aan de communicatieve kracht van muziek, het verbindende, het grensoverschrijdende....

"1 Gram of Time" is gecomponeerd in opdracht van het Amstel Saxophone Quartet , een klein meesterwerk. Het is zonder twijfel repetitieve muziek, dus in principe niets nieuws onder de zon, maar het bijzondere aan het werk is wel dat je in deze overbekende stijl persoonlijke, originele accenten weet te zetten. Waar sta je eigenlijk in componistenland?

Ik beweeg me vrij door componistenland zonder bij een groep te willen horen of tegen een stijl te hoop te lopen. Dat wil niet zeggen dat ik niet met vernieuwing bezig ben, integendeel. Ik vind de muziekwereld stijf en saai. Muziek is te vaak opgesloten in “stukjes”. Componisten claimen hun stukje en gaan voorbij aan de communicatieve kracht van muziek, het verbindende, het grensoverschrijdende. Door deze houding bevind ik me op meerdere plekken tegelijk in het landschap van de hedendaagse muziek. Ik maak werk voor eigenwijze plekken en situaties, met ongewone deelnemers en een actieve rol voor het publiek, maar schrijf ook orkestwerken en soms kamermuziek. Bij mijn composities zoek ik grenzen tussen orde en chaos, tussen muziek en geluid en tussen welluidend en ongewoon op. Het balanceren op die grenzen vind ik het spannendste. De muziek kan dan alle kanten op, als een muntje die op z’n kant staat...
Overigens bestaat het landschap waarin ik me bevind niet uit muziek alleen, en gebruik ik alle middelen die effectief zijn in het beroeren, verbazen en verrassen van mensen.

Je spreekt van een stijve en saaie muziekwereld, waarin muziek te vaak opgesloten is in "stukjes", en dat componisten hun stukje claimen. Kun je dat wat nader omschrijven?

Je hebt bijvoorbeeld componisten die alleen voor blaasmuziek schrijven, of voor experimentele elektronica, filmmuziek enzovoort. Ik laat het genre bepalen door de omgeving en de deelnemers, net als de toon van praten verandert als je een jong kind aanspreekt, een menigte boze havenarbeiders of een oude vriend. Zo componeer ik soms heel melodieuze, maar ook soms abstracte muziek, afhankelijk of het verhaal dat ik wil communiceren dat nodig heeft of niet.

Communiceren door middel van muziek, mensen tot elkaar brengen, is voor jou een belangrijke doelstelling. Denk je dat dat teveel ontbreekt in het hedendaagse repertoire? Het probleem van communiceren met elkaar tegenover de eis van individualiteit?

Individualiteit is een heel relatief begrip. Ik denk dat de mens altijd deel is van een sociale omgeving met duidelijke codes die zijn handeling bepalen. Ik wil die codes graag leren kennen en beheersen en zo op uiteenlopende plekken iets kunnen maken dat sterk communiceert. Veel professionals specialiseren zich in één soort code, ze communiceren wel maar alleen voor een beperkte doelgroep.

Hoe kijk je aan tegen de ontwikkeling van de Westerse muziek vanaf de Tweede Wereldoorlog?

Er zijn veel componisten geweest die werkten vanuit een antihouding. Dat was ook nodig, er viel enorm veel establishment af te breken in de jaren 60 en 70. De generaties daarna ontworstelen zich maar met moeite aan de agressieve en strijdvaardige toon van die jaren. Stijlen reageren vaak op elkaar en je muziek wordt beoordeeld aan de hand van muziek van je collega’s, heet incestueus.

In welke zin en door wie vind je dat muziek beoordeeld wordt aan de hand van muziek van je collega's? Bedoel je met incestueus dat een componist moet los komen van de reeds voorgebaande muzikale paden, in alle vrijheid componeren los van conventies?

