A set of guitars is used as external resonators for the cembalo. The sound of the cembalo is picked by a microphone and projected directly to the guitars via contact speakers. The strings of the guitars are tuned chromatically, and together they build a set of 24 resonators. Each string only reacts to ist specific pitch and together they build a sort of analog FFT analysis of the cembalo sound, projecting the sound of the cembalo in space.

I was lucky enough to be working with a wonderful harpsichord player from holland, Goska Isphording. I hope to find time to upload some of the video footage we got from the try-outs. The results were very subtle, enhancing the very minimal nuances that the player was able to produce.

( In this module the strings play with a modified bow, with magnetic tape instead of hair. The tape-head is attached to the instrument. )

It is evident: when you play your bow with your violin, the whole reference system is upside down: a down bow, which is a movement from left to right, is written in the score from up to down and in fact the tape-head is reading from right to left. The real question is: when should the tape go forward: by upbow or by downbow?. The physical intuition would say downbow: this has been the tradition for quite many years. Strong beats are downbow, upbeats are, well, up.

The notation is a bit mind-bending: instead of a body-clef (or Lachenmann clef) we need a bow-clef. It looks like this:

The first version (on the left), with the frog pointing up is the one I am using. It all makes sense when the paper is turned 90° clockwise. It is still disconcerting that a movement that requires a left to right shifting of the bow would be notated as a line going from right to left, since what is actually notated is the point of contact between the bow and the tape-head.

Also very interesting results come when using timecode (serato or ms. piggy) instead of normal audio. That way the bow becomes a controller and it is quite amazing how accurate the timecodes are (serato). But, since this piece is about “the real thing”, it was more interesting to go with the audio version and leave the timecode idea for a new piece.

“If they will ever learn to sing my music? Singers learned to sing Wagner and eventually they learned to sing Strauss. But I have a pet theory that someday In the future the human voice will be supplanted. I think that science will find a way to reproduce exactly the timbre of the human voice by mechanical methods. Then we can have actors on the stage for our operas and not have to worry because the singer with a beautiful voice is a poor musician, or vice versa.”

Arnold Schönberg, from an Interview (1948)

www.moguillansky.com/bandskizzen.html

Ein entscheidender Aspekt ist, und den habe ich bisher allen Studenten gesagt, die bei mir Kurse besucht haben, dass sie Zeit brauchen und dass sie versuchen sollen, sich um Präzision zu bemühen. Sie sollen versuchen, das, was sie wollen, auch wirklich zu machen. Das ist nämlich meistens das Hauptproblem, dass Studenten gerne etwas machen würden, aber sie machen es dann gar nicht.

Enno Poppe, aus einem Gespräch mit Stefan Fricke, Wien Modern 2008

 Das Hauptproblem, nicht nur von Studenten.

That the human voice still offers potential for innovation in contemporary music was shown at the Witten Festival by works by Eduardo Moguillansky and Michael Maierhof. The Argentine composer Moguillansky had the singers of the London ensemble EXAUDI perform with megaphones, whereby the technical device was used not only as an amplifier but also as a musical instrument.

http://www.moguillansky.com/el-pulso-de-lo-inmovil.html

… Eröffnet wird die Saison 2011/2012 mit dem „Ensemble Intercontemporain” unter der Leitung von Pierre Boulez. Auf dem Programm der neuen Spielzeit stehen zehn Uraufführungen von John Cage (2), Nikolaus Brass, Georg Friedrich Haas, Helmut Lachenmann, Eduardo Moguillansky, Younghi Pagh-Paan, Enno Poppe, Tristan Murail und Wolfgang von Schweinitz

I wonder how much you get paid for a commission when you are dead… (RE: Cage). Anyway, nice to be in good company.

via klassik-heute