Simon, I spotted you sitting not far away in the Drescher concert, and please do correct me if I’m wrong, but I got the impression that you’d opted to do without the complimentary headphones handed out for the Feiler – very brave!
For me, all the pieces outstayed their welcome to a greater or lesser extent, the Maierhof most of all (obviously!), but the piece I had the greatest amount of patience with was actually the Lucier. Whereas all the other works spent the first couple of minutes stating potentially interesting ideas as regards what to do with this “new” instrument”, which they then proceeded to batter the listener over the head with for the next 10 minutes, give or take, rather than develop in any discernable way, Lucier allowed his idea room to breathe (literally!), in a very Feldmanesque fashion. I agree, though, that 12 minutes was overdoing it, and I wasn’t sure whether the long pre-applause silence at the end was more indicative of rapt appreciation or drowsiness!
Chris, sorry i didn’t spot you at the Drescher gig. Yes, i didn’t need earplugs for the Feiler—nowhere near as ferocious as Karkowski!
The issue of duration—i.e. to what degree a composition validates its running time—seems to have raised its head on numerous occasions this year, and from composers i wouldn’t have expected. Is everyone losing their self-control or artistic judgement or something?
No need to apologise: it was a pleasure to be able to chat to you on Saturday, and there’ll doubtless be scope for us to bump into each other at next year’s HCMF…
Re: the question of whether a work’s content justifies its length, I guess one of the side effects of throwing out the bathwater of tonality a century ago was that the baby of development/narrative-as-a-prerequisite-for-writing-longer-pieces was dispensed with as well, and it’s interesting that this prerequisite hasn’t (yet) returned in earnest despite the clear rapprochement with tonality that’s gradually been taking place over recent decades. That said, even if ideas aren’t developed over longer spans they still need to be contrasted in order to sustain interest (something that, say, Messiaen – and, for that matter, Feldman – understood implicitly)…unless, that is, the composer is deliberately aiming for a meditative/hypnotic effect, which is presumably what Lucier was doing…
Chris L
9 years ago
“Complimentary earplugs“, even!
amw
9 years ago
Your description of Jonty Harrison’s “project” is intriguing, and makes it sound as though it is positioned within the musical universe of works such as Henri Pousseur’s Paysages planétaires and Annea Lockwood’s “sound maps” of various rivers… and possibly some of Luc Ferrari’s work given your descriptions of transparency. Would you say those are accurate comparisons, or am I misunderstanding?
I’ve always liked Harrison’s work and would love to hear this piece, but guess I’ll have to wait for a version to be released on L’empreinte digitale or whatever >.>
i don’t know Annea Lockwood’s music, but there’s something of a similarity to Paysages planétaires insofar as the use of geography is integral to both the compositional framework and its sound sources. But aurally, there’s no connection, as Pousseur’s work is very heavily processed and treated, while Harrison’s, as i wrote, feels almost entirely transparent, more the product of collage and juxtaposing elements than anything else.
[…] part of the activities captured in the field recordings. At its world première at HCMF 2015 i wrote about the “transparency of Harrison’s methods of collage and juxtaposition”, resulting in […]
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Simon, I spotted you sitting not far away in the Drescher concert, and please do correct me if I’m wrong, but I got the impression that you’d opted to do without the complimentary headphones handed out for the Feiler – very brave!
For me, all the pieces outstayed their welcome to a greater or lesser extent, the Maierhof most of all (obviously!), but the piece I had the greatest amount of patience with was actually the Lucier. Whereas all the other works spent the first couple of minutes stating potentially interesting ideas as regards what to do with this “new” instrument”, which they then proceeded to batter the listener over the head with for the next 10 minutes, give or take, rather than develop in any discernable way, Lucier allowed his idea room to breathe (literally!), in a very Feldmanesque fashion. I agree, though, that 12 minutes was overdoing it, and I wasn’t sure whether the long pre-applause silence at the end was more indicative of rapt appreciation or drowsiness!
I hope you enjoy the rest of your HCMF 2015.
Chris, sorry i didn’t spot you at the Drescher gig. Yes, i didn’t need earplugs for the Feiler—nowhere near as ferocious as Karkowski!
The issue of duration—i.e. to what degree a composition validates its running time—seems to have raised its head on numerous occasions this year, and from composers i wouldn’t have expected. Is everyone losing their self-control or artistic judgement or something?
No need to apologise: it was a pleasure to be able to chat to you on Saturday, and there’ll doubtless be scope for us to bump into each other at next year’s HCMF…
Re: the question of whether a work’s content justifies its length, I guess one of the side effects of throwing out the bathwater of tonality a century ago was that the baby of development/narrative-as-a-prerequisite-for-writing-longer-pieces was dispensed with as well, and it’s interesting that this prerequisite hasn’t (yet) returned in earnest despite the clear rapprochement with tonality that’s gradually been taking place over recent decades. That said, even if ideas aren’t developed over longer spans they still need to be contrasted in order to sustain interest (something that, say, Messiaen – and, for that matter, Feldman – understood implicitly)…unless, that is, the composer is deliberately aiming for a meditative/hypnotic effect, which is presumably what Lucier was doing…
“Complimentary earplugs“, even!
Your description of Jonty Harrison’s “project” is intriguing, and makes it sound as though it is positioned within the musical universe of works such as Henri Pousseur’s Paysages planétaires and Annea Lockwood’s “sound maps” of various rivers… and possibly some of Luc Ferrari’s work given your descriptions of transparency. Would you say those are accurate comparisons, or am I misunderstanding?
I’ve always liked Harrison’s work and would love to hear this piece, but guess I’ll have to wait for a version to be released on L’empreinte digitale or whatever >.>
i don’t know Annea Lockwood’s music, but there’s something of a similarity to Paysages planétaires insofar as the use of geography is integral to both the compositional framework and its sound sources. But aurally, there’s no connection, as Pousseur’s work is very heavily processed and treated, while Harrison’s, as i wrote, feels almost entirely transparent, more the product of collage and juxtaposing elements than anything else.
[…] part of the activities captured in the field recordings. At its world première at HCMF 2015 i wrote about the “transparency of Harrison’s methods of collage and juxtaposition”, resulting in […]