Ik heb vaak van mijn leraren en collega’s gehoord dat een bepaald idee al eens gebruikt was, bijvoorbeeld door John Cage of andere componisten uit DaDa of jaren 60. Maar aangezien die experimenten helemaal niet bekend zijn bij een breder publiek, is het voor mij helemaal geen bezwaar dingen in een andere tijd en ander framework nog eens te proberen.
Ik bedoel dus dat je wel de geschiedenis moet kennen, maar je er niet door moet laten beperken. Je collega’s zijn een bron van inspiratie maar het publiek heeft een heel ander referentiekader. Het referentiekader van professionals bepaalt helaas te vaak wat er goed is en wat er achterhaald of niet relevant is.

Wat kun je zeggen over de Westerse muziek op de dag van vandaag, het esthetisch aspect, de persoonlijke benadering, het gebruik van de twaalf tonen, de noodzaak van een nieuw toonsysteem? Is er een crisis, is er een toekomst?

Nog steeds geldt het als “cool” en recht door zee om radicaal en “modern” te zijn. Daardoor zijn veel componisten vervreemd van hun eigenlijke vak: communiceren met mensen, mensen betoveren, meevoeren en op eigenwijze manier in verwarring brengen. Hopelijk kunnen steeds meer mensen de moed opbrengen om het componistengekibbel te verlaten en in vrijheid je weg te kiezen en contact te maken met de wereld van de 21ste eeuw.

In dit antwoord intrigeert mij de naam componistengekibbel het meest. Is er sprake van een geheime, onderlinge strijd of iets dergelijks?

Het is jargon. Er bestaan eigenlijk geen amateur componisten. Nieuwe muziek is niet iets dat iedereen maakt en daardoor is de beroepsgroep best gesloten en is er een grote drempel om erbij te horen. Ik probeer hedendaagse muziek te verbinden met alle andere muziek en andere kunstvormen die ik mooi vind. Het esthetische debat van veel hedendaagse componisten is voor mij niet interessant omdat het niet gaat om een totaalbeleving maar zich vaak toespitst op een soort laboratoriumsituatie.  

Wat betekenen de begrippen "nieuw" en "experimenteel" voor jou?

Het zijn labeltjes die aanduiden wat voor stijl je kunt verwachten, namelijk bijna altijd in zichzelf gekeerde, atonale rotzooi. Echt experimenteel en nieuw is als je niet weet wat je kunt verwachten, maar dat moet je dus nooit onder de vlag van een begrip als “experimenteel” plaatsen.

Atonale rotzooi. Ook hier toch graag enige uitleg. Ik persoonlijk krijg wel eens het idee, dat vooral composities van West-Europese bodem vaak ontspruiten aan een intellectuele gedachte, waarbij vorm geven aan de intellectuele gedachte belangrijker is dan het communiceren, of anders gezegd het filosofisch gehalte (plus het verhaal er omheen) krijgt meer belang dan het muzikale. Hoe sta je tegenover deze opvatting?

Het is heel makkelijk om een mooi intellectueel idee te hebben en er een muziekstuk bij te maken. Filosofie is prima, ik denk veel na over wat ik wil en doe, en heb daar theorieën over. Ik probeer die filosofie uit te dragen met mijn muziek, maar niet in de toelichting bij het stuk op te schrijven en er heel diepzinnig over te praten. De muziek moet het idee communiceren, niet de lezing eromheen.
Met rotzooi bedoelde ik trouwens de verwachting die je krijgt van een begrip als “experimenteel”. Er is wel degelijk prachtige atonale muziek. De begrippen “nieuw” en ”experimenteel” zijn alleen niet fris meer, en dus niet bruikbaar voor werkelijk nieuwe en experimentele dingen...

Welke muzikale ambities heb je voor de toekomst?

De oren openen van een heel breed publiek voor muzikaal avontuur, en zowel musici als luisteraars een reden geven de gebaande paden te verlaten.

Heb je nog een goede raad voor hedendaagse componisten of voor de hedendaagse muziekwereld?

Dat niet je noten waarde hebben, maar wat je doet met je totale omgeving. Wat gebeurt er met de mensen die je concert bezoeken? Komen ze alleen wat halen, als simpele klanten in een winkel, of vindt er een ontmoeting plaats, ontstaat er elektriciteit of een chemische reactie?

