ALWYNNE PRITCHARD Rockaby
The Norwegian Naval Forces’ Band ensemble recherche SWR Experimentalstudio BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
1999 20 YEARS 2019 ALWYNNE PRITCHARD (*1968)
1 Loser (2014) 09:28 2 March, March, March (2013) 05:41
3 Decoy (2004) 19:03
4 Rockaby (2016) 11:57
5 Graffiti (2006) 13:49
6 Glorvina (2012) 03:20
7 Irene Electric (2013) 13:03
TT 76:00
1 Klaus Steffes-Holländer, piano / voice / objects 2 The Norwegian Naval Forces’ Band Bjarte Engeset, conductor 3 ensemble recherche SWR Experimentalstudio 4 Alwynne Pritchard, voice / movement BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra Ilan Volkov, conductor 5 Christian Dierstein, percussion SWR Experimentalstudio 6 SWR Experimentalstudio 7 Victoria Johnson, violin Thorolf Thuestad, electronics Children from the Philippine High School for the Arts, voices
2 Design: Lisa Simpson
3 Gun on the Table be related too. The pianist coughs five of translation takes place in Graffi- times (should we read this as embar- ti for percussion and electronics: the rassment?) before launching, unex- sounds of drums are transformed into pectedly, into a deranged and disso- those of gongs. The drums are played nant riff that vaults across the entire through a loudspeaker set-up whose keyboard. soundwaves activate two large gongs and a tam-tam; these sounds in turn Alwynne Pritchard: I like that you no- are transformed through contact mics tice these things. Actually, I’ve revised and live electronics. the score so you don’t see the bag: the piece should now be performed behind AP: I have a need for extreme order in a curtain so only the pianist’s ankles everything I do. So these very organ- A telling moment comes about two are visible. You use the word embar- ised things that I set up are a way to minutes into Alwynne Pritchard’s rassment, and I think partly concealing escape that. They’re like booby traps, Loser, for piano, voice and objects. the pianist, like a bather in a changing or they’re like the box and I’m the jack A cluster of keys is silently depressed, room, adds to this mood; something is coming out of the box. The early piec- the piano’s hammers lifting to let the being partly concealed from the pub- es are only the box, I think, and now I strings resonate sympathetically. lic but of course it is also being partly make these structures that I can then A small bag of sand is used to hold exposed. There’s something funny and burst out of or I can have the perform- them in place. The bag is open, we sad about that. Naked ankles are funny ers burst out of; it’s full of unpredict- notice, as it perches precariously on and sad in themselves! able energy, it’s funny, but still there the keyboard’s edge. We can feel its are these contradictory forces and this weight, a ball of potential energy, over Connections and contradictions, em- obsessive need to control. … I think al- which the pianist’s hands continue to pirical and esoteric, run throughout ready in Graffiti it’s using the electron- play. Pritchard’s music. Decoy, for ensemble ics to break out of the extreme order and electronics, derives its form and of the percussion part. It’s that first cry Suddenly, the spell is broken. With a rhythmic structure from a six-by-six for freedom. swipe of the hand, the pianist casts magic square (using the numbers 1 to the bag onto the ground. It lands with 36). This act of pragmatic translation In Loser the pianist speaks short ex- a squelching thud, its contents spilling has roots in another, more mystical tracts from Thomas Bernhard’s 1983 across the floor. One thing follows an- one, since the square is identical with novel Der Untergeher, in which a other (the swipe and the thud), joined that devised by the sixteenth-centu- youthful encounter between two pia- by a physical force (gravity). More ry occultist Heinrich Cornelius Agrip- no students (Bernhard’s narrator and things follow, and somehow, they must pa to represent the Sun. Another kind his friend Wertheimer) and Glenn
4 Gould in 1953 launches the students Rockaby is perhaps the most com- palette for my costume as it moves. into self-destructive spirals of inade- plex work here. Written for orchestra And everything the live foley artists are quacy and anxiety. There are Gould- and vocal performer it also calls for doing is visible to the audience. But I’m isms in Pritchard’s score: it concludes two foley artists and a prominent (al- wondering if that should be the case in with a desiccated reworking of Bach’s though not virtuoso) pianist. In addi- future. Maybe I will also hang a curtain Goldberg Variation no. 30 (the piece tion, the vocal performer is required in front of them, so that only the top of Gould played at that fictional meet- to wear an elaborate, custom-made their heads and a strip lower down is ing). Gould’s devotion to technology is costume – equal parts geisha, crazed visible, revealing some hint – nothing ironically represented, in the