Kettles and 40 world premieres in 40 minutes

Yesterday, the BMOL modern-classic-weird-baroque-cool concert-visiting gang (that’s me and three other percussion freaks) defied the Dutch railway system and managed to make our way to The Hague, to visit the Dag in de Branding festival, a one-day festival for contemporary music.

The piece that made me decide to visit The Hague was Alvin Lucier's 'Kettles', for five timpani and two oscillators. Basically, the oscillators generated two pure sinusses that gradually diverge and converge. The interference that is caused by this, is mimicked by the timpani that are all tuned to a different ‘step’ (trap don’t know the English equivalent yet) within a major triad. While one timpani gradually accelarates (from one beat per 12 seconds to one beat per second), the other gradually slows down.

The result was overwhelming: a wall of sound that was so massive and pervasive that there was no room left in my head to think. At some point, the pulses were so slow an weird that it almost felt like time itself being slowed down. The interference played all kind of tricks with our ears, sometimes sounding like a chopper close by, or like a drone in the back of your head, somewhere just below your skin. What a pity that it only lasted 13 minutes, I could have listened to it for hours.

The other works were worthwile too: two compositions by Lois Vierk (Yeah, Yeah, Yeah and Red Shift), one by Claudio Baroni (Incircles II), and a fascinating piece by Yannis Kyriakides, ‘Telegraphic’, where the six percussionists of Slagwerkgroep Den Haag were connected to players of Champ d’Action by means of six morse keys. Whenever the percussionists pressed their key, the sound of the corresponding player was amplified.

After that, we decided to skip the beach and go to a second concert: ‘Principles of Concision’ by Ensemble Klang. What a great decision: Klang asked 40 contemporary composers to write a short (max. 2 minute) musical signature that defined the essence of their work. In the words of one of the members: 'don't blink, or you might miss a piece'!

Composers to investigate: Lois Vierk, Heiner Goebbels, Tom Johnsson.

Meredith Monk

Somewhere back in 1994, when I still fit size 36, studied phonology and had a rather traditional musical backpack of classical choral and symphonic music, someone gave me two tapes, with the suggestion that, as a linguist, I might be interested in the "funny babbling" that interspersed the music. It was a copy of Atlas, an opera in three parts by Meredith Monk.

It would be too epic to say that that moment changed my life, but Monk's music did knock me off my feet the first time I listened to it. It was unlike anything I'd heard so far, both musically and emotionally. The tape was a copy, Internet not yet widely available, so I had no idea what I was listening to, apart from the idea of traditional opera (which it didn't remotely resembe) and the evocative song titles like "Personal Climate - Future Quest", "Desert tango", and my favorite piece "Agricultural Community", which was my first encounter with asymmetric rhythm.

So, quite unprepared, I suddenly found myself in a world of whooping, screaming, yodling, sighing, crying, whispering, moaning, stammering and talking voices. Really, imagine anything possible with a voice, add anything you deem impossible, and that's what Meredith Monk is about. And there's nothing artificial about it, it's all so natural, so obvious, that you can't help thinking that this is what singing is about, should be about: setting the voice free to do its own thing, to express its owner's own personality, emotion, doubt.


As she says herself: "I work in between the cracks, where the voice starts dancing, where the body starts singing, where theatre becomes cinema".

What attracted me even more, is that there seemed to be a phonology-like system underlying Monk's choice of soundscapes. I don't know whether she did this deliberately, but many of the sound sequences make maximum use of the structural oppositions in, for instance, the vowel diagram (juxtaposing /e/ with /o/, /i/ with /u/). Also, the choice of whether to use words or sounds, seemed to be related to the sincerity of the message that was conveyed - words somehow sounding more insincere than the ecstatic voices set free in their own domain. Of course, one could argue that this is almost inevitable, but still, it added extra interest (and hours spent phonologically analysing her music) for me.

After the first surprise, the tapes travelled along with me, surviving five boyfriends, three rounds of moving house, my transition from student to career woman; and somehow, they kept surfacing at those important moments in my life. I'd play them, and still find new things. Until they finally gave out, and I decided to buy a proper, legal CD-box. And read the accompanying booklet. And found out that what happened to me and my tapes, was exactly what the opera was about.

Back in 2006, I had the opportunity to see and hear Meredith Monk in Hamburg, a very memorable experience. I still remember her entering the stage: tiny, but incredibly powerful. She started to sing Wa-lie-oh; after the first few notes, about half the people in my row got up and left. After the second song, some more, but those who stayed, almost tore the roof down. I'm not sure whether it was my mind playing tricks, but it was almost like there were lights and colours around her on the black backdrop everytime she started singing, it was that intense.

After the concert, I did something quite un-Maaike like: I posted at the back entrance. Then walked away, telling myself not to act so adolescent. Then returned and waited some more, until she came out. I spent quite a while talking to her about her music, the effect it had on the audience that night. And I got to thank her for, well, basically, what I just wrote down. Very special indeed.

I've included quite a lot of Monk songs in my Last.fm playlist in the right sidebar. On Ubuweb, there's a documentary on Meredith Monk and her work. Here's the first part:

Varese: Ionisation

And an interesting background article by Dutch percussionist Niels Le Large about Varese and his importance for percussion as an independent musical entity.

Alvin Lucier - Music for Piano with One or More Snare Drums (1990)

Came across another interesting composer today: Alvin Lucier. His Kettles, a piece for five timpani and two oscillators, is performed at the 'Dag in de Branding' festival by Slagwerkgroep Den Haag on May 24.

I couldn't find a recording of that particular piece yet, but I found this one: Music for Piano with One or More Snare Drums, a very quiet and meditative piece where the snares are resonating along with the piano.

Apparently, he has written something for 'enormously amplified brainwaves'. WTF?

More info on his albums here.

Carter, Stravinsky, Goehr

As heard in the Concertgebouw this night:
E. Carter - Asko Concerto
Stravinsky - Movements
E. Carter - In the Distances of Sleep
A. Goehr - Little Symphony
E. Carter - Dialogues

I don't know what it is with Carter: I love his timpani pieces, but when I listen to other stuff, it gets on my nerves. Not because I don't like it, but rather because I don't know how to approach it. It's not music that goes straight to my heart or my stomach, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't touch me. I left feeling disturbed, disconcerted and even indignant, like someone did something really upsetting to me.

I suspect he's doing this on purpose. Just look at the way he grinned at me from the program notes all night:

Steve Reich - Piano phase (excerpt)

Went to listen to the marimba version of this piece last night in the Concertgebouw. Players: Wim de Vos and Peppie Wiersma. Cool detail: Peppie Wiersma played 'Curves' by Ron Ford, a piece for theremin. Cypher is currently building one; great to hear it live!

Philip Glass - Concerto Fantasy for Two Timpanists and Orchestra, part 1

Seen on October 27th in Groningen, with Mark Voermans and Raymond Curfs on timpani.

Philip Glass - Concerto Fantasy for Two Timpanists and Orchestra, part 2

Philip Glass - Concerto Fantasy for Two Timpanists and Orchestra, part 3

Stuart Marrs plays Carter's March

Definitely on my wishlist: Stuart Marrs not only performing, but also analysing Carter's '8 Pieces for timpani'. While I understand that worldwide interest in drumming and world percussion justifies the huge amounts of information widely available on these subjects, I'm still quite disappointed by the almost complete absence of any pedagogic or analytical information on timpani. This DVD is a welcome exception!