Brian Ferneyhough: Collected Writings [Paperback ed.] 3718655772, 9783718655779

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BR IAN FERNEYHOUGH

Collected W ritings edited by

James Boros and R ichard Toop

C ontem porary M u sic S tudies A series o f books e d ite d b y Peter N e lso n and N ig e l O sborne, U n iv e rs ity o f E dinburgh, U K

V olum e 1 Charles K oechlin (1867-1950): H is L ife and W orks

Robert Orledge V olum e 2 Pierre Boulez — A W orld o f H arm ony

Lev Kotlyakov V olum e 3 Bruno M adem a

Raymond Feam V olum e 4 W hat's the M a tte r w ith Today's E xperim ental M usic? O rganized Sound Too R arely H eard

Leigh Landy V olum e 5 Lin g u istics and Sem iotics in M usic

Raymond Monelle V olum e 6 M usic, M y th and N ature, o r The D o lp h in s o f A rio n

Frangois-Bemard Máche V olum e 7 The Tone C lock

Peter Schat V olum e 8 Edison D enisov

Yuri Kholopov and Valeria Tsenova V olum e 9 H anns E isler — A M iscellany

Edited by David Blake V olum e 10 B rian Fem eyhough — C ollected W ritin g s

Edited by James Boros and Richard Toop Please see the back o f th is b o o k fo r o th e r title s in th e C o n te m p o ra ry M u s ic S tudies series.

B ria n Ferneyhough C ollected W ritin g s edited b y

James Boros and R ichard Toop w ith a fore w ord b y

Jonathan H arvey

Routledge Taylor & Francis Group LONDON AND NEW YORK

Copyright © 1995 OPA (Overseas Publishers Association) N . V. Published by license under the Harwood Academic Publishers im prin t, part o f The Gordon and Breach Publishing Group. A ll rights reserved. First published 1995 Second printing 1998 R eprinted 2003 By Routledge 11 N ew Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Transferred to D ig ita l P rin tin g 2003

Routledge is an im print o f the Taylor & Francis Group

No part of this book may be reproduced or u tilize d in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, in clu d in g photocopying and recording, or by any inform ation storage or retrieval system, w ith o u t perm ission in w ritin g from the publisher.

B ritish Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Femeyhough, Brian Collected W ritings. — (Contemporary Music Studies, ISSN 0891-5415; Vol. 10) I. Title II. Boros, James IH. Toop, Richard IV. Series 780 ISBN 3-7186-5577-2 (paperback)

C O N TEN TS In tro d u ctio n to the Series Forew ord E ditors' In tro d u ctio n

I

Essays

v ii ix x iii

\

Aspects o f N o tatio nal and C om positionalPractice Composer - C om puter - A ctive Form Form - Figure - Style: an Interm ediate Assessment D iv in in g Rods and L ig h tn in g C onductors II Tempo della Figura The T a ctility o f Tim e D u ratio n and R hythm as C om positional Resources Responses to a Q uestionnaire on 'C om plexity' Preface to Contemporary Composers Parallel Universes

2 14 21 29 33 42 51 66 72 76

II

85

On His Own Works

Epicycle, M issa Brevis, Time and M o tio n Study III U n ity Capsule: A n Instant D ia ry Time and M o tio n S tudy II The Tim e and M o tio n Study Cycle Second S tring Q uartet Carceri d'lnvenzione Kurze Schatten II S tring Q uartet N o. 4

86 98 107 112 117 131 139 153I

III

165

On The Works of Others

Concerning the Functional Role o f Tim bre in the E arly W orks o f A n ton W ebern

166

Contents

VI

Michael Finnissy: The Piano Music Carl Ruggles and 'Dissonant M elody7

183 197

IV

203

Interviews

Interview w ith Andrew Clements Interview w ith Joel Bons Interview w ith Paul G riffiths Interview w ith Richard Toop Carceri d'Invenzione: in Conversation w ith Richard Toop Interview w ith Philippe Albera Speaking w ith Tongues: a Correspondence-Conversation w ith Paul D rive r Shattering the Vessels of Received W isdom: in Conversation w ith James Boros Interview w ith Jean-Baptiste Barriere Interview w ith Antonio De Lisa Interview w ith James Boros A Verbal Crane Dance: Interview w ith Ross Feller Leaps and Circuits to Trail: a Conversation on the Texts and Music w ith Jeffrey Stadelman Chronological List o f Compositions Discography Sources Index

204 217 234 250 290 303 336 369 406 422 431 447 464 510 517 521 525

IN T R O D U C T IO N TO TH E SERIES The ra p id expansion and d iversification o f contem porary m usic is explored in this international series o f books fo r contem porary musicians. Leading experts and practitioners present com position today in a ll aspects - its techniques, aesthetics and technology, and its relationships w ith other disciplines and currents o f thought - as w e ll as using the series to com m unicate actual m usical materials. The series also features m onographs on significant tw entieth-century composers not extensively docum ented in the existing literature. N IG E L OSBORNE

ASPECTS OF NOTATIONAL A N D COMPOSITIONAL PRACTICE (1978 ) No discussion of one particular aspect o f com positional practice can penetrate to the heart of its subject w hile failing to accord due regard to the very specific esthetic attitudes of the artistic personality whose form ulations fo rm the objec­ tive foundation of the discourse. As w ith techniques o f m aterial m anipulation, so w ith types of notation. Since there are certainly no value-free systems (par­ ticularly those w ith pretensions to being such) one m ust necessarily begin w ith certain axioms which, w hile in no w ay intended (or expected) to be prescrip­ tive in respect of details of realization, nevertheless seem to m e sufficiently general in application as to suggest the like lih o o d o f coherence in detail. Notation (particularly notation) shows us tw o faces: traceable and analyzable in terms of historic developm ent as it doubtless is, it is nevertheless hardly to be separated, even in principle, from the actual goals w h ich a par­ ticular artist has set himself. It is far from accidental that so m any w orks of the last three decades are perhaps more im m ediately categorizable in term s of their visual rather than their aural characteristics. Thus: it is scarcely feasible to make exceptions - any and every attempt to undertake a tentative re-integration of m usic in to a w id e r cu ltu ra l frame (the most pressing task facing us) m ust surely commence at the m ost basic (but by no means most prim itive) level possible, m ust illu m in a te the hierarchy of its own concealed internal ideologies; m ust, via recourse to an extended ritu a l of musical self-reflection, aim at putting its ow n house in order. N otation, as an explicit ideological vehicle (whether intended as such o r n o t fro m the point of view of the composer), w ould seem to have a v ita l role to p la y in any strategy directed towards the accomplishment o f such a program , or, at the very least, towards a comprehensive presentation of the type and d isposition o f the prob­ lems involved. It is probably inevitable that the pre lim in a ry m apping-out of this terrain w ill tend to generate more confusion than it manages to elim inate but, in any case, it seems to me that one o f the p rin cip a l characteristics o f an au­ thentic w ork consists in exactly this: to recognize the endless continuum of com­ plexity uniting all things. The attractions of musical notation (occupying a strange ontological position, a sign constellation referring d ire ctly to a fu rth e r such constellation of a completely different perceptual order) are alw ays q u a lifie d b y the presence