form of steampunk inventor and military com- more – of what they’re doing, the ob- a karaoke machine and a noisily skip- mander – that is transformed through- jects they’re using. It could be more in- ping CD. And, of course, the pianist is out the course of the piece by way of triguing, less demonstrative that way. I asked to whistle. Wertheimer’s travails zips, hidden panels and velcro strips. don’t know. Very often with my pieces (it is he who Gould names “the loser”, The resulting work is therefore a rich I feel as though there are a number of and who eventually takes his own life) mix of words, music, sound effects, alternative possibilities. Certainly, with are conveyed in the cries, coughs and dance and textile art, with all the sen- pieces where there are these process- strangled expression of the vocal part, sual depth and polyphony that this es that are theatrical, let’s say. They the bag of sand knocked angrily to the implies. can be directed differently each time. floor, perhaps even the comically inad- equate sound of a small, battery-pow- Tim Rutherford-Johnson: What you’re The choice of Beckett’s Rockaby is ered milk frother attempting to play doing with the curtain in Loser is al- suggestive: the playwright’s image of along with the real Bach at the end. most an inversion of the foley idea in a dying woman in her rocking chair of- Rockaby. Foley is about using things fers another collision between human Writings by others inform several of that sound like something else, and being and gravity. Pritchard’s vocal the works on this disc: not only Loser, in Rockaby you’re actually showing text is not taken from Beckett, how- but also Rockaby (after Samuel Beck- what’s going on, breaking bits of celery ever, but is made up of fragments as- ett’s play) and Glorvina (after a novel and so on. sembled from readings of Cervantes, by the early nineteenth-century Irish Moshé Feldenkrais (founder of the author Sydney, Lady Morgan). Yet al- AP: Yes. Just to clarify, celery is used Feldenkrais Method for increasing though Pritchard’s works frequent- by foley artists to create the sound ef- self-awareness through movement) ly echo aspects of them, in no sense fect of a nose being broken, of bone and the psychologist Daniel Stern (au- are they depictions: her sources serve being crushed. I expanded these kinds thor of Forms of Vitality). Beckett’s more to activate a field of themat- of conventional foley effects with, for text, meanwhile, is translated into ic possibilities than to circumscribe a example, the sound of scraping met- the piano part, using a simple cryp- palette of ideas and images. al, to build a sort of hybrid sound effect tographic technique in which each
5 new word is assigned to the next note was composed as part of a Lon- other half of the woman’s story? The down on the chromatic scale, starting don “Music Walk” that marked John part that Beckett chose not to show with the fourth A above middle C (the Cage’s centenary in 2012. Once again, us, but that might be hidden behind play’s first word: “More”) and reach- words, music and visuals are brought the shocking “fuck life” (words 107 and ing its lowest point seventy semitones together and interrelated. The work’s 108) at the very end of his play? down the scale at the word “some- rhythms, pitches and text are all de- where”. (In fact, Beckett’s play con- rived from the preface to St Claire; TR-J: Texts haunt many of the works tains 108 different words, more than or, The Heiress of Desmond, by the on this disc. At one stage wasn’t there the piano’s keyboard could accommo- early nineteenth-century Irish author also going to be a vocal part to March, date, but Pritchard avoids this prob- Sydney, Lady Morgan (who was nick- March, March as well? lem by not setting its fourth and final named Glorvina after the heroine of scene.) her most famous book, The Wild Irish AP: March, March, March was original- Girl), and the piece was written to be ly composed as it’s presented here – TR-J: Was part of the appeal of the listened to in front of her bust, which for navy band alone. But since writ- Beckett text this in-built clock-ness? is held in London’s Victoria and Albert ing it, I’ve imagined a vocal part (with Museum. an American accent), part spoken, part AP: Absolutely. Also, reading it I thought sprechgesang, somewhere between you could do a very simple note-by- Returning to Rockaby: Beckett’s re- a crazed (but very suppressed) polit- note transcription of this and it would cursive, repetition-laden script echoes ical rant and a teenager gossiping on be very effective but much longer. If I the rock back and forth of the old the telephone. Think Donald Trump hadn’t been told that my piece was lon- woman’s chair. The piano part of meets Janice from Friends meets Ser- ger than it had to be, I would have set Pritchard’s piece drains that text of geant Hartman from Stanley Kubrick’s the final scene. It was really pragmatic. linguistic