Contemporary Composition Seminar Fall 2012

Contemporary Composition SeminarFall 2012 Instructor: Prof. SIGMAN Thursday 14:00-16:00 Lecture XI (LAST LECTURE!)

0.0 Important Dates • 12/13: FINAL PRESENTATIONS; Study Guide distributed • 12/20: FINAL EXAM (시험)

0.1: Assignment IV • Due 오늘!

Topics: • I. Richard Barrett: Necessity (필요) and Futility(효과없음) • II. Bernhard Lang: Difference and Repetition

I. Richard Barrett

A. Bio • (b. 1959, Swansea, Wales, UK) • Studied genetics (유전학)and microbiology before composition • Founder of 2 electronics improvisation groups: FURT (duo) and fORCH (large ensemble) • Active in the UK, Amsterdam, and Berlin

[FURT in Concert] • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5eI9g5jTNg

B. Major Works • Cycles of pieces for various soloists, ensembles, electronics, and media installations: OPENING OF THE MOUTH, , DARK MATTER, negatives, CONSTRUCTION, and Fictions • Vanity (1990-94) for orchestra • Tracts (1984-96) for piano • http://www.ump.co.uk/barrett.htm

C. Common Themes • Integration of score-based performance, improvisation, and live electronics • Performance physicality • Music and text: Samuel Beckett and Paul Celan • Music and politics • Large-scale Cycles • Unconventional/alien performance contexts • Ritual (의식)

Necessity and Futility • Music as necessary human activity • Music also as futile and absurd activity • Such a contradiction gives composition its impetus to continue, and its complexity—much like the human condition

D. delta (1990-93) • from the cycle negatives • For alto flute, trombone, anklung, sitar, 10-string guitar, and strings

E. Interference (1996-2000) • for solo contrabass clarinet (+ voice and pedal bass drum) • Clarinetist also sings (4.5 octave range!) • Text: Lucretius, De rerum naturam (On the Nature of Things) , on the destruction (파멸ㅎ 기) of the universe • New type of virtuosity • Performance as ritual; performer as shaman (샤만)

Contexts • 1. Solo • 2. DARK MATTER cycle (with ensemble and live electronic improvisation)

Interference Recordings • Solo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaBLbANg588

II. Bernhard Lang

A. Bio • (b. 1957, Linz, Austria) • Studied philosophy and German philology, as well as composition and piano • Based in Vienna

B. Other Musical Activities/Influences

1. Improvisation

2. Punk Bands

3. DJ Culture

C. Important Works • Differenz/Wiederholung (DW) series • Monadologieseries • I Hate Mozart (opera) • http://members.chello.at/bernhard.lang/

D. Loops • Main technique in Lang’s work • Unlike Minimalist pieces (by Reich, Glass, etc.), Lang’s loops are complex, noisy, and diverse • Loops at different tempi • Looped material derived from: jazz, improvisation, pop, and non-Western music sources

Here are typical Philip Glass “loops”: • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfFMdllASbM

Here are Bernhard Lang loops: • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJr8hr1EK8Q • [expressive, dynamic, complex, noisy]

Film Influence: Martin Arnold [Austrian filmmaker, b. 1959] • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzMvQtVEXok • Looped and manipulated moments in film history –examined under a “microscope”

E. Differenz/Wiederholung • Based upon philosopher Gille Deleuze’s book Différence et Répétition (1968) • Human identity in the post-modern condition

Repetition and the Machine: Industrial vs. Post-industrial Era

Repetition as: • Habit (습관적 해위) • Ritual • Addiction(중독) • Microscope • Remix Device • Machine (Robot/Non-Human) Behaviour

F. DW2 (1999) • For 2 singers (1 Western, 1 Arabic), 1 rapper, electric guitar, violin, electronics, and chamber ensemble • 7 sections • Texts: William S. Burroughs and Christian Loidl

Ex) Section I: “Dead Repetitions” • Text: William S. Burroughs on habit/routine • Material: derived from improvisation, jazz, and electronica • Difficult to perform

[ENDLECTURES] 너무 감사합니다! Thanks! Merci! Danke! Grazie! Takk fyrir! どうもありがとうございました! 謝謝! ευχαριστώ!

Contemporary Composition Seminar Fall 2012