Aspects of Notational and Compositional Practice

3

o f corresponding dangers. The constraints placed upon, and the potential for action contained in the specific m atrix w hich each self-consistent notational system (as represented in a particular com positional context) offers are not, in themselves, to be separated from the value w h ich the w ritte n necessarily incor­ porates. N a tu ra lly enough, the emphasis w ill always be the adequacy o f such systems as methods o f specifying sounds: at the same tim e any such system m ust be judged inadequate whose premises do not reflect a concern fo r the sound after its production. The sound (the to ta lity o f sonic phenomena defined in an in d iv id u a l instance as constituting a realization o f the score) cannot, via the force o f its reaching out towards emancipation, be perm itted to expand in to a vacuum, b u t m ust be curved back inside the space w hich the original organizational char­ acteristics o f the score (as reflection o f the fin a l stage o f the act o f com position, its record) should have assumed the task o f defining. Both - score and sound are sign systems whose prim ary fields o f signification m ust always rem ain thenrespective opposites. N o notation, o f whatever iconically representational status, can presume to record in form ation encompassing all aspects o f the sonic phenom enon fo r w h ich it stands. It m ay be argued that this is a state o f affairs not to be regretted (the argum ent seeking to decry exactitude because o f its supposed lim ita tio n of the freedom o f the perform er's interpretation being one example o f a thorough­ going m isunderstanding o f the role o f notation in general), but there seems, on the face o f it, no convincing reason w h y the m usical effects o f as near an ap­ proach as possible to this unreachable ideal should not be investigated. The nearer we come to this 'absolute zero' o f realization, the more lik e ly it becomes that the essential components o f the relationship between the various modes o f existence o f a com position w ill emerge, freed fro m irrelevancies and uncertain­ ties such as serve to disguise th e ir 'otherness' in m ore com prom ising circum ­ stances. The u n ity o f expression w hich a successful w o rk evokes is surely a function o f the play o f incom patibilities w hich these modes represent. Perhaps the single m ost im portant task facing the composer in his con­ frontation w ith the various aspects o f his own a ctivity is the postulation o f a universe w ith in w hich these extremes be enabled to speak to one another and, in so doing, p o in t out a path towards overcom ing the endless p rolife ra tion o f barriers com partm entalizing the realm of the senses. One p oint o f departure fo r an iconology o f com positional activity: the representation of the act o f com position as a polyphonic membrane, whose scale o f resonance encompasses and reflects the com m on ground lin k in g the several interlocking connotational complexes m aking u p the nature o f com position as sig n ifyin g action in the w idest sense o f the term . As the most im m ediate and natural iconic vehicle, notation seems to be the key to one possible area o f m usical auto-introspection. In particular, it seems at least conceivable that a thoroughly reform ulated approach to

4

Brian Ferneyhough - Collected W ritings

notation / realization m ight be in a position to th ro w some tig h t on the essen­ tial nature of the 'w ork' (its preconditions, situatio nal v a lid ity etc.) as such and, in so doing, allow the very concept o f closed fo rm in present-day com positional practice to acquire a renewed esthetic foundation. The essential presuppositions for such a capa bility are three in number. (1) an adequate notation must dem onstrate its a b ility to offer a sound-pic­ ture of the events for which it stands. W ithout this direct lin k in term s o f a speci­ fied, decodable repertoire one is forced to abandon one o f the m ost essential tools of the analytic function to the arbitrary orchestration o f external factors. (2) an adequate notation m ust be in a position to offe r a ll essential (as defined by the a priori given sign systems in w h ich every notational statement is embedded) instructions for a valid reproduction (i.e. w h a t is to count as such) of those sounds / actions defined as constituting (as ensemble) the 'texti of the work. This aspect does not concern itself d ire ctly w ith the m atter o f influences upon performer psychology, although the com m on boundaries are naturally fluid in the extreme. (3) an adequate notation m ust (should) incorporate, in and through the conflation and m utual resonance of the tw o elements already m entioned, an implied ideology of its own process of creation. Although the third aspect is, to some extent, a facet o f a ll notational con­ ventions (present in the form , more often than not, o f vague in herited 'perform ­ ance traditions' lurking in the darker comers o f conservatoires), it has only seldom been so consistently incorporated in to the visu al m ode o f a w o rk that one would be justified in speaking of it as being 'p a rt o f' the piece in question. Perhaps it is considered indecent? An important qualification: w h ilst being present in an unambiguous no­ tational formulation, this ideological trace or spoor m ust, in order to be sugges­ tive and not prescriptive, be non-specific. This unordered fie ld o f consequences must, at all costs, remain specific to the perform er, since it is perform ers who engage h* feeding back into the w o rk / audience connex the record o f their own personal path through the array of possibilities offered. The goal here, I think, is, therefore, a notation w h ich demands of the performer the form ulation of a conscious selection-procedure in respect of the order in which the units of interpretational in fo rm a tio n contained in the score are surveyed and, as an extension of this choice, a determ ination o f the combi­ nation of elements (strata) w hich are to be assigned preferential status at any given stage of the realization process. The choice m ade here colors in the most damental manner the rehearsal hierarchy o f w hich, in perform ance, the com­ position itself is a token. An extreme example of this approach: a notation w h ich deliberately sets out to offer a practical surfeit of information at any p a rticu la r juncture, thus 1111 er § hi an even more radical fashion the indissoluble lin ks binding

