The World Won't Listen

wither away

Mon, 03 Jun 2013 22:07:00 +0200

Tomorrow, June 4th, at 8 PM, wither away, the graduate concert of Yen-Ning Chiu will take place. Her works will be for solo piano, vocal octet, trio (piano, cello and flute), soprano and piano, and 4-channel fixed media.

The title is inspired by the poem, The Coming of Wisdom with Time, from William Butler Yeats, which Ms. Chiu has set to music in one of her pieces:


	Though leaves are many, the root is one;
	Through all the lying days of my youth
	I swayed my leaves and flowers in the sun;
	Now I may wither into the truth.

She has also been gracious enough to include a piece of mine in the program. Shimmer, for amplified harpsichord and video, is my first attempt to compose using both sound and image. The two mediums complement and react to one another, producing a unified form that crosses the barrier between them.

My respected colleague and fellow composer, Alexander Bauer, will perform the premier.

Alexander Ludwig Bauer

Yen-Ning Chiu

image from Shimmer

One day I will be able to play this (just kidding. I don’t...

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 17:30:41 +0100

One day I will be able to play this (just kidding. I don’t have time to practice that much).

Konzertbericht/concert report (30.1.2013)

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 00:45:24 +0100

Konzertbericht/concert report (30.1.2013)

Photos from the Soundcheck (Konzert des Studios für Elektronische Musik)

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 00:43:31 +0100

Photos from the Soundcheck (Konzert des Studios für Elektronische Musik)

Four Premieres...

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 22:09:00 +0100

…in one month! This usually does not happen. On the 20th of January, at 19:30 at the Universität Mozarteum, Sanja Branković will conduct the premieres of jardin and Hochgebirg, two short ensemble pieces, with Mozarteum students playing.

Sanja Branković

Then, on the 30th, the concert of the Mozarteum’s Electronic Studio will take place in the church St. Andrä at 19:30. Two dear friends of mine will be coming to Salzburg to play. Composer Lisa Streich will premiere Urbilder for Organ and Electronics and Carlos Peña (Harpist for the Polska Filharmonia Bałtycka) will premiere souvenir(s) for Harp and Electronics. Also consisting of works from Masayoshi Matsui, Marco Döttlinger and Michael Wasserman, it will definitely be an exciting and highly unique concert.

Lisa Streich

Carlos Roberto Peña Montoya

John Oliver: Copper...

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 13:19:00 +0100

John Oliver: Copper Flying

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004FCGC2E/ref=dm_sp_alb

I confess that I have heard very little of La Monte...

Sun, 18 Nov 2012 20:50:37 +0100

I confess that I have heard very little of La Monte Young’s work. This is worth sharing.

caseynealon: It won’t sound like music— serial or electronic....

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 14:07:00 +0100

caseynealon:

It won’t sound like music— serial or electronic. It’ll sound like what we hear when we’re not hearing music. Just hearing whatever, wherever we happen to be.

In case you didn’t guess/recognize the voice, this is a sample of John Cage talking.

"Ich bin so jung. Ich möchte jedem Klange, der mir vorüberrauscht, mich schaudernd schenken, und..."

Sun, 11 Nov 2012 13:05:00 +0100

“

Ich bin so jung. Ich möchte jedem Klange,
der mir vorüberrauscht, mich schaudernd schenken,
und willig in des Windes liebem Zwange,
wie Windendes über dem Gartengange,
will meine Sehnsucht ihre Ranken schwenken,

Und jeder Rüstung bar will ich mich brüsten,
solang ich fühle, wie die Brust sich breitet.
Denn es ist Zeit, sich reisig auszurüsten,
wenn aus der frühen Kühle dieser Küsten
der Tag mich in die Binnenlande leitet.

”

- Rainer Maria Rilke,Mir zu Feier

ewigkeit (2012)for clarinet - Annelise Clémentcello -Guilherme...