Merlijn, dank je wel!

Graag gedaan!

Info www.twaalfhoven.net  

Interview Heerlen - Arnhem Frans Waltmans    back


NICHOLAS VINES (AU)

Nick, you are a young Australian composer working and living on Harvard University USA. Can you explain your situation?

I did a Bachelor of Music with Honours (four years) and a Master of Music (sort of two plus years; it's complicated) in the Department of Music at the University of Sydney. My time there was on the whole fantastic: I received a thorough and relatively broad musical grounding, and made many friends and professional contacts that I've kept to this day.
Unfortunately, however, there was always a chronic shortage of money and administrative support which grew worse over the period I was there. The federal government continued to cut back the education budget (unlike in the US, the vast majority of top universities in Australia are publicly funded) and the University itself, having acquired the Sydney Conservatorium some while back, saw no purpose in having an on-campus music department, despite its distinguished alumni and on-going standards of excellence. Consequently, I saw the quality of education slip as I moved from being an undergrad to a grad and teacher. I also witnessed opportunities for performances of my compositions, employment, professional development, etc. dry up at a dramatic rate. It's true most music schools and departments in Australia were suffering a similar fate, however Sydney's situation was particularly bad, and has in fact resulted in its shutdown in all but name.
In Australia, making a living outside of academia with the kind of music I write is a virtual impossibility. So at some point, I realised that I had to go overseas, not just to expand my compositional horizons (which I had always wanted to do) but merely to survive day to day while composing! My research into funding ruled out the UK and Europe; I was a little slapdash in my approach but it turned out to be accurate. In contrast, the US seemed to have several universities which either implied or claimed outright that they'd fund graduate study. After some thought, I applied for doctorates at UCLA (the film music emphasis attracted me), Cornell (they guaranteed funding outright) and Harvard (the name recognition and geographical location were strong selling points). And in the end, Harvard was the only one that accepted me, so here I am! 

In my view there are three main streams in contemporary music, American, European and Australian (+ New Zealand) contemporary music. European music is quite intellectual and when I listen to Australian contemporary music I often think to hear music inspired on the Australian landscape/nature/sea and/or a kind of American minimal music. Do you agree on this point or could I be absolutely wrong?

Yes, I agree, I think that music which pointedly casts itself as Australian is often inspired by the natural world, as that defines us more concretely than the cultures we as a nation have inherited. American minimalism seems to make an appearance as well, though I often wonder if the similarities are coincidental, reflecting more the monotony of certain kinds of Australian landscapes than any external aesthetic influence.
Of course, there is a lot of other kinds of music which could be construed as Australian. Many composers who draw inspiration from the Australian bush also look to the musics of Asia for their sonic palette. There's also a camp who align themselves with globalised pop culture, ie pop music and videos, video games and the like. Others grip onto a sort of English pastoralism which has its roots in Australia's colonial days. And of course, there are those who openly follow new and old trends in Europe and America. While I believe nature provides us with our most distinctive voice, I do think that these other subsets are distant enough from their models to be independent in a way we could call Australian. Certainly there's a strand of anti-intellectualism or anti-elitism (depending which way you look at it) running through them all, which you don't find so much in continental European music.

Many Australian composers are living in America and Europe (among others Great Britain and The Netherlands). Is this important and a necessity to young Australian composers?

As far as aesthetics are concerned, I'm not sure it's necessary for Australian composers to live overseas. There are just so many natural, cultural and historical wonders in Australia from which to draw inspiration and material that it seems a little indulgent (and a little self-hating) to focus entirely on outside influences.
Having said that, the Australian music scene has a relative dearth of professional opportunities and resources. This is a product of a combination of things: a small population, a culture that doesn't value the arts, geographical isolation from other creative circles. Some people can survive under these conditions but many find it impossible just to make a living. This is the main reason why so many Australian composers live and work in America and Europe; certainly this dominated my thinking when I made the choice to leave.
There's also another major factor to consider, however, and that's the young Australian's unshakable belief in the value of overseas experience. We are all brought up to look outwards more or less constantly, and that certainly imbues any decision to move away with a kind of unquestioned inevitability. I can imagine this is a large part of why so many Australian composers end up embracing wanderlust.