content but highlights its in- “Full Metal Jacket” meets Schoenberg’s ternal patterns. Against this relatively Pierrot Lunaire! And Frank Zappa is in TR-J: I counted them up – you would regular framework Pritchard’s perfor- on this conversation in my head too. have run out of notes! mance is angry, even vengeful (“The We had a recording session and I made demands of your ambition / … And it several versions, intending to pres- AP: I think I could have found a way shall be so reverenced by my own / My ent the piece with vocal part here, but around going off the bottom of the pi- will / To you / Submissively I mould”) – a somehow, I couldn’t make it work. I’d ano. There would probably have been great contrast to the existential resig- still like to try it in live performance, but a way. nation of Beckett’s woman (“till in the for this recording I invite listeners to end/the day came/in the end came/ contribute their own theatre of voices A similar act of translation takes place close of a long day”). Again, we are in- (imagined or out loud – it’s up to you!). in Glorvina. This short electronic piece vited to make a connection: is this the
6 At the heart of Irene Electric, for vio- er is wrapped within a costume of zips cities in which they were born) cap- lin and tape, are not so much texts and velcro. An open bag of sand rests tures the physical, cognitive and psy- and language, although these also fig- on a piano keyboard.) chological tension, the stasis (like a ure prominently, but the piece’s origin kind of static electrical hum) that was in two particular and very different lo- Theatre is, like translation, an art of Pritchard’s experience of the storm cales. Pritchard began work in 2011 in connection-making, between text in New York City. By comparison, in New York City. This was the summer and performance, between perfor- the second section, dream and fan- of hurricane Irene. Pritchard’s apart- mance and audience, between this tasy texts are intertwined as the tun- ment was in a designated Red (ie dan- moment and that, between a desire ing pegs of the violin are gradually re- ger) Zone: she describes being para- inspired in the audience and its res- leased. Like Pritchard’s experience of lysed with fear by the hype and anxiety olution. If there is a gun on the table the humid and stormy weather in the and electricity in the air. A year lat- in Act 1, wisdom has it, someone has Philippines, all sounds, texts and ma- er she was in a wooden hut in a Phil- to fire it in Act 5. In the second half of terials here yield to motion, decay and ippine rainforest, undertaking a resi- Irene Electric (tam-tam rings sympa- transformation. dency at the Philippine High School for thetically, cloth falls away, bag drops the Arts. Under conditions of extreme to the floor) the violinist comes to the AP: I want to hear the process of inves- heat and humidity life here had adapt- front of the stage, lights the two can- tigation. This dynamic of exploration, of ed to the inevitability of change and dles and sits in the second chair, the investigating how to get out of some- decay. Inspired by the “unique lyricism” violin resting on her knee. thing, or how to let go of something for she heard in the voices of the students a moment – where do you go, how do with whom she was working, she com- In many ways it is a simple gesture, you reassess, how do you rebuild … All piled a tape part from their words that theatre reduced almost to the banal of that, I like that. For me that’s music. captured both the grounded organi- (although Beckett would probably dis- cism of the Philippines and the tension agree). Yet it speaks to Pritchard’s fas- This text combines notes by of New York. cination with connecting things that Tim Rutherford-Johnson, is the source of her music’s dramat- written in February 2018, and The work is structured in two parts. ic potency. Neither Hurricane Irene transcriptions from a conversation The first establishes the dramatic ten- nor the Philippine rainforest are de- around those notes with sion. The violinist sits with her back to picted overtly, but elements of both Alwynne Pritchard, recorded in the audience. Another chair faces the are present. In the first section of the March 2018 front. An unlit candle stands on either piece, the taut, breathless violin sound side. The situation is one of yet to be coupled with the statements made realised potential. (A loudspeaker is by the Philippine students (they sim- placed behind a tam-tam. A perform- ply announce their names and the
7 ALWYNNE PRITCHARD
Alwynne Pritchard is a British compos- er, vocalist and performer whose work explores relationships between musi- cal expression and the human voice and body. She has appeared as an ac- tor, vocalist and physical performer in stage productions, as well as direct- ing and developing choreography for her work. In 2015, she formed the mu- sic-theatre company Neither Nor with Thorolf Thuestad.
