This article was downloaded by: [University of Melbourne] On: 29 April 2009 Access details: Access Details: [subscription number 731852009] Publisher Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Journal of New Music Research Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t713817838 The Orchestra as a Resource for Electroacoustic Music On some works by Iannis Xenakis and Paul Dolden Agostino Di Scipio a a L'Aquila Italy. Online Publication Date: 01 June 2004 To cite this Article Scipio, Agostino Di(2004)'The Orchestra as a Resource for Electroacoustic Music On some works by Iannis Xenakis and Paul Dolden',Journal of New Music Research,33:2,173 — 183 To link to this Article: DOI: 10.1080/0929821042000310649 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0929821042000310649 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Full terms and conditions of use: http://www.informaworld.com/terms-and-conditions-of-access.pdf This article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, re-distribution, re-selling, loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material. Journal of New Music Research 2004, Vol. 33, No. 2, pp. 173–183 The Orchestra as a Resource for Electroacoustic Music On some works by Iannis Xenakis and Paul Dolden1 Agostino Di Scipio Via Salaria Antica Est 33/a, 67100 L’Aquila, Italy Abstract Iannis Xenakis’ tape work Hibiki-Hana-Ma (1970) was com- Ohm’s “superposition principle” (1843). He also rejected the posed only using extended recordings of orchestral passages. idea that electroacoustic and computer music should involve In this paper some analytical remarks are proposed concern- a simulation of conventional music instruments. In analogue ing the studio techniques Xenakis adopted and how they electronic works such as Analogique B (1958–59) and La reflect in the resultant sonorities. I shortly discuss, too, Below Légend d’Eer (1977), and computer music compositions the Walls of Jericho (1988–89), a tape work by Canadian alike, e.g., Mycenae-Alpha (1978) and Gendy3 (1991), composer Paul Dolden, made of hundreds of instrumental Xenakis created the sound materials themselves, implement- lines layered together like a huge kind of orchestra. In con- ing new sound synthesis methods based on statistical princi- sidering these two works, I am interested in questions like: ples. However radical, that position is of the utmost relevance what makes this music “electroacoustic”, rather than to the aesthetics and the theory of electronic music media. It “orchestra music that was eventually recorded”? The answer represents the composer’s attempt to bring forth, at that time, leans on a number of observations concerning (a) per- a theory of sound (i.e., an understanding of sound phenom- ceptual/cognitive phenomena (“emergent sonorities” and ena) consistent with his own theory of music (i.e., the vision “timbral residues” as due to variations of sonic density), and and implementation of “stochastic music”) (see discussion in (b) technological devices adopted in the compositional Di Scipio, 1995b, 1997). process. A relevant implication is finally discussed: the Yet, in his career Xenakis followed several approaches to notion that a clash or encounter takes place in this music electroacoustic composing (a survey on his eletroacoustic between different musical technologies understood as cul- and computer music repertoire is found in Harley, 2002; see tural institutions – namely the “orchestra” and the “electroa- also Hoffmann & Solomos, 1998). Moreover, in apparent Downloaded By: [University of Melbourne] At: 09:05 29 April 2009 coustic studio”. Besides some common elements, the two contrast to his own initial position, he did use instrumental works under examination in actuality reflect contrasting sounds in some of his electroacoustic works. I do not refer views of music technology in the creative process. to “mixed works”, i.e., scored for instruments and tape – there are only two, namely Analogique A et B (nine strings and taped synthetic sounds, 1958–59) and Kraanerg (23 1. Introduction instruments and tape, 1968–69). Nor do I refer to Pour la paix (1981), his only hörspiel, with voices (spoken and sung) In the late 1950s Xenakis rejected the notion that musical and synthesized sounds. I rather refer to tape works exclu- sound should be thought of in terms of simple harmonic sively or predominantly made of recordings of instrumental oscillations summed together, a notion dating back to Jean- ensembles or orchestras. That is the case with Polytope de Baptiste Fourier’s theorem (1807) and also related to George Montréal (1967), Hibiki-Hana-Ma (1969–70) and Persepo- lis (1971). And with Kraanerg, too, as its tape part “is appar- 1 Revised and