Aspects of Notational and Compositional Practice

5

hierarchically (ideologically) grounded selection procedures w ith the ultim ate sonic result. O m itting inform ation (whether vo lu n ta rily o r in volu nta rily): is this not the ultim ate recognition o f priorities? A consequence o f the increased emphasis on the unstable interface: perform er / notation, the deeply a rtific ia l and fragile nature o f this often na­ ive ly unquestioned lin k , is the constant stressing o f the 'fic tio n a lity ' o f the w ork ('w o rk') as a graspable, in variant entity, as som ething that can be directly trans­ mitted. That this is no longer the case has been recognized ever since indeterm i­ nacy assumed the m antle o f progress; here, however, where the 'w o rk' is posited at least to the degree that an attem pt has been made to correlate the topologies o f sound and notation, directionality in both physical and tem poral dimensions, the notation (its depth o f perspective) m ust incorporate, via the m ediation o f the perform er (his personal 'approach'), the destruction (secondary encoding) w hich it seems to be the task of most music to brush im patiently aside. The object o f m usic thus becomes its conditions o f realization, as these are made m anifest in and through the encapsulated real-tim e structuration o f com position / rehearsal / listening. There is sim ply one illu sio n less to contend w ith . Projected outw ards: the parallelism o f w o rk and w o rld . The social role o f notation as poin t o f intersection o f disparate fields o f interest (a common de­ nominator). N otation as fuse. To notate is already to be engaged in analysis: to analyze is to move at once beyond the proper boundaries o f the discrete, self-identical w ork. To notate the w o rk is at one and the same tim e to listen to its echo. There can be no com­ prom ise in the search fo r origins, the tracing-back o f notational conventions to the unform ed 'm aterial' (itself a supreme fiction), shot-through as it is w ith self­ notation as precondition o f its thinka bility. This is where a w o rk (the w ork), in a ll its specificity, begins. In order to make m ore concrete some o f the speculations engaged in above, I append examples from several o f m y ow n com positions in w hich the m atter o f notation and its effects has received particular attention. (1) N otation as interm ediary, connecting border areas o f representation. In Cassandra's Dream Song (1970) (Ex. 1) fo r solo flute, the m aterial has been in ten tionally so slanted as to present, at times, a lite ra lly 'unplayable' im ­ age. The boundary separating the playable from the unplayable has not been defined by resorting to pitches lyin g outside the range o f the flute, or other, equally obvious subterfuges, but has been le ft undefined, depending fo r its pre­ cise location on the specific abilities o f the in d iv id u a l perform er, whose interpretational endowm ent form s a re la tivizin g 'filte r'. In the in trodu ctory notes I wrote, at the tim e: "...the audible (and visual) degree of difficulty is to be drawn, as an integral structural element, into the fabric of the composition itself."

Ex. 1: Cassandra's Dream Song

attacca

Aspects of Notational and Compositional Practice

7

(2) I have always been attracted to the ideal possibility o f total textural hom ogeneity when view ed in depth: a notation of such analicity that, no m atter how far one penetrates into detail at a given reading, the density o f in form ation remains relatively constant u n til the smallest com positionally m eaningful u n it o f articulation has been attained. The im plication here is o f a tota l freedom on the part of the listener to move at w ill inside and through the textures, transferring from level to level w ith a m inim um o f d iffic u lty and adapting a m axim um o f previous structural categories to articulate the new context. These same qualities afford performers precisely analogous ideological trace echoes, thus enabling them to transform the score in to a personal exercitium , a ritu a l practice o f livin g reconstitution. The largely spontaneous and in tu itiv e m obility o f the attentive ear is thus shadowed by a suggestion o f tem poral articulation embodied in the accumulated residual evidence o f the rehearsal process, transcribed into the 'real tim e' by being m anifest fo rth in the local incarnation o f a particular interpretational act. The psychologizing o f virtu o sity (its effective transcendence) as m edium o f com m unication. W orks o f mine in w hich this particular aspect o f notational practice have been particularly exposed are: U n ity Capsule (1975) fo r solo flute (Ex. 2); Tim e & M otion Study I I (1976-7) for cello and electronics (Ex. 3) and Tim e & M otion Study I I I (1974) for voices and electronic am plification (Ex. 4). It is in these w orks that I felt m yself to have most nearly approached and defined the outer lim its of a potential self-critical form alism , and to have dem onstrated this fact in the specific notational models employed. (3) In several other compositions I have adopted notational conventions w hich are designed to effect (in terms of an ideal performance) no audible differentiation o f sound texture whatever, by reason o f being directed solely at the 'internal polyphony7 called up in the m ind o f the interpreting musician. In Sieben Sterne (1970) for organ, fo r example, several sections (Ex. 5) are notated in extremely complex, but otherwise rather conventional ways, w h ile yet other passages (Ex. 6) are presented to the eye (the critical reasoning faculty) in such a fashion as to allow the perform er practically unlim ited scope in shaping the basic m aterial according to his own wishes and needs. The in ­ structions applying to these latter passages specify solely that: " it is v ita l that the am biguity o f these sections in the overall scheme be expressed by strivin g to make the resultant interpretations resemble the fu lly w ritte n -o u t passages as nearly as possible." W hile it m ay be a platitude to observe that no notation, whatever its degree o f com plexity, can aspire to approach the reality o f the audible phenom­ enon as reconstituted w ith in the in d ivid u a l frame o f reference o f the in d ivid u a l, there seems, to m y m ind, to reside no inherent contradiction in the situation. W hat can a specific notation, under favorable conditions, hope to achieve?

10

Brian Femeyhough - Collected W ritings

Ex. 4: Time and M otion Study I I I

kL

(7V)

n r][s tric t T«PJ»]

Brian Ferneyhough - Collected W riting s

12

Ex. 6: Sieben Sterne -Doralí»* i f ’ - » í —

c ^ ) r prm

I'M ,

**•*■P Im

tin » m le * i» ^ iv « n

’•

C»r£wtw*twi

d * * .»

trier,

b u t a t ow j

ftint

lit

v * * * « , On4

ñ U M miUlU t«M|d. 4m md y n a m ic P i»*} — « it "*fc*

ta

J

J

C ft« o fa a n t) U ir M /r a u m a n tf ( w t m f fcbe r u t r ic t w M i W * K “ f * * frm ffm m n X . i)fo* a a c h * « r jw * « / V E R S E . P U uj th e te le c to d /ta g m e n fc c in a n « j o r d e r , a v o ir fiitC w tc r v c M M f mums. T h e » w y o r ti» » 4 » * t o t a l d u c a lia * to eacH fra g m m n t U k e w is a * 4 ta fc ltu m . D*J»o****le v e l /L a x i l l « w itfc in - tjrotifiod limits, « I*o u U h a u e *** * fce a lta * * * to fit g e n e ra l- c J u r o c tt r o / in d Ú M liw l

u»hu>prt«titwa.

