Contemporary Composition Seminar Fall 2012

1. Contemporary Composition SeminarFall 2012 Instructor: Prof. SIGMAN Thursday 14:00-16:00 Lecture II

2. 0. Assignments • Submission? • [3 favourite pieces, `1900-1950]

3. Stockhausen: Points/Groups/Moments

4. 0. Messiaen’s Influence

5. Mode de valeurs et d’intensités (1949-50) Pitch, rhythmic, dynamic, and articulation organisation: • 3 pitch modes (not series!), fixed in register and overlapping • 3 overlapping additive rhythmic series • 12 attacks • 7 dynamics (ppp-fff) • Full range of piano used • Parallel, disjunct layers (leaps)

6. I. Kreuzspiel(1951) • First post-student piece by Stockhausen • For oboe, bass clarinet, piano, and 3 percussion

7. Kreuzspiel: Pitch and Rhythmic Organisation • 1 pitch series • Multiple additive rhythmic series

8. Kreuzspiel: Form and Process • Title: literally, “cross-play” • Introduction (mm. 1- 13): statement of series in trichords; redistribution across 7 octaves • Phase I: (mm. 14-91): extreme registers-> equal distribution -> extreme registers • Phase II (mm. 92-140): middle register -> equal distribution -> middle register • Phase III (mm. 141-end): Phase I and Phase II processes, juxtaposed

9. Kreuzspiel: Sign-Posts • 1) Changes in tempo • 2) Changes in percussion (toms/tumba impulses to cymbals) = decreasing importance of durational series; noise dislocated from piano to percussion • 3) percussion attacks on each pitched in new register

10. Related Piece: Boulez, Polyphonie X (1950-51) for 18 soloists

11. Polyphonie X Parallels • Overlapping, disjunct pitch series • Controlled by independent rhythmic series • Klangfarbenmelodie • Vertical and horizontal density control

12. II. The WDR and Information Theory

13. A. Werner Meyer-Eppler (1913-1960)

14. Meyer-Eppler and Information Theory • Phonetician, physicist, acoustician • Inventor of electronic instruments • Stockhausen, König, and Eimert attended his classes • Influential articles: • 1) “Statistic and Psychological Problems of Sound” • 2) “Musical Communication as a Problem of Information Theory”

15. Information Theory Principles • 1. Noise-Tone Continuum: statistical properties of sound should be embraced, not avoided in music (e.g., via filtered noise) • 2. Information Entropy: behaviour of local events in a larger, closed system; sound-events do not exist in isolation! • 3. Markov-Chain Models: predictive, weighted models at all levels of scale

16. Markov Chain Example

17. Information Theory Applications • Voice synthesis • Electronic music • Speech perception • Digital Signal Processing (DSP) • Computer Science

18. B. Stockhausen, Elektronische Studie II (1954) • Introduction of noise/impurities to sound material • Amplitude and frequency controlled via globalenvelopes/shapes, rather than individually • = statistical approach to structuring sound • Noise-tone scale • Amplitude scale • Rhythmic density scale

19. Voice Synthesis in Studie II • source-filter model 2) study of transients (noise components) in speech 3) Speech resemblance gradient

20. Studie II Score Example

21. C. Gruppen (1955-57) • For 3 orchestras (3 conductors)

22. Meyer-Eppler Influence • Noise-tone continuum: orchestra divided into: 1) sound-groups (winds, strings, brass); 2) noise-groups (percussion); 3) transitional groups (piano, celeste, bells) • “Formants”: divisive, NOT additive rhythm • Contours/Shapes: applied to pitch/rhythmic events, and position in space • Material organised into groups/events, NOT as points!

23. 4 Types of Envelopes • 1) acceleration -> upper formants-> slow pulsation (ex) reh. 1 + 2, orch. 1) • 2) statistical, dense attack -> periodic reverberation (ex) reh. 113-115, orch. 2) • 3) swell/accumulation/crescendo -> fusion across orchestras (ex) 117-119) • 4) periodic or aperiodic iterative internal structure (like a drum-roll)

24. Extension of Serialism

25. Control Parameters • Proportions (section durations) • Position in space • Pitch –events • Rhythmic density (formants)

26. III. Kontakte: From Groups to Moments

27. A. Kontakte (1958-60) • For 4-channel electronics and (optional) piano and percussion • Percussion: point of “contact” between abstract (electronic) and familiar (instrumental) sound • Realised at Westdeutcher Rundfunk (West German Radio) Cologne

28. Experiment • Listen to these 2 sections, played in 2 different orders. Which section is longer?

29. Moment-Form • Higher-level, coherent, and unchangeable structured units • Diverse durations (from ca. 10 seconds to 2+ minutes) • Order of moments may be shifted/permuted (as for a pitch series) in a piece • Kontakte, Mikrophonie I, Carré, Momente

30. Control Parameters • Continuum: Pulse-> Rhythm-> Pitch (pulse-train synthesis • 7-octave scale • Duration scale • Structural proportion scale • Amplitude envelopes • Position in space • “it’s about ‘6’” • “it’s about pitch”

31. Equipment • Potentiometers • Band-pass filters • Reverberator • Pulse/square-wave generators • Sine-tone generators • Tape recorders (for looping and delay) • Ring modulator • Rotation table (for spatialisation)

32. Score Excerpt

33. IV. Gottfried Michael König (b. 1926)

34. A. König vs. Stockhausen • Colleagues @ WDR Köln studio in the 1950s • Compared to Stockhausen, König took a more “purist” approach to the use of electronics • Compositional process and techniques generally more important for König than musical surface • Radical and rigorous approach to analog technology • Continued to use studio several years longer than Stockhausen

35. B. Terminus I (1962) • One of 2 final pieces realised in WDR studio by König • Source material: bank of sine waves • Applies serial principles to electronics derivation chain • “family tree” structure • Order of events in piece does not reflect order of their production

36. For Next Week: • Listen to Gruppenwith the score • I will post the score and recording to: www.lxsigman.com/courses/cmsfall2012/index.htm