Can you tell a few words about education and schooling in contemporary music at Australian conservatories/universities?

As I mentioned earlier, there have been a lot of funding cuts to tertiary institutions in Australia over recent years, and while I haven't lived there for a while, I can't imagine contemporary music education is in a good state because of that. After all, "non-essentials", that is, the arts and the humanities, were the first to suffer under these conditions, and the hardest hit no doubt were the more peripheral, such as contemporary music.
From a pedagogical standpoint, my personal issue with Australian new music education is the pervasiveness in both the aesthetic high and middle brow of ahistoricity and anti-intellectualism. Because of this phenomenon, students graduate with few skills, little sense of aesthetic identity and absolutely no ability to apply their new-music knowledge to anything practical or scholarly. It is fortunate we have certain amazing resources, predominately the Australian Music Centre, which partially fill the vacuum that this educational trend creates. In my opinion, however, this is not enough to sustain a healthy, vibrant contemporary music culture indefinitely.

Are there differences and similarities between Australian and American music institutes?

It is striking how both American and Australian music schools seem in recent times to be run according to certain market ideals, that is, as service providers. Students come to a conservatorium or university music department to learn about music, presumably so they can become practicing musicians, composers or scholars of some kind. Unfortunately, institutions see their education as a product to be bought and consumed by the student, not as training for a lifetime of music-making. The result is a drop in standards, lack of common purpose and ironically, little professional development in line with the realities of the outside world.
Where American schools are different is that many of them have a long history of fending for themselves, drumming up their own funding from philanthropic individuals and organisations. Australian institutions are expected to do the same these days, but coming out of a culture of governmental reliance in a country with limited artistic resources and personnel means they just don't have the right tools to succeed in this way. Their American equivalents are therefore often much better equipped and provide many more opportunities for their students.

Australian schools, however, still cling to the idea of teaching being interactive, in contrast to the American approach which is often very hands-off and disinterested. I am certainly grateful to have had my early education in Australia, as I feel I developed more quickly and more fully there, thanks to a supportive, nurturing musical community, than I would have in the US.

to be continued 

Interview Heerlen - Sydney by Frans Waltmans   back


DAN VISCONTI (US)

....and electronic music has lately become so ubiquitous and
varied that I’m not sure the distinction you mention looms as large in my generation’s collective mind as it did even twenty years ago...

Dan, you are a promising young American composer. You were asked by the Kronos Quartet to write new work in the ‘Under 30 Project’. Can you describe your position in the American musical landscape? 

I’ve always been poised in a somewhat awkward musical position — most of my pieces are informed by the styles and sound-worlds of popular music, but I’ve never been very drawn to minimalism or what still persists in being referred to as “the downtown scene” here in the states. New music in the states has become so polarized (especially on the East Coast) that it becomes very difficult to express one’s position without plopping into pre-ordained pigeonholes; so although my music has a good deal in common with several movements I prefer to keep my distance as much as possible! This distance certainly brings its own difficulties, but I greatly enjoy pursuing my own musical interests and I also feel that creating one’s own niche is one of the most productive ways to contribute to the richness and diversity of the musical community at large.

What is your newest composition and what is your aesthetical point in this composition? 

My newest composition, “Ballades and Broken Rhymes”, was a commission from Chamber Music America for the Corigliano String Quartet. It’s going to be about 30 minutes, and it’s based largely on the forms and language of American popular songs from the Tin Pan Alley era. It’s a very spare piece, one that’s inspired by the clarity of expression and small, poetic forms mastered by writers such as Gershwin, Berlin, Carmichael, etc.
One of the things I find so fascinating about the Tin Pan Alley era is how much the quality of songcraft became a selling point, rather than the force of personality that has driven much of the recorded pop industry from the 60s on. These guys were advertising by literally setting up and playing all their latest hits, and most sales were of sheet music for home enjoyment. So my new piece is also a reaction to the disagreeable state popular music has gotten itself into in this country, and also an attempt to craft a large structure out of modest materials.