7 s cu -p a g ^ia n d o > non < (u p a n d /o r *rr f daun) T I - - - - - - - 3

J

]

It w ill quickly become apparent that some lines o f force are airea y a w o rk if these patterns are allowed to submerge in order to assume the ro e o ordering models, as opposed to concretely present sonic entities, w e can sense fire added depth of perspective which resorting to such analogical rendas possible. For instance, other materials o r processes m ay be predica onto these patterns of comportment in ways tending to co n firm o r deny patterns of sensation alreadv promoted; the periodicity o f the superim posed elernen mav be quite at odds w ith the predom inanüv linear tendency' o f the m od , or else the tw o Lavers mav conjoin in the production o f a s till m ore long-term, secondary periodidtv, where tendencies ow ing th e ir o rig in s to c u s u n c r diverse generational precepts coincide w ith a perceptible jo lt after a span independent deviation. J

J

t

r

j •

.-

i

The energies released bv these patterns on d iffe re n t levels can be long*'* or shorter term in nature - in the latter rasp it w ill be clear th a t processing hgural im port is likelv to occupy a significantlv greater tim e span than thesm pertiäal registering of elements predom inanüv according to the \ v e i g h t o f _ gestural aspects. In fact, such considerations have little to d o w ith rteo-senai

I I Tempo della Figura

39

manias fo r order; rather, they reveal a path towards the redefinition o f function through the context-bound deploym ent o f local, in form al param etric m anipu­ lation. The constant creation o f 'fuzzy parameters' o f this sort is the prim ary purpose o f the figure, to the extent that it supports the deconstruction and sub­ sequent opening-up o f the self-enclosed organism in an indefinite num ber of possible directions. A few variations derived from the example already given w ill, I believe, be o f more u tility than lengthy commentary: it w ill be evident that 'lines o f force' have a m ajor role to play in situations o f this genre. Ex. 2(a) 3 I & J-

J>

I ?

j

J>

i i

J .

“

J

ii

J

3

Ex. 2(b)

firfi mn-“n n i> J7TB J— 3 — 1

i---------------------3:2 ------------ ---------■ i 5:4 1,

Q>___________________________ ,

5:4

t—

5

1

t

3

1

If¡r— 3J in = m nm ._________________________________ j

In Ex. 2(a) the tendency o f the original example towards the elim ina­ tio n o f longer values in each cell u n it has been compromised by the distortion o f these latter by means o f the im position o f irregular measure lengths, in w hich an in itia l increase in duration is follow ed by a more rapid decrease. The line o f force in form ing the basic linear form ation has thus become p a rtia lly obscured b y an equally fundam ental, but less im m ediately apperceivable tendency - a process w hich thus imposes tw o tendency-m odifying operations on the in d iv id u a l components o f the sequence instead o f the single step o f Ex. 1. In Ex. 2(b) the original relationship obtaining between the cells has been m aintained (in that a ll durational pairs have identical global durations) b u t rendered s till less evident b y the com bination o f tw o opposing movements, that is to say, a reduction in the num ber o f equidistant impulses contained in the total value of the firs t com ponent o f each cell, w hile the num ber o f im pulses d iv id in g the second value increases. Even leaving out o f consideration the measure length disto rtio n it w ill be clear that this sort o f energy redistribution is more percep­ tu a lly problem atic in a total process of relatively short duration by reason o f the significantly increased am ount o f inform ation to be evaluated. Ex. 2(c) il­ lustrates the possibility of a superposition of tw o tendencies w ith different rates

40

Brian Femeyhough - Collected W ritings

of change. Successive groups of three, tw o and fiv e subdivisions have been mapped onto the durations furnished by o u r in itia l cell b u t, because there are now three subdivision values as against tw o global values in each basic oefl unit, a progressive encroachment of the tw o fig u ra l levels occurs. If these techniques are repeated over the total duration o f a fragm ent o f w hatever length, their homogeneity w ill tend to be registered, to a certain degree, as a subcutaneous phenomenon, as a regulator perm itting other aspects o f the discourse to be exposed more effectively. If, moreover, the other param etric variables, such as instrumentation, register, patch, secondary’ articulation e tc are taken into account, there is clearly a vast scope for m ultiple stratifica tion o f form ally significant linear, figurally-fuelled impetus. The more that in d iv id u a l aspocts are reunited as concrete gestural elements, the more their contextual independence engineers rich conflicts between the thereby accum ulated energy’ and its forceful dissolutiore The idea of a return to some form o f rh e to rica llv spocific figural vocabu­ lary in contemporary compositional practice w o u ld , prima fade, seem to presup­ pose a communality of language and in ten t such as to render the individual work (as expression of prim arily subject-spodfic states o f consciousness) more or less superfluous. The rejection o f this self-defeating prseudo-option leads to the conclusion that some form o f diachronic (linear, processual...) procedure of figural definition needs to be m obilized in the search fo r m usical significance in the context of any given dosed form . The fact th a t such relationships remain, at best, imprecisely quantifiable according to generativ accepted evaluative cri­ teria is by no means an insuprerable obstade, since the existence o f such ubiqui­ tous norms would be tantamount to a sp*edes o f m eta-language, fulfilling a similar role to that mentioned above in connection w ith rhetorical topoi. It is the glaring absence of such binding scales of value that, in the fin a l analysis, renders the existence of the individual w ork necessary. Acceptance of these hypotheses w o u ld seem to im p lv the possibility of direct interrelationship o f figures by w av o f the selective i nterpenetration/exchange of common component elements, whereby it w o u ld be the progress of this informal processuality which w o uld decisively dictate the relative power of spredfic instances of figural activity. The accum ulation o f several lavéis of such interp»enetrational/ amplifica torv a ctivity w ith respoct to diverse parametric qiahties would both increase the degree o f in -b in d in g o f particular layas in discourse and ensure that no layer w o u ld exhaust its e lf in the mere act of R usting the discourse over the hurdle separating it fro m subsequent instances figural deployment a form o f statistical 'safety net' w o u ld spread. The cadistinct aspaects o f the figure to create credible examples o f powerful ^ ^ u n g categories along the lines sketched o u t above should be seat as one ^ s u r e of its compositional u tility, w h ile its capacity fo r generating multiple uud/or successive) streams o f dire ctio n a lity (allow ing time to flow

I I Tempo della Figura

41

not on ly horizo ntally but also 'vertically' and 'obliquely7) in the sense of forcing the attention to accelerate or retard scanning operations according to the de­ gree o f interlocking - and thus resistance - o f figural elements) promotes the onw ard-flow ing projection o f m ultiple or ambiguous perspectives, o f 'depth effect' in the p rio ritiza tio n o f the sonic objects themselves. The search fo r a fixed de fin itio n of the term 'figu re' is, in m y view, an enterprise o f at best doubtful u tility. It w ill, I hope, have emerged from the above considerations that a figure does not exist, in m aterial terms, in its ow n autono­ mous rig h t; rather, it represents a w ay o f perceiving, categorizing and m obiliz­ ing concrete gestural configurations, whatever the further purpose o f these latter m ight be. It im plies com positional attitudes, since it w ill be these attitudes which, by revealing themselves gradually, form the measure according to w hich we are enabled to perceptually ground the continuing flo w o f the discourse. M usic is not dead m aterial, nor yet abstract form . S till less is it meaningless m aneuvering in an uncaring, arbitrary void. The idea o f the figure seen as a constructive and purposive reform ulation o f the gesture should clear the path for aura, the visionary ideal o f a w o rk entering in to conversation w ith the lis­ tener as if it were another aware subject. We, as composers, do not only m anipu­ late m aterial; it signals to us - by means of the ordered freeing-up and redisposing o f fig u ra l energies - w hat it itself desires. If this concept seems und uly meta­ phorical: w hat is m usical meaning, if not the revelation o f new perspectives according to constantly m utating sets of (m usically im m anent) rules of play?

