Quote of the Month (3) 12/2008

Page from Stockhausen's Studie II

'The generation of rhythmic material was only one side of the problem: its notation also proved a challenge. The more complex it became, the less exact the result in actual performance, so that Stockhausen was able to describe notation as dependent on "uncertainty factors" occuring within fields whose size was relative to the complexity.' 26

26. This, as Ligeti noted, had been a problem since the early twentieth century: see dRV (D), 38-40.

Source: Serial Music, Serial Aesthetics pg139 (M.J. Grant).

Takemitsu: Tree Line Analysis

Toru Takemitsu

UPDATE: The sound intermedia site is down at the moment, has been for a couple of days. If this situation persists i'll email them and ask if it's permament (hopefully not.)

I've been looking at some of Takemitsu's scores recently and was searching around on the teh internets for information on his work and came across this site.

It has lots of info/analysis about/of his composition 'Tree Line' and includes midi/sound files as examples (broken up into sections, like modes, chords, etc).

The site is hosted by Sound Intermedia, not quite sure who they are or what they do but the Takemitsu-mini-site-thingy is something of a boon, so i'm not complaining.

Quote Of The Month (2) (12/2008)

Gino Robair

'There was everything: graphic scores, scores with noteheads but no rhythms, scores with complex dense rhythmic stuff. Every day something different: a new piece every day. 9am. It would kick your ass. He'd [Braxton] come in with these scores, there'd be like three saxophones, a woman on steel pan and me on snare drum, and he'd say, Gino you play the flute part. So I played the flute part on snare drum. That's how you play his scores. At first you think it's insane, but then you realise that for him it's not about purity of orchestration, it's about density and movement. If he gives a piccolo part to a bass player it's because he doesn't want those pitches, he wants something in that time frame that's rhythmically similar, with the same kinds of shapes. The whole thing about layering, the collage aspect turned me on.'

Gino Robair: Interview with Paristransatlantic.com

Quote Of The Month (1) (12/2008)

Kosuth: One and three chairs (1965)

'Perhaps only because it's been this way for me, it seems that the strongest artists have their "why" before they have their "how". It certainly was that way for Pollack, for Reinhardt, for Judd, for Flavin. It's about having one's "why" and realizing that everyone else's "how" won't do; and the continuing search for a personal "how" that directly answers and relates to his "why".

Joseph Kosuth Art After Philosophy and After: Collected Writings 1966-1990