As a teenager, Alwynne’s first compo- sition teacher was her father, Gwyn Pritchard. She then went on to study composition with Robert Saxton at the Guildhall School of Music and Dra- ma and with Melanie Daiken, Justin Connolly and Michael Finnissy at the
Dress: Kira Massara Kira Dress: Royal Academy of Music in London.
8 Her PhD at the University of Bristol, Oehring, Gerhard Stäbler, Trond which she diverted midway from mu- Reinholdtsen, François Sarhan and sicology (looking at the music of Brian Felix Kubin. Alwynne also performs Ferneyhough) to composition, was su- frequently as an improviser. Her pro- pervised by Professor Jonathan Cross. fessional life has included stints as a While at the Academy, Alwynne also writer and presenter for BBC Radio, a studied voice privately with mezzo-so- composition teacher at Trinity College prano Linda Hirst. of Music in London and as Artistic Di- rector of both the Borealis festival and Alwynne has composed for, and per- BIT20 Ensemble in Bergen, Norway. formed with, leading musicians and ensembles across the globe. Her work Alwynne is managed by Maestro Arts, Decoy, created at the SWR Experi- and her music is published by Verlag mentalstudio in Freiburg in 2006, for Neue Musik. the Donaueschingen Musiktage, was awarded the special prize given by the Foundation Ton Bruynèl, STEIM and the Foundation GAUDEAMUS. In 2016, she was awarded the commission to create a fanfare or “marker” to cele- brate the opening of Snøhetta’s build- ing for the University of Bergen’s new- ly created Department of Art, Music and Design, for which she created the book of text scores, up without an in- sistent casting away.
As a performer, projects include her own Vitality Forms solo vocal/phys- ical pieces and the ongoing series of DOG/GOD commissions, launched at the Bergen International Festival in 2015 with works created for her by, among others, Vinko Globokar, Helmut
9 Recording dates: 1 30 Sep 2016, 2 14 Nov 2018, 3 15–16 Oct 2004, 4 8 May 2016, 5 7 Jan 2007, 6 2012, 7 2012–2013 Recording venues: 1 Hans Rosbaud Studio SWR, Baden-Baden/Germany, 2 Bergenhus Fortress Music Hall, Bergen/Norway, 3 Gewerbliche Schulen, Donaueschingen/Germany, 4 City Halls, Glasgow/UK, 5 Heinrich-Strobel-Saal, SWR Studio, Freiburg/Germany, 6 Experimentalstudio, SWR Studio, Freiburg/Germany, 7 Østre, Bergen/Norway Engineers: 1 Norbert Vossen, 2 Thorolf Thuestad, Alwynne Pritchard, 3 Wolfgang Wilbs, Helmut Hanusch, 4 Graeme Taylor, 5 Manuel Braun, 6 Thomas Hummel, Alwynne Pritchard, 7 Thorolf Thuestad Producers: 1 3 5 Südwestrundfunk, 2 Thorolf Thuestad, Alwynne Pritchard, 4 Andrew Trinick, 6 Thomas Hummel, Alwynne Pritchard, 7 Thorolf Thuestad, Alwynne Pritchard Publisher: 1 2 3 4 5 Verlag Neue Musik 1 5 6 licensed by SWR Media Services GmbH Booklet Text: Tim Rutherford-Johnson Photos: Thor Brødreskift, Alwynne Pritchard Cover: Detail of Mahoe by Jeff Thomson, photographed by Martin Rummel
2 was commissioned by 0015047KAI The Norwegian Naval Forces’ Band for a production of KAIROS The Brasswind Festival in 2013, with funds from Det Norske Komponistfond. ℗ 2019 BBC 4 & 2019 paladino media gmbh, Vienna © 2019 paladino media gmbh, Vienna www.kairos-music.com
LC 10488
10 ALWYNNE PRITCHARD (*1968)
1 Loser (2014) 09:28
2 March, March, March (2013) 05:41
3 Decoy (2004) 19:03
4 Rockaby (2016) 11:57
5 Graffi ti (2006) 13:49
6 Glorvina (2012) 03:20
7 Irene Electric (2013) 13:03
TT 76:00
℗ 2019 BBC 4 & 2019 paladino media gmbh, Vienna © 2019 paladino media gmbh, Vienna www.kairos-music.com
LC 10488 D D D 0015047KAI . ISRC: ATTE41954701 to 07 . Made in Germany