th e

T A c n u ry (1988)

o f t im e

In spite o f the strange, portentous-seem ing title , y o u s h o u ld n o t th in k o f this talk as being some sort o f herm etically self-enclosed object Some o f you have, I suppose, attended D arm stadt in e a rlie r years and w ill th u s be aw are o f the viru le n t spread o f the p e cu lia rly aggressive a ssertion th a t one cannot re a lly talk about music at a ll1 - o r a t least, n o t in any m e a n in g fu l w a y on m atters of com positional intention and technique H o w e ver strange it m ay seem that many hours o f lecture tim e have been consum ed w ith v e rb a liz in g th is thesis, this is not something that I w ant to overem phasize today7: ra th e r, I w o u ld lik e to talk, not so much theoretically (alth ou g h there w ill be a little o f th a t, perhaps), but speculatively, on the search fo r a possible language in w h ic h one ce ntra l aspect o f m y own com positional concerns m ay be p ro v is io n a lly fo rm u la te d , that is, the concept o f tim e and the concrete sensation o f its presence as m anifest in one particular piece, Mnemosyne fo r bass flu te and p re re co rd e d tape. In pursuing this goal it may be tha t I w ill come a p erson a l step fu rth e r in re-establishing such topics as possible areas o f p ra c tic a l/th e o re tic a l d isco u rse in such contexts as this.

Mnemosyne (the eponymous Greek goddess o f me u ic iit u

iy ; lu iiiD

its first °

u ic ir

Careen d 'In ve n zio n e cvcle after Piranesi given at 1986 Donaueschinger M usiktage. The reaadonfprl a 310 Present“ 18 P i^ e today is that, wrhen starting w ork on i t I m al/variafim Tl3^ 03 t0 interaction between large-scale for2 * itS “ "tig u ity - The anam o^hic, perfointo the linear^ ° • ^^rmcPattenung in 0 ^ live bass flu te part was locked to rendering °f ^ d secondary p itch dom ains w ith a view 3 7 ^ Vari0US de8rees o f tem poral 'ta c t ilit/ - that is to say, or states become sen ^ adons ® the flo w o f tim e through and around objects though I am well ^ (consciously) palpable. I em ploy the term 'tactile' even of Z ¿ Z ^ : WaK 0 f * * Problems attached to the u n critica l transference frequent recourse

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The examples o f in terlo cking procedures given in Ex. 11 are representa­ tive o f a sig nifica ntly larger num ber introduced at various points according to contextually sensed need. The precom positional sieve specifies only which selection of devices is, at any given m oment, available, not how, or in what degree of secondary system atization, they are to be employed. Thus, certain pas­ sages (see Ex. 9) m ay be based on the interaction of all three materials, although

*

*

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this does not by any manner of means im p ly constant sim ultaneity o f deploy­ ment. The beginning of the final group in the same exam ple marks the point at which, on the adjacent hierarchic level, the density o f available transform ations undergoes extremely rapid augmentation. It is not to be argued here that these and other complexes beyond the scope of this discussion are capable o f assert­ ing themselves in a conventionally audible fashion; w hat I personally fin d stimu­ lating in such methods is the high level of resistance provided by such complexly interlocking grids, w hich bring an enhanced sense o f m aterial substantiality to the composer's intuitional momentum. In passing through these 'sieves' the in itia lly unformed volition is, at one and the same tim e, shaped and diversi­ fied, w ith the result that com plexity is not a mere function o f m ultiplicative (usually surrounded by a distinct air o f the tautological) b u t by d ivisio n a l proc­ esses. For me at least, urgency and authenticity of expression are inseparably associated w ith such channeling of the artist's creative im pulse. In earlier works m y goal was to evolve a technique for integrating the degree of difficulty, perform er application and com positional density in to the expressive orbit of a specific musical language: m oving on from that, m y present concerns are more directed at investigating how and w h y particular types of interaction between surface, interface and depth structure function as they ap­ parently do. It was this level-by-level 'descent' (one w h ich every listener, con­ sciously or not, makes alone) towards w hich m y p re lim in a ry program text was pointing. H ow does music keep on flow ing, but nevertheless hold eternally to the timeless point of expectancy in the face of the im pending leap? This ques­ tion is the 's till center' o f m y current com positional concerns.

CARCERI D 'IN V E N Z IO N E (1986)

M any o f m y w orks o f the last fifteen years have been engendered by contact w ith some form o f concrete image. This has sometimes been effective as a unifying, all-pervasive idea (as in the image of the M usic of the Spheres in Transit or the various ironic transform ations and recompositions of the concept o f 'effi­ ciency form in g the basis o f the Tim e and M o tio n Study cycle) but, at least as often, the w o rk idea has emerged from contact w ith an actual visual experience which seemed m ysteriously to 'trig g e r' the alchemical interaction o f a ll sorts of hitherto nebulous issues, whose pressing relevance I had, u n til that moment, not suspected. This was true o f both the orchestral piece La terre est un homme (based on a m ajor canvas by M atta) and the piano com position Lemma-IconEpigram , w hich took W alter Benjamin's emblem speculations as im m ediate point of departure. M y (re-)encounter, in 1981, w ith the series of Piranesi etchings w ith the collective title Carceri dTnvenzione was s till another such key experience. It coincided w ith in itia l attem pts on m y part to define the role o f energy in the definition o f possible modes o f m usical discourse and - equally im portant brought this concern in to im m ediate conjunction w ith tw o further aspects of my thinking then at approxim ately comparable stages o f development. These were, firstly, the im plications o f consistency of personal style as a central prerequisite fo r form al processes and, secondly, the grow ing desire to form ulate in practical terms a com positional strategy allow ing for the systematic unification (or at least the peaceful coexistence) of extremes of constructional or inform al modes o f com position. By these means I hoped to set aside, at least for myself, what I have always fe lt to be a perilously over-sim plifying pseudo-opposition s till w id e ly assumed in polem ics on aesthetic issues. The Carceri dTnvenzione (Dungeons o f Invention, Inventive Dungeons) impressed me, in the firs t instance, by reason o f their obvious intensity, rich­ ness and expressive power. A fte r m uch subsequent reflection it struck me that it was the m asterly deploym ent o f layering and perspective w hich gave rise to this impression o f extraordinary im m ediacy and almost physical impact. A t one and the same tim e the observer is draw n ineluctably dow n towards the dark center w h ile fo rcib ly thrust aw ay along centrifugal rays of absolutely nonnaturalistic, m u tu a lly co nflicting lines o f force.

