Transcript DAT 335: Music Perception and Cognition

Contemporary Composition Seminar
Fall 2012
Instructor: Prof. SIGMAN
Thursday 14:00-16:00
Lecture III
0. Administrata
• 3 favourite pieces submission?
• Assignment I (Stockhausen + Xenakis): posted
to course website:
www.lxsigman.com/cmsfall2013/index.htm
• Assignment submission: download DropBox!:
www.dropbox.com (FREE VERSION!)
Xenakis: From Metastaseis to
Palimpsest
I. Music/Architecture (음 악/건 죽
술)
A. Le Corbusier Atelier
1. The Modulor
• Scale and proportion measuring device
• Relationships between different levels of scale
in a structure
2. Le Couvent de la Tourette (1960)
B. Philips Pavilion (1958)
1. Design
• Designed for the Brussels Expo 1958
• Le Corbusier took credit, but Xenakis primarily
designed the structure
• Design based upon the score to Metastaseis
(1953-54)
• Destroyed after ca. 1 week (end of Expo)
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3cKxLxqXw
2. Design Principles
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Hyperbolic paraboloid shape
Regulating lines in 2 dimensions
Curvature (곡 도) and shifting volume
Lines parallel (평 행 한) to common plane, but
not to each other
• Sense of movement in 3 dimensions
• Abstract geometry and dynamic unfolding in
time
3. Plans
4. Use
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Multi-media presentation
Light show (designed by Le Corbusier)
Concret PH (Xenakis)
Poème électronique (Varèse): music and video
Multichannel projection
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEG5y7ul
qlY
C. Alloys (합 금)
1. Art/Science
• In 1976, Xenakis wrote a thesis for his
Doctorat d’état entitled: Arts/Sciences: Alloys
• Connections between abstract thought and
concrete representation (in the arts and
sciences)
• Connections between artistic and
scientific/mathematical pursuits
2. Alloy physical properties
• Defects in crystal microstructure = hardening
of macrostructure
• Different microstructure and macrostructure
tensile forces
• No single melting point: can be solid (고 제
ㅇㅢ) and liquid (액제) at the same time!
II. Composer Influences
A. Messiaen
B. Varèse
“When new instruments will allow me to write music as I conceive it, the movement of sound-masses, of
shifting planes, will be clearly perceived in my work, taking the place of the linear counterpoint. When these
sound-masses collide, the phenomena of penetration or repulsion will seem to occur. Certain transmutations
taking place on certain planes will seem to be projected onto other planes, moving at different speeds and at
different angles. There will no longer be the old conception of melody or interplay of melodies. The entire work
will be a melodic totality. The entire work will flow as a river flows.
We have actually three dimensions in music: horizontal, vertical, and dynamic swelling or decreasing. I shall
add a fourth, sound projection-that feeling that sound is leaving us with no hope of being reflected back, a
feeling akin to that aroused by beams of light sent forth by a powerful searchlight-for the ear as for the eye,
that sense of projection, of a journey into space. “
II. Metastaseis (1953-54)
• For orchestra
• Sound masses: sculpted sounds
• Global shapes and movement, articulated by
local detail
• High level control of individual events
• Similar tendencies to Ligeti and Penderecki
Metastaseis Sketches
• Used as blueprint for Philips Pavilion
III. Formalised Music
A. Formalized Music
• Book describes mathematical (수 학 의) basis
for several works
B. Hors-temps vs. en-temps
structures
• Xenakis distinguishes between hors-temps
(out of time) and en-temps (in-time)
structures
• Hors-temps structures are abstract, and do
not unfold in time (e.g., algorithms)
• En-temps structures are concrete, and unfold
in time as processes (e.g., shifts in dynamics
or register)
Hors temps/En-temps example
• A scale or mode is an hors-temps structure:
• A chord or melody is an en-temps structure
C. Stochastic Music
• Influence of information theory (MeyerEppler)
• Use of Markov chains to determine
probabilities of pitch, rhythm, and dynamic
sequences
• Hors-temps (outside-time) algorithms (연 산
법)
• large amounts of data (데 이 터)
D. Symbolic Music
• Organisation of musical materials into sets (세
트)
• Operation on and combination of sets using
logical (논 리 학) processes
• Derived from set theory, logic and abstract
algebra
• Hors-temps processes
• Used to filter pitches and rhythms
• Used to generate non-octave equivalent
Symbolic Music Examples
IV. Synthesis: Eonta (1963-64)
• For piano, 2 trumpets, and 3 trombones
• Use of stochastic music (piano) and symbolic
music (brass) (hors-temps)
• Brass player movement: rotate instrument,
change position on stage, and play into piano
(en-temps movement)
Eonta: Score and Live Performance
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzUPAMY2
A8k
V. Arborescences
A. Arborescences
• Tree structures (가 게 도)
• Control branching and proliferation (금 증) of
material
• Contrasting shapes (무 양) and growth-rates
B. Evryali (1973)
• For piano
• Uses arborescence models
• Impossible to perform as written!
C. UPIC System
• Computer hardware and compositional
environment (software) developed by Xenakis
in 1977
• Graphical user interface (GUI)
• Sine waves “drawn” directly by composer
• Easy to learn: used to teach composition to
students of all ages (children and adults)
• Used by several composers since the 1970s
[UPIC]
D. Mycenae Alpha (1978)
• Electronic piece
• Realised on UPIC
• Direct transcription (음 역)) of arborescences
as sine wave collections
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yztoaNa
kKok
V. Palimpsest (1979)
• For ensemble
A. What is a palimpsest??
Palimpsest Defined
• Manuscript page, on which original writing
has been scraped
• New writing (or images) applied on same page
• Interaction (소 동) between original and new
text or images
C. Palimpsest Techniques
• Arborescences
• Symbolic music: organisation of pitches into
sets
• Rhythmic acceleration and deceleration
processes (en-temps process)
D. Palimpsest: New Directions
Verticality (수 직 면):
•Layers of similar material at different speeds
•Blocks of homogeneous (동 종 의) sound
•Importance of harmony