It Worked Yesterday: on (Re-) Performing Electroacoustic Music
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University of Huddersfield Repository Berweck, Sebastian It worked yesterday: On (re-)performing electroacoustic music Original Citation Berweck, Sebastian (2012) It worked yesterday: On (re-)performing electroacoustic music. Doctoral thesis, University of Huddersfield. This version is available at http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/17540/ The University Repository is a digital collection of the research output of the University, available on Open Access. Copyright and Moral Rights for the items on this site are retained by the individual author and/or other copyright owners. 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For more information, including our policy and submission procedure, please contact the Repository Team at: [email protected]. http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/ It worked yesterday On (re-)performing electroacoustic music A thesis submitted to the University of Huddersfield in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Sebastian Berweck, August 2012 Abstract Playing electroacoustic music raises a number of challenges for performers such as dealing with obsolete or malfunctioning technology and incomplete technical documentation. Together with the generally higher workload due to the additional technical requirements the time available for musical work is significantly reduced. Many of the issues have their roots in composers, publishers, performers and promoters considering how their work process could easily be adapted to the additional demands of electroacoustic music. It was also found that the employment of music technologists cannot sufficiently make up for incomplete documentation and inadequate archiving of compositions. Using case studies made up of single compositions and whole concerts, solutions are proposed, which the several parties could effortlessly employ to considerably ease the process of preparing and performing electroacoustic music. Finally hands-on methods on how performers can deal with the situation as it is today are proposed. It is being hoped that by implementing these strategies not only better performances of electroacoustic music will be facilitated but also that electroacoustic works in general will enjoy a longer life-span in the future, thus enabling the sustenance of a vivid electroacoustic repertoire. 2 Statement of Copyright i. The author of this thesis (including any appendices and/or schedules to this thesis) owns any copyright in it (the “Copyright”) and s/he has given The University of Huddersfield the right to use such Copyright for any administrative, promotional, educational and/or teaching purposes. ii. Copies of this thesis, either in full or in extracts, may be made only in accordance with the regulations of the University Library. Details of these regulations may be obtained from the Librarian. This page must form part of any such copies made. iii. The ownership of any patents, designs, trade marks and any and all other intellectual property rights except for the Copyright (the “Intellectual Property Rights”) and any reproductions of copyright works, for example graphs and tables (“Reproductions”), which may be described in this thesis, may not be owned by the author and may be owned by third parties. Such Intellectual Property Rights and Reproductions cannot and must not be made available for use without the prior written permission of the owner(s) of the relevant Intellectual Property Rights and/or Reproductions. 3 ‘The computer software and hardware extend the sound check into a debugging session. The computer is rebooted again. Will it work this time?’ Miller Puckette and Zack Settel, 1993 ‘“Just before the concert everything was working perfectly” is a sentence I have often heard, a remark closely related to the “yesterday when I played it, it went so well” that I have heard even more often in the course of my teaching years.’ Catherine Vickers, 2011 4 Table of Contents 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................... 9 1.1 Motivation ........................................................................................................................................... 9 1.2 Research Questions ........................................................................................................................... 11 1.3 Definitions ......................................................................................................................................... 11 1.4 Submission ........................................................................................................................................ 15 1.5 Endpoints and Further Research ........................................................................................................ 15 2 METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................................................. 17 2.1 Interviews .......................................................................................................................................... 17 2.2 Scope of the Study ............................................................................................................................. 21 2.3 Methods ............................................................................................................................................ 25 2.4 Personal Involvement and Limits of Methodology ............................................................................. 35 3 CASE STUDIES: REALIZATION OF SINGLE COMPOSITIONS ............................................................ 36 3.1 Giacinto Scelsi: Aitsi ........................................................................................................................... 40 3.2 Luigi Nono: ...sofferte onde serene... ................................................................................................. 53 3.3 Richard Festinger: Head over Heels ................................................................................................... 65 3.4 Orm Finnendahl: Wheel of Fortune ................................................................................................... 71 3.5 Enno Poppe: Arbeit ............................................................................................................................ 80 3.6 Scott McLaughlin: Dissolution / Bifurcations in a Continuous System ................................................ 87 3.7 Dodo Schielein: N381 ......................................................................................................................... 94 3.8 Hans Tutschku: Zellen-Linien ............................................................................................................. 99 4 CONCERT ORGANIZATION ........................................................................................................... 110 4.1 University of Huddersfield, Phipps Hall, 22.01.2009 ........................................................................ 112 4.2 Herrenhäuser Gärten: Leibniztempel, 15.08.2009............................................................................ 120 4.3 Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, 24.11.2009 .................................................................. 129 4.4 Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hannover, 09.12.2009 .............................................. 133 5 4.5 Tour Huddersfield, Frankfurt, Karlsruhe, Reutlingen, March 2011 ................................................... 143 4.6 piano+ festival, ZKM Karlsruhe, 25.11.2011 ..................................................................................... 151 5 SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................... 158 5.1 Publishers ........................................................................................................................................ 158 5.2 Composers ....................................................................................................................................... 170 5.3 Performers ...................................................................................................................................... 190 5.4 Music Technology ............................................................................................................................ 198 5.5 Promoters ........................................................................................................................................ 205 6 SOLUTION PROPOSALS FOR PERFORMERS ................................................................................. 209 6.1 Programming ................................................................................................................................... 211 6.2 Restoration / Coding ........................................................................................................................ 213 6.3 Equipment ......................................................................................................................................