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The fra il ca tw a lks, th e d ra w b rid g e s in m id a ir w h ic h a lm o st e ve ryw h e re d o u b le th e g a lle rie s a n d th e stone staircases, seem to c o rre sp o n d to th e sam e d e s ire to h u rl in to space a ll p o ssib le cu rve s a n d p a ra lle ls . T h is w o rld closed o ve r its e lf is m a th e m a tic a lly in fin ite .

For me, it is precisely this interlocking o f incom patible (but somehow co-extant) perspectival fields w hich generates the necessary energy to project this self-enclosed experience beyond the physical lim its o f the page, in to the w orld outside. To me, this seems like one real w ay o f m aking m usic "m e a n '. Gilles Deleuze, in connection w ith his discussion o f another painter o f forces, Francis Bacon, says: "En art, et en peinture, comme en m usique, il ne s'agit pas de reproduire ou d'inventer des formes mais de capter des forces"." In m y com­ positions, I am always setting out to define momentary, tra n sito ry states of bal­ ance or conflict, which, albeit necessarily ambiguously, define the spaces which their own future comes to occupy. It is thus that the m usical object comes to appear in the double role of em otively connotative, gestural e n tity and o f figural constellation, whose particularized component sound qualities are constantly poised to independently launch themselves into (and thus define) subsequent stages of the discourse. I am particularly interested in the figure's capacity for creating m ultiple strands of directionality w hich, by a llo w in g the onwardflow ing projection of simultaneous perspectives, suggest the presence o f 'depth effect' in and among the sonic objects. The musical event is defined by its capacity to render visible the forces acting on it as w e ll as the energies thereby set free. A ll com positional technique focuses on this state of affairs and its consequences fo r the perception o f form. A ll works in the cycle share a w ide repertoire o f generically sim ila r techniques totally compatible among themselves, and their com bin ation/opp ositio n in specific contexts forms the foundation of w ork identity. In particular, m any types of 'filte r' operation are employed, aimed at rendering specific p a rtia l aspects of a given m aterial through a series of m obile restrictive grids. Since I hold that all invention comes from restriction, it seems particularly appropriate to im prison musical states, thus empowering them to express themselves b y means o f the im plosive energies thereby released. A second vita l strand of thought highlighted by m y concern for Piranesi's achievement was the question of style. Just as the life-and-death cycle o f specific materials as exem plified in any given w o rk depends on the form er's relative diachronic integrity, so the extension o f these principles to the dim en­ sions of an entire cycle of works offers the o p p ortun ity o f s till vaster perspec­ tives, more profound interactions. I have always experienced great difficulties in keeping works entirely separate; continuity of style takes this fact in to account and amplifies it to a more general principle o f potential lin g u istic definition.

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Precisely the contrasts and developm ental elaborations distinguishing earlier and later versions o f m any o f Piranesi's Carceri imbue his second thoughts w ith more intense semantic 'perspective'. In a sim ilar fashion, the layerw ise accretional means o f com position I em ploy allo w for an 'archaeological' approach to listening, and encourage the speculative ear to create its ow n categories of perception. In m y experience, only a conscious consistency o f stylistic ambience is able to generate a space w ith in w hich potentially vio len t extremes of precalculation and context-bound invention may fru itfu lly interpenetrate. The Carceri d 'In ve n zio n e cycle as a w hole is also la id out w ith these strictures in m ind. Several patterns connect the in d iv id u a l compositions, so that a dynam ic netw ork o f trajectories is suggested. From the point of view of instrum ental forces, the three w orks Carceri d'Inven zion e I- III form a clear central axis, around w h ich the rem aining, sm aller pieces are disposed. A t the same time, this function is lent further support by the fact that the flute concerto, Carceri d 'In ve n zio n e II, occupies the central panel o f the triptych thus: Carceri d'Invenzione I - Carceri d'Invenzione II - Carceri d'Invenzione III Intersecting this line at the same central point is the series of pieces in w hich the flute plays a prom inent role: Superscriptio - Carceri d'Invenzione II - Mnemosyne (Piccolo)

(Flute)

(Bass Flute)

The descent from extrem ely high to lo w register is an im m ediately audible and striking 'them e' o f this sequence, even though the mode d'emploi of the flute in respect of the rest o f the ensemble is constantly in flux, i.e. Solo - Solo w ith ensemble - Solo w ith prerecorded tape. W ith in each o f these com positions, the tension inhering to the insistent opposition and integration o f w ild ly diverse degrees o f pre-ordering is m ani­ fested differently. In com m on to all, however, is the intention o f exhibiting these pressures as intensely and as fo rm a lly coherently as possible. The song cycle Etudes Transcendantales, fifth o f the seven works included, is possibly the most extreme example o f this com mon thread, in that each of the nine m iniatures consciously sets out from a different 'balance of forces', so that the dynam ic flow characteristic o f the w hole is sim ultaneously compacted (chamber combinations, brief duration) and expanded (lengthy overall duration, ra p id ity of unfolding of in d ivid u a l form s) to the m ost obviously radical available extremes.

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Superscriptio (1981) for solo piccolo The sound of any extremely high or lo w instrum ent tends, at least fo r me, to evoke associations w ith borders, boundaries and w ith w hatever lies beyond. Thus, in this little one-movement com position dating from 1981,1 attem pted to reflect these sensations in such a w ay as to suggest the fleeting sketching-in of that b rittle outline, that trace w ith no dimensions, representing some ultim ate 'inside of the outside', itself never to be captured in sound. Formally, Superscriptio (as the most hig h ly 'autom atized' w o rk in this cycle) is constructed upon a dense netw ork of m etric and p ropo rtion al relation­ ships, wherein variations of texture and m om entum are achieved b y means of distortions in the pattern created by the m obile juxtaposition o f diverse bar lengths, as w ell as by the gradual de-synchronization o f gestural shaping, dy­ namic intensity and rhythm ic density - elements w hich, at the outset, are all heard to be changing simultaneously.

