ICMC 2018/Reviews

array ICMC 2018/Reviews big canvas which was used for painting as Concert 19 well as the movements of the painter, and Friday, Aug 10, 8:00 p.m. the resulting images were sent to a Daegu Concert Hall, Grand Hall computer and processed in order to Reviewed by Wanjun Yang control the electronics and the live video, which was projected on the screen. The Friday was the last day ofthe ICMC 2018 interaction between video, live in Daegu Korea, and this concert, which instruments and electronics was well- could be called the final concert, was designed and constantly kept attraction. perfect for ending the conference. Only the sound that appeared when the The program list of the concert was long, painter used fork and painting spatula to including 10 different pieces composed scratch on the canvas was too sharp to for instrument and electronics, VR, appreciate. acousmatic, fixed media and video. Hibiki Mukai’s Drama queen/Euphoria/ The first piece of the concert was Sonic Navel-gazing (2017) was composed for Environment Daegu, composed by harp and electronics. The composer Andreas Weixler and Se-Lien Chuang for combined prepared samples in the ensemble and electronics, mixing eastern electronics, some of them excessively and western music and culture. The rhythmic, popular, and several played in ensemble, which consisted of piano, harp, loops with special sounds created by the and three traditional Korean instruments, harp player using glass and other objects to Daegeum (a transverse bamboo flute with stop the vibration of the strings, which seven large holes and a buzzing created very special sounds and timbre. membrane), Geomungo (a fretted bass Harp sounds picked up by microphone zither with six to eleven silk strings and processed in real-time completed the plucked with a bamboo stick and played piece. with a weight made out of cloth) and Haegeum (a vertical fiddle with two The third piece, Francesco Bossi’s strings), was combined with live painting acousmatic and spatial music piece In and video creating a very appealing and Memory ofa Little Soldier, was composed distinct impression. The painter was for an 8 channel system. The composer situated on stage. A camera captured the 24 array ICMC 2018/Reviews recorded the sounds of trumpet, female music matched to the title ofthe piece. singer, male singer, snare drum and percussion into buffers of a Max/MSP Listening to the image - 'Angelus patch, and processed the sound samples arquitect nico de Millet', an audiovisual based on an FFT analysis module, piece composed and performed by extracting the spectrum ofthe sounds and Minchang Han, was one of my favorite playing back the spectral frames at pieces of the concert. The Architectonic different speed and direction. The Angelus of Millet is a famous masterpiece processed sounds were then assigned to of Salvador Dali. The composer’s idea was variable channels. Altogether, the audience to transform the image into musical data could experience a very special spatial by the help ofelectronic music technology. audio piece, which, however, embraced a The piece was composed for 6 MIDI little too much reverb. channels, and followed the main goal of converting space-based art into time-based It followed Judith Shatin’s Gregor's Dream art. During the performance, the for piano, violin, cello and electronics. The composer (who was also the performer) performance was carried by the skillful moved a mouse over a representation of play of the musicians, who presented the The Architectonic Angelus of Millet in well composed instrumental part on order to get the information on RGB data piano, violin and cello with emotion and of each pixel, and assigned this to one of precision. The electronics, for which the the 6 MIDI channels which were mapped composer recorded many different sounds to different parameters and triggered the from nature and processed them by music. In moving the mouse over the electronics, produced mostly background painting by following each line, the sounds. The electronic part completed audiences could hear the process of and enhanced the wonderful instrumental painting: the performer explained the part, appearing just like sounds in a dream. audiences how the painting was created. Even though it would have been more Undoubtedly, this music piece is an successful if instruments and electronics impressive work, but there is still some worked together more coherently and in room for improvements. During the balance, the audiences could follow the performance, the console of the software main idea of the composer well, and the was visible on the screen. The audience 25 array ICMC 2018/Reviews could see all parameters changing with the voice was captured with a microphone, mouse movements done by the performer, and then processed with the impulse which led to the impression that the responses in real-time. The sonic performance remained in rehearsal status environment of the ruins was expressed rather than presenting a complete through vocal performance and sound performance. If the composer can change transformations. The composer also the way of picking pixel information, offered the audience to visit a website with hiding cursor and console panel of the their mobile phone during the software, and show only the image of the performance, where they could explore the painting on the screen, the audience could church ruins of Visby in a 3D model, and get a better immersive experience with experience the sonic characteristics. painting and music. In addition, the use of more output channels could provide the How should the breath of water sound composer with more options to map like? Mara Helmuth and Esther Lamneck image information to music information, gave the answer. In Breath ofWater, for and the piece would sound and look clarinet and electronics, the composer better. captured the sound of the clarinet, analyzed the sound, and extracted the Visby, S:t Nicolai, a piece for voice and subharmonic parts, which then were electronics, was very special. It started with processed and amplified, so that the tiny a picture of a bright church ruin on the sounds were clearly audible. The clarinet screen, and a very sweet and beautiful player’s gestures were captured with soprano voice. When the singer showed sensors on the hands. This data was used up on the stage, the audience found out to control the parameters of the sound that the singer was a male soprano singer, processing, which made the sounds more Paul Botelho, who was also the composer vivid. The first part of the piece was an ofthe piece. The composition was focused allegro part: the clarinet produced fast on the sonic environment of medieval notes, which sounded like a small stream church ruins, which the composer had running down the rocks; the second part captured with first-order ambisonic field was quiet: the audience could feel the recordings in order to get the impulse stream flowing gently; the final part was responses. In the performance, the singer’s rather exciting: the loud sounds made the 26 array ICMC 2018/Reviews audience experience a waterfall. the four elements of the universe with Geomungo and electronics. In the first The next piece was another one about section, the Geomungo was played in a water. Kim SunJin’s Big Bang in Water non-traditional way: the player used bow was a 4 channel fixed media piece. The and bow hair of Haegeum (a traditional main motive was the sound of a drop of Korean vertical fiddle with two strings) to water. The composer captured the sound trigger the strings of the Geomungo, and processed it in diverse ways, using EQ, clapped the body of Geomungo with her reverse, delay, echo, dynamic, reverb, pitch hands, and plucked the strings with a shift, etc. The tiny sounds of water drops bamboo pick in order to generate different were sent to the speakers in a well- sound effects. The sounds were captured designed logic, and created a very special with a microphone, processed with a sounding space. The dynamic range was Max/MSP patch, and sent to the speakers. quite wide; the sounds came out with In the second section, the Geomungo was power, and the audiences could sense the played in traditional way, and was explosion – the big bang ofa water bubble presented with less computer processing. –, and get the main idea of the composer. The audiences could hear the original This piece was one of my favorite fixed sound of the traditional Geomungo. In media pieces ofthe conference. Unluckily, section three, the player changed the this piece came after the Breath ofWater. playing technique again, using a bow to As both pieces were about water, in some rub the strings, and rapping strings and moments, the materials of the two pieces body with a bamboo pick. The seemed similar, and this piece sounded like Geomungo generated a unique timbre. an extension ofthe previous one. The sounds were also processed with effects, such as reverb, flanger, and delay. The Geomungo (also spelled komungo or The combination of traditional Korean hyeongeum, literally "black zither") is a music and electronic techniques, the traditional Korean string instrument of resulting diverse sounds, and the skillful the family ofzither instruments with both, player created a very nice piece. A better bridges and frets. In Keun-Hong Kim’s balance of acoustic and electronic parts The Four Elements for Geomungo, the would make the piece even more composer expressed his understanding of enjoyable. 27 array ICMC 2018/Reviews success. The long program took more than The final piece of the night was Garling 2 hours, which was both, a great pleasure Wu’s Island Universes, a very special live and challenge to the audiences.

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