Foward to Concert 3
|
Alexander Mihalic |
Fractals 1 |
12:00 |
France |
This composition was written whilst studying at the Conservatoire regional de Boulogne in 1989-90. Its premiere took place at the last concert of student compositions at the Conservatoire Regional de Boulogne in June 1990.
Structurally it draws on the fractal objects principle, which is about the similarity between the whole and its individual parts. This quality is reflected in the work through rhythm, melody and structure. At the basis there is a theme, but not in the traditional sense. It is an abstraction of musical categories, which function at all levels of the work. Thus, duration in the theme determines the overall structure of the work, but also divisions inside each section and length division itself, etc, up to the rhythmic and melodic phrase. Similar scheme functions occure in melodic divisions and other values. This concept enables finding the same structural elements on every level of the work, whether it is the overall structure of the process of melody and harmony.
The principle enables creation of a work that is determined only by its formal treatment. A score written in this way (one has to bear in mind, that although this version is for tape, every musical value is written down either in notes or symbols) is only one of many solutions that are arrived at by applying this formal scheme to each musical value.
|
Nigel Frayne |
Melbourne in 4 Movements |
13:25 |
Melbourne, Australia |
This stereo soundscape is a collage constructed from recordings of the natural and urban environment in and around Melbourne. The piece was compiled and edited on a Macintosh computer with the additional DSP processing applied to some of the sound sources.
Movement 1 Transportation - the movement of people by train, tram, car and foot.
Movement 2 Mechanisation - construction and maintenance of the city.
Movement 3 Recreation - the city at play, crowds, and fireworks.
Movement 4 Reflection - in the natural shared habitat.
|
Charles Kriel |
Songs for G #1 Songs for G #2 |
7:30 2:30 |
UK |
"Songs for G, written between Christmas 1996 and May 1997, is a reflective work dealing with the character of stories I was told by a friend - an artist - who found them too difficult to tell herself, within a creative work. Songs for G does not attempt representation (either narratively or sonically), but rather tries to create a psychological space for the listener to enter which might be similar to both the space I occupied while composing the work and the space inhabited by G throughout much of her life.
Song 1 , the first section, is rooted in daughterhood and the antimonous life one leads as a child of the mad. The subtitles refer to sections within 1st Song and a dialogue 'directed between child and mother'.
My eyes wet by the rising sun, he walked with his back to the west, finds its psychological source in the difficulties of creating and maintaining a mature romantic love in the wake of an embittering yet poorly questioned childhood. The work ends ambiguously, as did G and her stories.
My compositional strategies grow from earlier experiments with attempting to strip sound of any sense of melody, harmony or meter - that is, to compose from a model of pure timbre. Ultimately, all four methods of ordering music have found their way back into my practice, but recombined into a new method that satisfies both my attempts to speak an auto-didactically-led musical language, and my desire. The second strategic impetus in Songs for G comes from current experiments with escaping sonic representation and divorcing sound from its source, or at least creating a greater ambiguity in the relationship between the source of a timbre and the timbre itself.
|
Carey Nutman |
T.G.V |
11:00 |
UK |
T.G.V. is an imaginary journey, perhaps in a high speed train. There are three main sections, the sound material for the final (fast) section being developed first. I was working in the studio at Huddersfield University, trying to synthesise new sounds from basic samples of speech patterns. I ended up with several fragments of sound, which, when spliced together, looped, and played at high speed, suggested the rhythm of wheels on tracks. The first section is based on samples which were developed in my home studio. Using a four-track tape recorder, I was able to create an atmosphere which hints at an earlier time, populated by steam trains, and mechanical machines. The middle section was composed using a MIDI sequencer and sound modules - no samples. This is a slow movement, and represents the passage of time. It is also a time tunnel - some of the high speed, high tech. sounds have travelled back into the "age of steam", while certain earlier sound materials have been transported into the T.G.V age. The final collage was created from ten seperate studies, composed from June to December 1991.
|
Paul Doornbush |
Structures Luck |
7:30 |
Melbourne/Holland |
Structured Luck can be considered partly improvised and the performer is instructed to fight with the electronic part. The pace of the electronic part is a challenge for the performer, and the electronic sounds are also imposing. The electronics start with brittle and broken sounds which slowly become more developed sounds. Also, the computer played piano sounds slowly start to form and attempt to take over the piece, but destroys itself in the process. The performer must react to this and not be intimidated by the electronics or the piano, proving that real instruments and human players are at least the equal of machines.
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