Listening to your music I can hear sparkling sounds, and the energy of a youthful composer, music with much expression and emotion. What do the words ‘feelings’ and ‘emotion’ mean to you? 

Well, I’m not sure they have any special meaning to me, but I so think that for me the overall emotional journey or narrative is extremely important. There are so many technical devices that can and have been used to unify a musical work, but ultimately it’s the emotional level that really has to work in order for all those other strands to do their thing. I want something to happen in a piece that leaves the listener feeling different at the end than at the beginning, and that’s probably my primary goal. I also like building a piece this way because when the emotional thread of a piece is strong, I find myself freed up to take more musical risks than if I was tied to a motive or row.

The works I have listened, also have an individualistic touch, and are in a way 100% American, a bit of jazz, of blues, of rags and so on, but above all the works are surprising, improvisational and powerful. What does the word ‘individualism’ mean to you in relationship to your profession as a composer?

I’ve never been terribly concerned with innovation for its own sake; after a lot of soul-searching I’ve found that striving for authenticity works much better for me, since what is authentic for me personally will de facto be something that hasn’t happened before, even in the slightest and least revolutionary of ways.
When I was younger I tended to be drawn to those compositions that were the most “perfect” or self-justified. I’ve grown to accept and cherish imperfections since then, however, and what now captures my attention most is those works that create a strong “flavour”: a complete, vividly-imagined world that expresses the particular rather than the generic. So it’s in this sense that I value individualism—not so much meaning novelty as meaning something home-grown.

Love Bleeds Radiant (2005) for amplified string quartet and live electronics was commissioned by the Kronos Quartet. About the combination composing acoustic and electronic music, there are musicians who say composing acoustic or electronic music are two totally different things. They say composing electronic music is like ‘sculpting sounds’. What is your vision about this aspect?

I think it really depends on why a particular composer is using electronics in the first place — I can certainly think of examples where it is, and also where it isn’t!
In Love Bleeds Radiant I specifically used the electronic elements to sound totally contrasting from their acoustic surroundings. But I’ve certainly written some acoustic works that have been conceived more along the “electronic” sound-sculpting approach, too, and one of my chief joys as a composer is using the same tool for a totally contradictory purpose — and electronic music has lately become so ubiquitous and varied that I’m not sure the distinction you mention looms as large in my generation’s collective mind as it did even twenty years ago.

Is there according to you a different aesthetical approach concerning feelings and emotion when you are writing (or listening to) acoustic music or electronic music? 

I think most people would agree that the experience of an actual acoustic performance tends to have an innate edge over electronic music, but that’s really just the tip of the iceberg. Electronic sounds can be so affecting precisely because they are alien and unfamiliar, and the range of interactions these two worlds can have with each other has proven to be a particularly fertile source for at least a generation of composers. So yes, to me they are different, but different only as one would expect two different harmonies or instrumental timbres to be — not something that creates a dichotomy, but something that inhabits the composer’s “toolbox” along with a whole sundry of resources.

Love Bleeds Radiant (2005). Can you give some explanation about the musical structure in this work?

The structure itself is very traditional, not because I specifically desired a traditional structure but because a large ternary form suited the emotional journey of statement, transformation, and return that my musical material suggested.
One of my favourite works, viewed historically, is the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto, a piece that doesn’t so much abandon traditional structures as it bends them to its own will. The linkage of each movement, the general lack of orchestral exposition, the unexpected placement of the cadenza in the development section of the first movement rather than at its conclusion — these are all choices the composer made in accordance with his larger vision for the work: it was going to flow! I think the form of a work really needs to stem from the composer’s goals for that particular work rather than act as a mould to be filled; at least, that’s one of the lessons I’ve tried to take from the music I love, and I tend to follow suit.

What is your opinion about the development of Western music after the 2nd World War until now?

