On Discourses and Concert: c)i @ Transit Circle

Photo courtesy of
Frans de Waal.
[CC-BY-2.5]

c)i is thrilled to be performing at the Transit Circle concert series, curated by our own Miranda Cuckson. This concert,  "Discourse: to hear and be heard" the idea of conversation and its role in human relationships, and is sizing up to be an incredible concert, with works by Brice Pauset, Vinko Golbokar, George Rochberg, and Felipe Lara.For me the situating of my work 102nd & Amsterdam within an interrogation of musical conversation is particularly resonant for me;– my works in general and this work in particular has a strong dialogic element; 'conversations' amongst the performers en volant are foregrounded rather than hidden in the background of textures, or 'solved' in rehearsals.  There is a constant unfolding as the work is performed again and again.  The work, like all works, is not an object, but an exchange of roles, attention, instrumental color and motivic material;– these transaction that in themselves do not bear import, but by their being afford opportunities for music making.

I'm very excited to have the musicians performing the work again, c)i recorded the work in 2009, and it is avaolable for purchase as part of the SCI-Capstone Record series.   An (very full) note on the work can be read HERE , and a recording by the same performers can be found HERE.

Definitely a concert well worth making! This Sunday, 23 January 23, at 7:30p, at the Mannes Concert Hall

New Old thoughts on "The General Schemed"

At two upcoming c)i concerts, my work The General Schemed will be performed– it is always a happy thing to return to past works, especially with players like these. The work was premiered by counter)induction on 13 June, 2008 in New York NY; it is always interesting to return to a piece after some time, in that interval between performances provides perspective on the successes and failures of a work and on the technical compositional devices employed, but more interestingly for me at least the shift in context of presentation will reveal new aspects and implications of the work, opening new dialogues with other works and practices.

Rehearsals

Just finished a great rehearsal with Sumi and Ben; it's always a delight working with performers like c)i, but this concert has reminded me again not only how much is 'left of the page,' but how often that's the fun stuff.

This work is from a set of etudes that I'm working on that are etudes both in the sense of the systematic study of technical performative elements of music, but also studies in compositional technics. My program note is here, but better still to come and here it! Sunday night at 8p!

Revisions & Rehearsal

So when I'm not pondering the deep questions of being I still occasionally write music. Kyle has just posted a nice thought about the mutuality of performance, and i thought I'd echo it, having just come out of a fabulous first rehearsal of my 'Deixo | Sonata' with Jessica and Steve Beck. Two thoughts came to mind during our session which connect to and expand Kyle's point.

The first is the extent to which scores underdetermine performances, but that that is a good. One way of looking at that is completely selfish– i much prefer to play with people and try things out and uncover things about that work through a discussion, through the interplay of engaged musicians sharing openly. A 'perfect notation' (i.e. a notation which somehow captured that perpetually elusive 'intent' of the composer) would amplify the power dynamic which has evolved between composers and performers, but would (imho) limit how good a piece could get, since the would then be the result of one perspective, rather than several. Certainly, as composers, we have developed models of performers that we use in constructing a piece, hopefully somewhat more sophisticated than 'I hope this triple stop isn't too hard,' but similarly conditional. My model will never match the insight that a Jess or a Steve bring to the process of developing a work, though the better the model the more efficient that process can be.

The second thought follows on from this; if I am to take the above point seriously, than I need to take seriously the fact that other are contributing in non-trivial ways to that collective activities that we refer to as a particular 'work.' I've just been thinking a bunch about how as composers we are both individual actors and inheritors of the concepts and traditions, and how the interference pattern between these two fields is what makes us who we are, not only in the sense of providing influence and provoking responses, but truly making us, giving us the opportunity to be. But if that is that case, then I must have a similarly interactive relationship with the colleagues with whom I'm working on these projects. Kyle in her post mentions generosity, which I think is a good word for it, but I would add openness, openness to the intermingling of self and intent that is musicking. Revisions are literally what this is all about.

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