Sat, 10 Nov 2012 23:39:00 +0100

ewigkeit (2012)
for clarinet - Annelise Clément
cello -Guilherme Carvalho
trombone - Gwen Badoux
vibraphone - Benoît Maurin
& electronics

       My first completely realized piece with electronics. It was performed twice in Paris in June of this year, once at the Université Paris 8 and again at the Instituto Cervantes. This recording is incomplete, in that it was made with two microphones pointed towards the front of the hall (stereo), whereas the piece was conceived for and performed with eight loudspeakers encircling the audience, among which pure sound synthesis and live-processed instrumental sounds were distributed in gradually shifting constellations. Therefore, you do not hear on this recording everything that happened during the concert. However, the basic gesture is, I think, still present and, if you are interested in my music, this recording is worth listening to.

         This is also the first piece of mine in which I use an autonomous space-notation, wherein space on the sheet music corresponds to time (approximately) and, after starting the section together, each player plays his part independently within a certain time frame. (compare this with Lutoslawski’s autonomous rhythmic notation)

         The title is inspired by a Nietzsche-text:

“Oh wie sollte ich nicht nach der Ewigkeit brünstig sein und nach dem hochzeitlichen Ring der Ringe, - dem Ring de Wiederkunft!

Nie noch fand ich das Weib, von dem ich Kinder mochte, es sei denn dieses Weib, das ich liebe: denn ich liebe dich, oh Ewigkeit!

Denn ich liebe dich, oh Ewigkeit!”

- Also sprach Zarathustra, Dritter Teil, Die Sieben Siegel

This is why I love John Cage.Despite the audience’s...

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 01:56:00 +0100

This is why I love John Cage.

Despite the audience’s laughter and the condescension of the host, he remains completely unaffected, content, dignified and serious about what he is doing.

“Perfectly seriously, I consider music the production of sound. And since, in the piece which you will hear, I produce sound, I will call it music.”

And if you can get over the seeming gimmick of the piece, the use of household objects, - which is actually Cage’s way of showing us just ow much music there is in our everyday lives - and simply listen, it is quite a lovely piece.

Elliot Carter has composed fourteen pieces of music since...

Tue, 06 Nov 2012 02:07:00 +0100

Elliot Carter has composed fourteen pieces of music since turning 100. These include an orchestra piece, and various solo and ensemble pieces.

He died today at 103 years of age.

Night Fantasies
Shard
Luimen

titles

Fri, 02 Nov 2012 16:36:00 +0100

Work on my second string quartet is nearly complete and I was finally able to think up a good title for it.

“…that fell from the sky.”

I am happy with it. So I am thinking back to the titles of my other pieces and whether or not I like them. Here are my assessments:

“Strange Vision” meh

“Iadan Breach” so-so

“Love Everlasting” meh

“Traum” fine

“Mai: Knospen” hm…

“Illusion” fine

“Schneekreis” not crazy about it

“4 Weisen” good

“Löcher” great

“Urbilder” good

“Psalm 93” neutral (it is the title of the text used)

“Hochgebirg” not bad

“ewigkeit” not bad

“jardin” yes

So I think I have gotten better at writing music and at naming pieces, but otherwise there is no direct correlation between the quality of the the music and the titles.

How important is a title? Is it better to simply name a piece after its ensemble (String Quartet) or to be even more reserved and call it “composition no. […]” as do some painters, so as not to influence the audience’s interpretation of this abstract art? I have been thinking lately that, regardless of what one does, the audience members will each have their own images and ideas about the piece anyway, which have nothing to do with its original inspiration. Perhaps, then, it is better to influence them a little, to give them, in more concrete terms, a point of orientation for the aesthetic direction of the work, which they can, of course, just as well disregard!

What do you think? I realize that this is a moot point with popular music, since the title usually has something to do with the lyrics, which is the most decisive “orientation” anyway. But would the general public feel less distant from the works of Mahler if they had amazing titles? Is there not a reason why people say “Ode to Joy” instead of “the melody from the fourth movement of Beethoven’s ninth symphony”?

I have also been thinking of this in the context of presenting my music together with visual accompaniment… Let’s see if I get around to trying it.

———

You see, I have not forgotten about this page completely. However, since I do not think many people read it, I will not be updating it in any language other than English, unless someone specifically requests this.