In the past composers seemed relatively unified in their general stylistic assumptions, whereas their manner of working within those assumptions was by necessity extremely private in nature. Since maybe the middle of the last century to the present, I think we've witnessed something like an inversion of those precepts: for the composer today, the whole gamut of style and genre is available for inspiration or outright plundering, while the individual composer's personality as expressed in his or her peculiar way of dealing with those materials has, to me, become more dogmatic and limited.
There’s so much that could be said in response to your question, but for me the biggest shift appears to have been in the amount and availability of music of every conceivable kind. Classical concert music rose and flourished in a world without CDs and iPods—if you wanted to know a symphony, chances are you’d have to play through the four-hands version with a willing partner! I think many of the musical currents that arose after World War Two are reactions to this reality, and I think that concert music needs to discover a way to redefine itself in a world where music is no longer such a scarcity.

What are your ambitions for the future? 

I’ve just recently achieved a position where I’m very happy to be developing my writing in relative economic comfort, earning my living from a combination of commissions, audio production work, and private teaching. So my ambition is really simply to maintain this balance rather than anything else! I’m sure it might sound lackadaisical to say that my ambitions are just “more of the same”, but I’ve found that achieving a balance of satisfying pursuits contributed more to my overall well-being than any individual desire ever could.

What would you like to tell composers of contemporary music, or the music world in general, the audience, organizers of festivals or educational institutes?

In general, there are some things that one can be told, and then some things that have to be figured out for oneself. I feel that most of the social issues in the music world are so pervasive precisely because they just have to be figured out—and no amount of convincing will hasten the process. So no, I won’t say “oh, there should be more contemporary music at festivals” or some such, but rather I’d urge those of us who compose to continue striving to write music that does the convincing for us!

Thank you Dan for this interview!

www.danvisconti.com 

© 2007  Interview Heerlen - Arlington by Frans Waltmans    back


JAMES WADE (AU/NZ)

....The intention behind my music is always self expression....

You are a young Australian composer working and living in France. Can you
explain your situation?

After completing undergraduate study and some composition work in Australia, I decided to take a job teaching English in France while I completed a commission. I also spent a lot of time travelling and made a connection with the musical and cultural life of Europe.
Effectively this time period acted as a break and a period of regeneration, before I return to university to complete post graduate studies in Canada. Prior to commencing my undergraduate studies I was effectively self taught and being under my own direction again has shown me what I learnt during the period of intense study within the conservatory. Also, it has enabled me to understand how I fit into the present musical landscape.

In my view there are three main streams in contemporary music, American,
European and Australian (+ New Zealand) contemporary music. European music is quite intellectual and when I listen to Australian contemporary music I often think to hear music inspired on the Australian landscape/nature/sea and/or a kind of American minimal music. Do you agree on this point or could I be absolutely wrong?

I would agree with you on this point. As Australia has a rather limited heritage and a very diverse population, one of the ways Australians find a distinct national identity is to make a connection to one of the things which bind us indisputably: the environment. Also, being from one of the most geographically isolated places in the world gives many Australians a feeling of 'disconnectedness' to which citizens of few other countries (especially in Europe) could relate. This isolation may disconnect Australians from their original ethnicity and push them more towards a primal association with music, or with any artform, often making this connection to their environment rather than a less tangible idea.
Looking at my family heritage, I am half Australian and half New Zealand; beyond this my family is all from Britain and Ireland. However, I feel absolutely no connection to these places. Fortunately or unfortunately as you can decide, Australia and New Zealand are such young countries and have not established any truly defining cultureal heritages which one could either follow or deviate from. Thus I feel completely open in terms of musical influence and a compositional path.

Many Australian composers are living in America and Europe (among others
Great Britain and The Netherlands). Is this important and a necessity to young Australian composers?