extended text of a lecture delivered at the Rotterdam ently based on recordings done with the same 23-member Conservatory, 1998. chamber orchestra as the live parts” (Harley, 2002, p. 42). All Correspondence: Agostino Di Scipio, Via Salaria Antica, Est 33/a, 67100 L’Aquila, Italy. E-mail: [email protected] DOI: 10.1080/0929821042000310649 © 2004 Taylor & Francis Ltd. 174 Agostino Di Scipio such works were initially part of larger multimedia events, should pursue an examination of those auditory and techno- but later they have been presented as independent electroa- logical aspects which were not – and could not – be notated coustic works. They are very different among themselves, by the composer, but which nonetheless were central to his and yet represent altogether a homogeneous set of composi- composing. tions, the common element being the extensive utilization of As it seems, here is a paradoxical “study case” – but a recorded orchestra sounds. telling one – for scholars interested in music theory and The music of Polytope de Montréal has a special rele- analysis. It is often repeated that a major problem in analy- vance, in this respect. A 6-minute piece scored for four sis work bearing on electroacoustic repertoires is represented ensembles (each with 14 members), it is listed as “orchestra by the absence of a score, understood as the presumed lack music” in the official Xenakis catalogue. However, musicol- of a presumed niveau neutre (with older nattiezian terms). ogist François Delalande classifies this work as “musique However, confronted with works like Hibiki-Hana-Ma (or pour ensemble instrumental enregistré” (Delalande, 1997, p. Paul Dolden’s Below the Walls of Jericho – discussed later in 154). Indeed, within the installation of Polytope de Montréal, this paper), we should admit that such problems are not really Xenakis had a recording of the orchestra performance played overcome just because musical scores are, or could be, avail- back and projected over four loudspeaker groups. Arguably, able. In actuality, the problems raised far exceed issues of that was for reasons of economy and practicality: it might notation and “neutral level”, and have more to do with a lack have been difficult to somehow harmonize 56 instrumental- of “ethnomusicological awareness”, i.e., with an unwilling- ists within the logistics of the Polytope; and anyway the mere ness to characterize a different musical praxis (Di Scipio, presence of so many instrumentalists might have heavily 1995a). In all successful electroacoustic music, the link interfered with the visual focus of the overall event, expected between compositional process and listening experience to be on the trajectories of intermittent light-bulbs designed can hardly be reduced in terms of a possibly “objective” rep- by Xenakis himself. resentation of the sonic events, as it is more linked with I think, however, that the practical circumstances of Poly- design issues and a different cognitive relevance of sonic tope de Montréal revealed to the composer a significant and phenomena. hitherto unexplored potential. Indeed, the next year he started using taped orchestra sounds in a more systematic way, although certainly not in a “formalized” approach. That was 3. Hibiki-Hana-Ma for the tape parts of Kraanerg. Hibiki-Hana-Ma and Perse- polis were soon to follow. Xenakis’ Hibiki-Hana-Ma (Japanese words for “echo-flower- space”) was born of a commission to compose a new work for the Japanese Steel Federation Pavilion, at the 1970 Osaka 2. Questions World Expo. The overall project was under the direction of composer Toru Takemitsu, and also included multimedia The question arises as to what in such music is specific to events by Takemitsu himself and Yuji Takahashi. Composers the electroacoustic medium. In other words, what really were expected to create multichannel tape works to be played makes it electroacoustic music rather than orchestra music over a large array of loudspeakers, and to pursue their task Downloaded By: [University of Melbourne] At: 09:05 29 April 2009 that for some reasons was recorded on tape? Another ques- by exploiting various resources made available by the NHK tion is: how was it that Xenakis, the author of some of the (Japanese Broadcasting Corporation), eventually including most utterly synthetic and abstract works that ever appeared the resident orchestra. According to (Loubet, 1998), the tech- in the history of electroacoustic music, turned for some years nical set-up for the final performance would include “four 6- to musical works predominantly made of (largely recogniz- track recorders [. .] and 1300 loudspeakers located in the able) recorded orchestra sounds? floor, ceilings and walls” (Loubet, 1998, p.