Soon, I will upload a recording of “ewigkeit” which was performed in Paris this summer and making some other posts.

ciao.

"Often, Matt is glad to be blind. People are dependant on their sight for almost everything. They..."

Tue, 21 Aug 2012 06:33:26 +0200

“Often, Matt is glad to be blind. People are dependant on their sight for almost everything. They miss so much.”

- Frank Miller: Daredevil, The Man Without Fear

"I have known four really radical artists in my life—- Christian Wolff, Jerry Hunt, John Cage..."

Fri, 22 Jun 2012 13:27:08 +0200

“I have known four really radical artists in my life—- Christian Wolff, Jerry Hunt, John Cage and Mary O’Donnell. All but Cage at some time flirted with the idea that they should make their ideas more populist, should speak to the ‘man on the street’. In this desire, they all failed because their individual visions influenced their choice of material, defined their starting premises——and these visions were not populist even when they desired them to be so!”

- James Fulkerson, The Barton Workshop

One of Anna Teresa de Keersmaeker’s choreographies. The...

Tue, 12 Jun 2012 20:23:00 +0200

One of Anna Teresa de Keersmaeker’s choreographies. The music would perhaps not be so great on it’s own but complements very well the dance.

part 2

part 3

Somatica

Tue, 12 Jun 2012 20:05:12 +0200

Bethany Younge is a contemporary composer who tends much more diligently to her tumblr than I do to mine. Check out her kickstarter-page to find out about her interesting collaborative project with a sculptor.

Bethany Younge ist eine zeitgenössische Komponistin, die viel fleißiger ihren Blog aktualisiert als ich den meinen. Sieh dir ihre Kickstarter-Seite an, um mehr über ihre interessante Zusammenarbeit mir einem Bildhauer zu erfahren.

Bethany Young est une compositrice contemporaine qui entretien beaucoup diligemment son blogue que moi. Regarde sa page Kickstarter pour apprendre plus sur son projet collaboratif avec un sculpteur.

wisk:

Hi Tumblr,

We could really use your support. Please reblog this and help us raise the money so that we can take Somatica out into the community. It would mean so much to us!

We only have 7 more days left to make our goal amount. With Kickstarter, if we don’t make the goal amount, we won’t see a penny. Please help us out!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/753396319/somatica/posts

Thank You,

Bethany

How do you ever plan to make any money with this?

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 15:57:33 +0100

Why do you want to know?

"Today still, you suffer from the many, you one: today still, you have your courage completely and..."

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 00:29:00 +0100

“Today still, you suffer from the many, you one: today still, you have your courage completely and your hopes.
But one day, your loneliness will make you tired; one day, your pride will warp and your courage will grate. You will scream one day „I am alone!”
One day, you will no longer see your highness- and your baseness all too closely; your loftiness itself will make you fear like a ghost. You will scream one day „Everything is false!”
There are feelings that want to kill the lonely; if, yet, they do not succeed, well, so must they themselves perish! But are you capable of being a murderer?”

- Friedrich Nietzsche, Also sprach Zarathustra (Thus Spoke Zarathustra)

"Heute noch leidest du an den Vielen, du Einer: heute noch hast du deinen Muth ganz und deine..."

Sat, 14 Jan 2012 23:57:17 +0100

“Heute noch leidest du an den Vielen, du Einer: heute noch hast du deinen Muth ganz und deine Hoffnungen.
Aber einst wird dich die Einsamkeit müde machen, einst wird dein Stolz sich krümmen und dein Muth knirschen. Schreien wirst du einst „ich bin allein!”
Einst wirst du dein Hohes nicht mehr sehn und dein Niedriges allzunahe; dein Erhabnes selbst wird dich fürchten machen wie ein Gespenst. Schreien wirst du einst: „Alles ist falsch!”
Es giebt Gefühle, die den Einsamen tödten wollen; gelingt es ihnen nicht, nun, so müssen sie selber sterben! Aber vermagst du das, Mörder zu sein?”

- Friedrich Nietzsche, Also Sprach Zarathustra