CCRMA

Fall Concert

CCRMA Computer Music

Concert of new works by CCRMA composers: Stanford's Center for Computer Research in Music & Acoustics (CCRMA) will present a concert featuring new computer music by CCRMA composers, at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 15, in Campbell Recital Hall (Braun Music Center)

Tickets for this performance, $7 general admission and $4 students, are available at Tresidder Ticket Office, (415) 723-4317, or at the door. For information, call the Music Department at (415) 723-3811.

Program

Interval

Apocalypse was postponed due to lack of interest

 "Apocalypse was postponed due to lack of interest" is my first computer music work created using Bill Schottstaedt's CLM (Common Lisp Music), a synthesis and sound processing language developed at CCRMA. Most of the sounds are synthetic, coming from hybrid synthesis algorithms, but others use processed natural sources such as radio voices and female speech (a polish literature text). I wrote some algorithms in LISP to generate different textures, rhythm fluctuations and density control. The idea of "impact", is used in different ways in the composition, which is mostly a work with memory that tries to create electronic sounds with strong perceptual characteristics, producing some kind of "physical" sensation (rugosity, fragility, etc.). The title, coming from an Internet news group, matches with the idea I have about art today.

Juan Carlos PAMPIN, born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1967, is finishing a master in composition at the Conservatoire National Superieur de Lyon, France. During last year he was Visiting Composer at CCRMA starting his work "Apocalypse..." that he finished in a second visit last summer. He has explored different fields in contemporary music, from instrumental to computer music works, including mixed media and improvisation. He is currently working on a piece for two percussion players and live electronics.

Dance Episode

 This composition is for computer interactive system anddance ensemble (when that part of the work is finished).The sound material is that of a metal object scraped anda marble in a bowl (along with a mysterious mechanicalmachine that makes such interesting sounds as it moves. When these sounds are deconstructed, one finds that muchsound material is revealed, much like when a dancer moves,much is revealed about the emotional and kinetic contentof movement. Further, sound suggests itself in episodesmuch like life itself; organic in nature, and followingonly its own pattern.

Knock knock... anybody there?

 "Knock Knock... anybody there?" is an extension of the original sound track for a collaboration project with visual artists in which I participated this past year (Willie Scholten and Ruth Eckland provided the sculptures and visual framework and I provided the sound). The music explores altered states of consciousness and in particular insanity, in a journey through multiple and conflicting states of mind. All the sound materials used in the piece were gathered at a meeting with friends where we discussed the central topic that motivated the project. From the digital recording I extracted small (and significant!) fragments and subsequently processed them using CLM instruments (the materials include the piano jam session at the end of the meeting!).

Fernando Lopez Lezcano (Buenos Aires, 1956) received both a Master in Electronic Engineering at the Buenos Aires University and a Master in Music at the Carlos Lopez Buchardo National Conservatory. He started working with electro-acoustic music by building his own analog synthesizers and studio in 1976. After graduating he worked in industry as hardware and software Design Engineer and latter spent one year at CCRMA as Invited composer (as part of an exchange program between LIPM in Argentina, CCRMA and CRCA funded by the Rockefeller Foundation). He did research and taught Electronic Music for one year at Keio University, Japan, and is now Lecturer and System Administrator of the computer resources at CCRMA.

Life on Earth

 Life on Earth, conceived as a musical backdrop to a dramatic reading by the poet, April Eiler, mirrors the tripartite form of the poem for which it is named. The first section of the poetry/music depicts cooperation in an innocent primitive world, the second, pain, disillusionment and fear in the face of evil, and the third, reaching out in blind faith for something or someone to trust. As suggested by the meaning of the poem, the music is through-composed with activity somewhat circumscribed so as to enhance but not overpower the poetry. In the first section a canvas of sustained voice-like parts with a generally upward motion underpaints counterbalancing strokes of ostinati based on a descending tetrachord. Koto and shamisen melodies generated by statistical processes on the computer add layers of increasing activity to underpin the dramatic climax of the first section. After the solo recitation of the second section of the poem, an angular interlude for drum, bassoon and tubular bell influenced by the Afro-Haitian dance Ibo fades in to support a prominent, metrically loose, folk-like violin melody based on the a harmonic minor scale. In the third section a rhythmic drone on the shamisen sets up the expectation of new material. Superimposed on this drone are both chordal and arpeggiated ostinati from the F major pentatonic scale in contrasting registers as well as the final lines of the poem. Ourobouros-Life on Earth was composed for the multimedia exhibit, Visual Cymbals, sponsored by the South Bay Women's Caucus for Art at San Jose State University Art Gallery. Artist Nina Koepke and poet April Eiler collaborated on the sculptural/poetic/musical installation called Ourobouros after that ancient symbol of rebirth. The musical ideas were generated on the Next computer using Stella and Common Music, extensions of Common Lisp specifically designed for algorithmic composition.

Janet Dunbar is a DMA student in composition at Stanford. The composer holds an MA in music from San Jose State University and a BS in psychology from Duke University.

...que me hiciste mal... (You did me wrong)

 This work deals with some poetic aspects of tango, the popular expression of the Rio de la Plata region, and particularly with its dramatic nature. The title refers to part of a famous phrase from urban poetry: "Tango que me hiciste mal y sin embargo te quiero" (Tango, you did me wrong but I love you anyway). Its use here refers to the fragmentation of the famous tangos used in the piece. When processed by a computer these fragments take on a new significance. There is a brief imaginary dialogue between two characters, played by two popular tango singers: Roberto Goyeneche and Carlos Gardel. The first represents the nearness of death, and the other takes a consoling attitude. Even without knowing the meaning of the words, the intonation itself suggests other stories, which themselves could be the lyrics of a new tango. This piece was realized at the Center for Research in Computing and the Arts (UC San Diego) and the Laboratorio de Investigacion y Produccion Musical (Centro Cultural Recoleta, Buenos Aires) using the CARL software.

Pablo Cetta was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1960. He studied engineering at the National University of Technology, composition under the guidance of Argentinian composer Gerardo Gandini and he received a degree in composition from the School of Music at the Catholic University of Argentina. He is professor of Acoustic and Electroacoustic Music at the University Quilmes, and also coordinates the Center for Research in Electroacoustic Music (C.E.E.-U.C.A.). In 1992 he was a visiting composer at the Center for Research in Computing and the Arts (UC, San Diego) as part of an exchange program funded by the Rockefeller Foundation. He is currently associate composer / researcher at the Laboratorio de Investigacion y Produccion Musical (LIPM, Buenos Aires.)

Brownian Motion

 No. Nothing to do with the kinetic energy of gases, everything to do with the kinetic energy of ageing ex-con singers who claim to feel good yet need to be helped offstage by burly men offering capes to cries of please, please, please...don't go. Reduced him to bits and played with them. Stood him on his hair, turned him around, disturbed his naturally equal temperament, sliced, diced, spliced, dumped him in the mixer, hit the button marked full-speed, and processed him beyond all recognition. (Maybe you'd never have guessed. Probably should have kept my mouth shut. But then, towards the end, you'll know that isn't me in there, after all, there's no mistaking Fred.)

Michael Edwards was born in England in 1968. He began playing the oboe at the age of fourteen and thereafter went on to study music at Bristol University. After completing a B.A. and a Master of Music degree in composition he came to the United States to study computer music with John Chowning. He is currently a final year doctoral student at Stanford.