Carceri d'Invenzione I (1981-2) fo r sixteen instrum ents Like the other works in the same series, Carceri d 'In ve n zio n e I is b u ilt up as the overlapping o f several differently instrum entated and processuafly distinct strata, each w ith its ow n mode of development, contraction o r expansion. From the in itia l presentation of structures it w ill be evident that the principle of repetition (however flexibly understood) has a significant role to play in what follows. The first half of the piece consists o f the slow and uneven unfolding of the consequences w hich the in itia l brutal exposure of contrasted textures (pic­ colo, trombone, pianoforte; w oodw ind and brass) sets in m otion, whereby sev­ eral groups are tim b ra lly m odified, others (strings) rem aining constant in color, although m odified w ith respect to density and articulation. The interplay of levels of transform ation, whether heard as im m ediate phenomena or longerterm organizational functions, aims at providing a fram ew ork w ith in w hich the listener can begin to perceive the categories o f energy and force outlined above, and it is the possibility of interpreting the in d ivid u a l strata as either regulatory or regulated mechanisms w hich progressively defines the listening categories involved.

Interm edio alia Ciaccona (1986) fo r vio lin solo The final w o rk in the cycle to be composed. Interm edio aims at a loosening of some earlier conventions, in the sense of an almost im provisatory reflection on the now disembodied energies previously released. The piece fluctuates uneasily tween areas o f intensely frenetic but m aterially unspecific a ctivity and

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'close-ups' o f s lo w ly evolving, m onochrom e textures, in w hich energy is 'col­ lected' once more. Like m ost other components o f the cycle. Interm edio alia Ciaccona is based exclusively on a series o f eight chords, themselves contain­ ing the potential fo r static (sym m etrical) or m obile (asymmetrical) modes of treat­ ment. As w ith a ll m y solo instrum ental w orks, I aim here at evoking facets of a 'fictional p o ly p h o n /, not by means o f lite ra lly polyphonic strands of sound, but rather through w h at are usua lly considered 'secondary7 parametric levels of organization.

Carceri d 'In ve n zio n e I I (1984) fo r obbligato flute and chamber orchestra Rather in the m anner o f Schoenberg's Phantasy fo r V io lin w ith piano accompa­ niment, the solo flu te part o f this 14-m inute piece was through composed in its entirety before any o f the orchestral accom panim ent was determined. M y in ­ tention was to a llo w the ensemble textures to comment more freely on the rig ­ orously pre-determ ined m odular patterns o f the soloist in a w ay w hich w ould sometimes suggest com petition, at others am plification of specific tendencies in the solo line. The solo part consists o f 48 in te rn a lly invariant modules, w hich are cy­ clically perm utated so as to suggest the gradual grow th of tendential perspec­ tive and, in particular, the architectonic nature o f registral deploym ent. A t the beginning, on ly the extreme upper and low er registers o f the flute are used; lit­ tle by little other registers are blended in so as to fin a lly focus on the central m inor th ird o f A and F#, a ll events and detailed elaborations suddenly being confined to that pitch-band, w ith the exception o f sudden outbursts in the o rig i­ nal registral extremes signalling the cyclically-determ ined recurrence of m odu­ lar elements already heard. As m ore and more cycles are overlapped, the variational techniques em ployed become increasingly extreme and registrally rich, the entire tendency flo w in g in to a quasi una cadenza, wherein all registral and articulational aspects o f the flu te are exploited to the fu ll. The fin a l section consists of a progressive subtraction o f m aterial and a descent into the lowest register, placed against a string texture itse lf derived from the eight basic chords polyphonically 'd iffra cte d ' through glissandi. In contrast to the flu te part, orchestral a ctivity is rather discontinuous, even though its deploym ent is s im ila rly governed by cyclic considerations making reference to the flu te 's frequent change o f registral focus. A n essential component is the 'irregu lar m etronom e' effect provided by the tw o horns, which overlap tw o d istin ct tem po fields operating independently o f the m ain tempo of the w ork. This technique reflects m y intense concern w ith m etric devices in the entire cycle, and prefigures an even more extensive em ploym ent (three layers) as the basis o f the form al structure o f Carceri d'Invenzione III.

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Etudes Transcendantales (1983-5) for mezzo soprano, flute, oboe, violoncello

and harpsichord A t various points in m y career I have resorted to the p a rticular challenge of the small form in order to realize as concretely as possible specific com positional problems. Each of the nine songs com prising this w o rk (w ith the sole excep­ tion of the concluding song, w hich deviates from the norm in various ways) is considerably less than four m inutes in length, and compresses m aterial, treat­ ment and form into a notably compact energic unit. The piece is d ivid e d into three times three subgroups: although not fin a lly carried out in to the last detail, my original intention was to reflect the more 'autom atized' end o f the spectrum in the first piece in each group, the more 'in fo rm a l' in the second, and a rela­ tively complex collision, interpenetration or interaction o f both in the third. This layout was to be further m irrored in the relationship o f the three subgroups to each other, each one prim arily em bodying one o f the three d e fin in g generative categories. In the event, things inevitably became more am biguous: each movement has more or less clearly evident qualities characteristic o f both ends of the com positional/conceptual axis. The instrum entation o f each song is very specific: in the firs t group of three the oboe predominates - most strikin g ly in the opening voice/oboe duet. In the second group, the flute assumes the foreground, again announced by a duet w ith voice (Song 4). In the th ird group, it is the harpsichord w h ich is nota­ bly active, although 'its' duet falls in eighth, rather than seventh, place. Only Songs 5 and 9 specify the complete ensemble. Song 9 abandons the traditional vocal technique of earlier movements in favor o f the separate presentation of the text's vowel and consonant components. A t the end, instead o f recombin­ ing them, the text is spoken, no longer in any w ay synchronized w ith the in­ strumental activity. Song 8 already anticipates this lin g u istic fracture, in that it contains tw o independent texts w hich are cut through one another, not accord­ ing to criteria of semantic coherence, but rather at the prom pting o f the prede­ termined musical form . In order to avoid a clichéd text interpretation, I deliberately composed the vocal lines p rio r to adding the textual underlay (al­ though naturally taking precise account o f the text7s significance and internal structure). The texts of Songs 1, 2 and 6 are by Ernst M eister,3 the remainder were specially w ritten by A lru n M o ll at m y request.

