City Research Online City, University of London Institutional Repository Citation: Papapetrou, Andreas (2015). Acts of making and receiving: A compositional practice. (Unpublished Doctoral thesis, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance/City University of London) This is the accepted version of the paper. This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Permanent repository link: https://openaccess.city.ac.uk/id/eprint/16933/ Link to published version: Copyright: City Research Online aims to make research outputs of City, University of London available to a wider audience. Copyright and Moral Rights remain with the author(s) and/or copyright holders. URLs from City Research Online may be freely distributed and linked to. Reuse: Copies of full items can be used for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge. 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City Research Online: http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/ [email protected] Andreas Papapetrou Acts of making and receiving: A compositional practice · Commentary September 2015 1 Table of Contents Acknowledgments ......................................................................................... 4 Abstract .......................................................................................................... 5 Introduction .................................................................................................... 6 A note on choosing not to be solitary ................................................................. 6 The other stuff ....................................................................................................... 7 The ways of music ................................................................................................. 8 In terms of sound ................................................................................................ 10 Existing through acts .......................................................................................... 12 Abstract musical objects .................................................................................... 13 Non-performable instantiations of music and recordings .............................. 14 Performance and documentation ...................................................................... 17 People and places ............................................................................................... 19 Ways of listening ................................................................................................. 21 Chapter I: Acts of Making ........................................................................... 26 Roles in the making ............................................................................................. 26 The concept of the musical work ...................................................................... 27 Towards abstraction ........................................................................................... 29 The concept of performance in music .............................................................. 31 Co-presence and addressing the audience ...................................................... 32 Social and non-matrixed performance ............................................................. 33 Music as a purely sonic art ................................................................................ 36 The Gesamtkunstwerk ........................................................................................ 36 Eyes as well as ears ............................................................................................ 38 Dissolution of boundaries: Fluxus, intermedia and performance events ...... 39 Chapter II: Acts of Receiving ...................................................................... 42 The need for an audience ................................................................................... 42 Performance qualities ......................................................................................... 44 Theatre space ...................................................................................................... 45 Conditioning the audience ................................................................................. 46 As Other Spaces .................................................................................................. 47 A measured time and place ................................................................................ 48 The Werktreue ideal ............................................................................................ 49 Role distinctions .................................................................................................. 51 Audience passivity .............................................................................................. 52 Immersion - Participation ................................................................................... 54 Audience Transgression ..................................................................................... 55 The question of authorship ................................................................................ 57 2 Portfolio: Acts of my own ........................................................................... 59 Joining the pieces ............................................................................................... 60 On scores ............................................................................................................. 61 List of titles .......................................................................................................... 62 [proximity miniatures – pre-compositional experiments] ............................... 63 Chiaroscuro ......................................................................................................... 66 Do Knot Undo ...................................................................................................... 71 In the Spotlight .................................................................................................... 77 Spindle .................................................................................................................. 84 Inquietus .............................................................................................................. 89 Nephéles .............................................................................................................. 96 The Garden of Listening ................................................................................... 103 Conclusions ............................................................................................... 112 Appendix - Scores ..................................................................................... 117 Chiaroscuro ....................................................................................................... 119 Do Knot Undo .................................................................................................... 131 In the Spotlight .................................................................................................. 143 Spindle ................................................................................................................ 149 Inquietus ............................................................................................................ 155 Nephéles ............................................................................................................ 165 The Garden of Listening ................................................................................... 177 Bibliography ............................................................................................... 189 3 Acknowledgments Many thanks: • to my supervisors Dominic Murcott and Sophie Fuller • to the Onassis Foundation, for generously funding my studies for the past three years, • to the A. G. Leventis Foundation, for generously funding me on the first year of my studies, • to the performers who helped me realise my pieces • and to Haris Achilleos, Evi Nakou, Maria-Christina Papadopoulou, Kristin Sofroniou, Carmen Zografou and my family, for their invaluable support. 4 Abstract Acts of making and receiving:1 A Compositional Practice This is a commentary on seven pieces I have created to explore the idea of music as the social activity of performance – including the rituals around it – instead of as abstract works. The pieces explore the relationship between performers and audience and the effects performance space has on that relationship, by addressing the function of the fourth wall as part of musical performance. Focusing on the inherent theatricality of musical performance, the pieces were created by experimenting with the non-sonic constituents of performance – i.e. the space that hosts performance and the rules that govern it, the distance between performers and audience and their behaviour towards each other. In short, my intention was to challenge performance conventions found in the performing tradition of Classical music by composing new music with an emphasis on the non-sonic constituents of performance. The commentary investigates various concepts about musical performance, which provided the ideas behind the pieces in my portfolio. The portfolio of pieces includes video documentation,