I don't think there is a necessity to follow any particular path; every individual can find what he or she is looking for in a number of places. Europe and North America have a great influence on what is happening in Australia and the way we interpret culture, so for someone who is interested in gaining a complete understanding of the cultural landscape it is necessary to experience it firsthand. Additionally, if one has exhausted the possibilities in Australia, culturally and linguistically speaking, North America and Europe can be great places to continue searching. In other ways, travelling to Europe and North America also often acts as a rite of passage. Many Australians of note, from all disciplines, are only recognised as leaders in their field once they have had success in another country. This is something which, as far as I know, is quite unique to Australia and it is something deeply ingrained within our culture. Although Australia is a physically large country, the population is relatively small, so it is possible that many people refuse to recognise success until it has been measured on an international level.

Can you tell a few words about education and schooling in contemporary music at Australian conservatories/universities?

I think that the education in Australian conservatories/universities is excellent. The professors I have encountered during my studies have all been extremely passionate and interesting. Music is a field to which people will not commit unless they are passionate, which means those wishing to take music seriously will find the support and encouragement they need through their teachers.

Are there differences and similarities between Australian and European music institutes?

I've only briefly visited several European music institutes so I honestly couldn't say much about this.

First impression your music is poetic. Can you describe your position in this compositional landscape?

I think that may be a reasonably accurate first impression. The intention behind my music is always self expression. This may come as an expression of a concept which is not definable in any other terms, or alternatively something which is explicitly programmatically definable and also has a personal meaning. Ultimately however my music expresses something of my life and interests at the time which I'm writing it.
As you previously noted, Australian composers are often motivated to compose by the environment and this is something that I also frequently think about while I'm composing. I often draw inspiration from the environments I've encountered, in Australia and everywhere I've travelled, as the experience of nature always has a profound and inspirational effect upon me. I find also that taking inspiration from the environment can be the most direct inspiration-translation one can make, as there are frequently structures, concepts and even atmospheric sounds which need little adaptation to be incorporated into a piece of music.

What is your opinion about the development of Western music after the 2nd World War until now?

The development of music after the 2nd World War has gained an immeasurable amount through the dissemination of recordings and the explosion of information available through new media sources. I think the most significant development has been the ease with which we may now hear music from all parts of the world and many different cultures. There are seemingly no limitations from where we can draw our inspiration if we are thinking purely along musical lines. Unfortunately, this has also had a negative effect on a lot of the music we hear, as often the commercial side of music has a greater weight than the artistic value.

What is your view on Western music at present, the aesthetic aspect, the personal approach, the use of twelve tones, a necessity of a new tone system? Is there a crisis? Is there a future?

I don't believe there is any crisis from a technical or theoretical standpoint. Audiences have developed to accept music of all genres irrespective of its impetus. It seems that as styles change they are eventually accepted into a more comprehensible universal sound rather than remaining as isolated examples of a particular development.

What do the terms 'new' and 'experimental' mean to you in connection to contemporary music?

I think that 'new' music is basically anything that has been written recently and is performed under the uncertain banner of 'classical' music. Outside of the music world, and even to many within it, the term 'classical' describes all music which probably isn't all that 'new' but is considered 'art' music. (Another problematic term!)
"Experimental' music to me is something which is definitely trying to create new sounds with new ideas and possibly even using new philosophies (for better or worse at times). Eventually the new discoveries of worth are absorbed into the musical consciousness and work to broaden the limitations of what many deem acceptable. I think this could describe many of the developments which have been made during the recorded history of music.

What are your ambitions in future?

I intend to continue to expand my horizons as a composer. I can still remember the reasons why I decided to pursue composition when I first started writing. I have intuitively had the drive to create and it has been with music that I have found the most success, however I will continue to explore all forms of art which come my way.
The most logical component of my decision to become a composer arose from the fact that one may seriously pursue composition for a lifetime and still feel that the possibilities have not been exhausted. I feel I am still at the beginning of this journey and in many ways I hope that I will always feel this way. I hope that the excitement of a new musical discovery will feel as fresh in fifty years as it does today.

What would you like to tell composers of contemporary music, or the
music world in general?

I think one of the most important things to remember is to balance music with every other aspect of your life. Passion and feeling in music may only be expressed by those who experience every facet of life.

Thank you James!

E-mail: james.wade(at)hotmail.com 

Interview Heerlen - Paris by Frans Waltmans    back