Carceri d'lnvenzione I I I (1986) fo r fifteen w in d instrum ents and three percussion Carceri d'lnvenzione I I I continues to examine m any o f the concerns already outlined above in connection w ith other sections o f the cycle. In particular, opposition/integration o f diverse levels o f discourse, the structural deploy men

Carceri d'lnvenzione

137

of complex m etric devices and antiphonal ensemble layout have been empha­ sized. Whereas, in C arceri II, the irregular m etronome technique was employed as a substratum , in the present w o rk it emerges as the veritable generator of the action, in that each new event is 'triggered' by an im pulse given, in the first instance, by one o r m ore percussion instrum ents. The first section, in particu­ lar, emerges from the in terlo cking activities o f three such triggering patterns. For the m ost part activating various types o f brass materials, they also regulate changes in the density and num ber o f w oodw ind layers, as w e ll as their pro­ gressive transform ation. Later sections o f the w o rk allow more and more in itia lly concealed im pulses to surface, and the fin a l section focuses in on this tendency by specifying anything fro m a solo instrum ent up to all available instruments to be activated b y each im pulse. The process concludes at the precise instant at which increase o f base tem po and completeness o f presentation of percussive pulse a ctivity w o u ld a llo w this form ally active stratum to be perceived as concrete m aterial in its ow n rig h t. Various oppositions are exploited during the course of Carceri I I I - firs t o f all: brass/w oodw ind, later: h ig h /lo w and, finally: Ensemble I/E nsem ble II (the instrum ents being antiphonally placed). M nemosyne (1986) fo r bass flu te and prerecorded 8-track tape The concluding piece o f the entire cycle is at once the slowest and the harm oni­ cally most explicit. As the title obliquely im plies (Mnemosyne: Greek goddess of memory), the chordal patterns diffracted through most of the previous six com­ positions are once m ore unfolded - not so m uch as equal partners to the soloist, but as a ubiquitous backdrop serving both to repropose or expand earlier 'har­ monic spaces' and to provid e a reticent b u t insistent series of central pitches, around w hich the flu tis t weaves a lim ite d num ber o f rig id ly referential intervallie chains, themselves derived from the in itia l series of eight chords. Thus, the richer the background sonority becomes (progressing from four up to eight pre­ recorded bass flu te lines), the greater the scope for fle x ib ility in respect of melodic invention. Since, however, d u rin g the final section of the composition, the number of derived intervals is progressively reduced, the gestures of the solo part find themselves increasingly circum scribed ('im prisoned') w ith in the lim its defined by the dense chordal sonorities of the tape u n til the inevitable fade out occurs. Like other w orks in the cycle, M nem osyne is based on the m ultilayered interaction o f diverse m etrical and tem poral patterns, whereby the 'metronome' function is here assumed by the tape m aterials, w hich emphasize exclusively the downbeats o f each measure. In distinction to Carceri II, the tape part of Mnemosyne predated the solo part, which, in consequence, remains structurally dependent on the form al la yout w hich the form er expounds. The tape part was produced w ith the assistance o f Roberto Fabbriciani (bass flute) and Rudi Strauss (technician) in the E xperim ental Studio of Südwestfunk, Freiburg im Breisgau.

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138

Endnotes 1. Margerite Yourcenar: The D ark B rain o f P iranesi, Farrar, Straus, Giroux, New York 1984, p. 144. 2. Gilles Deleuze: Francis Bacon, Logique de la Sensation, Editions de la Différence, Paris 1981, p. 39. 3.

Ernst Meister: Ausgew ählte G edichte 1932-1976, Luchterhand Verlag 1977.

KURZE SCHATTEN II for solo guitar (1990) There is no Kurze Schatten I: the title is taken from an essay by the German cultural philosopher W alter Benjamin,1 where, in a series of seven short texts (hence the seven movements in the com position) he talks about the essentiality o f the Augenblick, of the experiential moment. He takes as his example an image of the sun progressively approaching its zenith u n til, at noon, it beats dow n from directly overhead, at w hich m om ent a ll shadows disappear, everything becomes just itself, a quintessential monad. Reading this description, I im m ediately began to plan a piece in w hich process gradually merges into the object in such a way that both, in a hyper-real way, become 'themselves'. To accomplish that, I realized that I w ould have to compose extrem ely short, compact and form ally focused movements. The other challenge was to create pieces in w hich the events w ould end up being as im m ediate, direct and vio le n tly energized as m y w ritin g for other instruments, even though the guita r is not necessarily an instrum ent frequently associated w ith extremes o f force or deeply-etched dram atic delivery. The first step was to define a large-scale form : how to put together seven distinct move­ ments in a reasonably interesting and contrasted fashion, w ith out merely end­ ing up w ith a banal little suite? M y reaction was to adopt the baroque suite principle o f a slow m ovem ent coupled w ith an im m ediately subsequent faster movement. This contrastive pairin g was repeated three times in all, and a fan­ tasia - a 'throw back' to the English v io l fantasy of Purcell and Lawes - appended which aimed at com pacting in to a b rief space o f time as m any diverse playing techniques as were com patible w ith musical coherence. That approach posed few fundam ental problems. In order to gradually transform the resonance of the w o rk over its total duration, I decided that I wanted to m odify the tuning o f the instrum ent to produce microtonal sonorities. The tuning I chose fo r the opening has four scordatura strings arranged around two strings w ith norm al tuning. These latter (D and G) remain constant through­ out the entire com position; the B string is the only semitonal scordatura, being tuned dow n to Bb, the upper E string is tuned down to E quarter-flat, the A string is tuned up three-quarters o f a tone to B quarter-flat, and the low E string is raised by a quarter-tone.

1 See W alter B enjam in, 'K u rze S chatten', in Illuminationen, Suhrkam p, F ra n kfu rt am M ain 1977, p. 297ff.

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Ex. 1

The special thing about this setup is that, at the end o f every second movement, one of the four scordatura strings is returned to its 'norm al' tuning. The first to e c anged is the low E string, so that, im m ediately, the lo w er end o f the range egms to resonate a little more; after that, the B quarter-flat is returned to A and, uT3^ * 6 ^ ^ fluarter~flat is tuned up to E. A fter these three retunings, only tie B string remains detuned, and then not to a m icrotonal pitch, b u t Bb. The mos mime iately audible result of this process is the progressive abandonment, f ,, 6 seven movements, of the pecuhar tim bre set up by the natural resonance or me guitar corpus responding to a set of non-natural tunings, in favor o f the Z e amDP ^ an J am’har sonority w hich a predom inantly tra d itio n a l tuning er a^ S* to w r*te Piece again, I m ight have chosen a some­ to loQp lfff ri! nt SCOridatUra' since some strings - particularly the raised A - tend of nrnpTpcc' u& several movements, but the basic dual principle sharincr tfio ^ 6 ra re-appropriation and the alliance o f pairs o f movements it was rathpSai^ e SC° r atUra wou^ doubtlessly have remained the same. In fact, rise to a rha-m ^.restm^ observe how this interaction o f processual types gave nse to a chain of quite rich and unpredictable local situations. of c o m n o s ^ at* f m P*S/ an elaborate study, to concentrate its criteria the problem nf p*1 3 Uni^ ue^ sPec^ c issue. In the firs t m ovem ent, we have of polyphonic s ^ ^ 8 ^ Polyphonic levels - or, rather, tw o distinct types o h ^ ; T 0f Which is comP°sed ° f >»» independent layers l i t o o í tr %

s.t—

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m-------

I' I--, i i 0 (J)—.

this movement w as^not^* Pr