CCRMA 1999 Winter Concert

CCRMA Computer Music

Stanford's Center for Computer Research in Music & Acoustics (CCRMA) will present a concert featuring music by CCRMA composers, at 8 p.m. Monday , March 8, in Campbell Recital Hall (Braun Music Center)

For information, call the Music Department at (415) 723-3811.


Program
Glass Phase (1998) -- Matthew Burtner (1970)
Calyx -- Chris Burns (1973)
iICEsCcRrEeAaMm (1998) -- Fernando Lopez-Lezcano (1956)
Resurrection -- Bob L. Sturm (1975)
Eum-Yang for New Piano Trio -- Jun Kim (1964)

Glass Phase

for tape

Matthew Burtner

Glass Phase (1998) explores structures of rhythmic and spectrographic transformation of glass sounds. The piece was developed on the Polyrhythmicon, an original computer hyper-instrument which creates complex rhythmic transformations in real time.

In the first section of the piece a polymetric technique is used in which three voices in single-unit differentiated tempo-phase relationships (such as 21 : 22 : 23) contain a nested polyrhythmic phase structure utilizing meter-phase (such as accents on beats 7, 8 and 9 of each respective voice). Several of these "linked polymetric sets" are used in conjunction, each new set fading in and out independently.

In the second section large scale "phase sets" are created from 10 voices offset by 1/100th of a rhythmic pulse. The result is an expanding and contracting rhythmic structure. Several of these phase sets are used simultaneously in a macro-polyrhythmic relationship of 6 : 10 : 15 [(3 : 5) : (2 : 3)]. Glass Phase was composed during a composer residency at the Phonos Foundation / Audiovisual Institute in Barcelona, Spain.

C. Matthew Burtner (1970) is a first year doctoral student in composition at Stanford. A native of Alaska, he studied philosophy at St. Johns College, composition at Tulane University (BFA 93), computer music composition in Paris at Xenakis' CeMAMu/UPIC studios, and computer music at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University (MM 97). His pieces, commissioned by performers such as Phyllis Bryn-Julson, the Spectri Sonori Ensemble, Norway's MiN Ensemble, the Peabody Trio, and the Quiescence Dance Ensemble, have been performed throughout the United States and Europe as well as in Japan, Canada and Brazil. Two recordings of his music are available including "Incantations" on the German DACO label (DACO 102), and a newly released solo recording, "Portals of Distortion", on Innova Records (Innova 526).

Calyx

for computer generated tape

Chris Burns

Calyx is the most recent in a series of pieces exploring the possibilities of a set of filters connected in an infinite feedback loop. No initial stimulus to the filters is necessary -- the internal noise of the system, amplified endlessly via the loop, is sufficient to produce a rich palette of sounds.

The sonic results of this process are entirely context-dependent; the musical possibilities at each moment are limited by the state of the loop at the previous moment. As the filter settings are changed in real-time, the sounds produced by the loop can be shaped into musical forms. Calyx is a recording of such a real-time "performance," controlled by computer and refined over a period of months.

Christopher Burns is a graduate student at CCRMA. A founding member of the Balinese gong kebyar ensemble Gamelan Jagat Anyar, his compositions reflect his experiences with Indonesian music as well as his study of computer techniques..

iICEsCcRrEeAaMm

for four channel tape

Fernando Lopez-Lezcano

iICEsCcRrEeAaMm is now definitely in beta test. As in the software world, Marketing informs me that in future versions bugs will be squashed and new features will be added for the benefit of all listeners. "iscream" refers to the origin of most of the concrete sound materials used in the piece. Screams and various other utterances from all of Chris Chafe's kids were digitally recorded in all their chilling and quite upsetting beauty. They were latter digitally fed into the "grani" sample grinder, a granular synthesis instrument developed by the composer. "ICECREAM" refers to the reward the kids (and myself) got after the screaming studio session. The piece was composed in the digital domain using Bill Schottstaedt's Common Lisp Music. Many software instruments and quite a few other samples of real world sounds made their way into the bitstream.

Fernando Lopez-Lezcano Fernando Lopez-Lezcano (Buenos Aires, 1956) received both a Master in Electronic Engineering (Faculty of Engineering, University of Buenos Aires) and a Master in Music (Carlos Lopez Buchardo National Conservatory, Buenos Aires). He started working with electroacoustic music by building his own analog studio and synthesizers around 1976. After graduating he worked for nine years in industry as microprocessor hardware and software Design Engineer while simultaneaously pursuing his interests in electroacoustic music composition. His 1986 piece "Quest" won a mention in the 1990 Bouges Competition. He spent one year at CCRMA as Invited Composer, as part of an exchange program between LIPM in Argentina, CCRMA at Stanford and CRCA at UCSD, sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation. He latter did research and taught for one year at the Shonan Fujisawa Campus of Keio University, Japan.

He is currently Lecturer and Systems Administrator of the computer resources at CCRMA, where he splits his time between the company of good friends, keeping computers and users at CCRMA more or less happy and enjoying the arts of composing music and writing software. His music has been released on CD's and played in the Americas, Europe and East Asia.

Resurrection

for tape

Bob L. Sturm

After a long silence, my compositional voice returns.

Bob L. Sturm is a Master's candidate in the Music, Science, and Technology program at Stanford. He received his BA in physics from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Eum-Yang for New Piano Trio



Hugh Livingston (Cello)
Craig Sapp (Disklavier)
Jun Kim (Radio drum)

Jun Kim

Eum-Yang is a composition for Piano, sampled and computer-modified violin sounds, and Cello with microphone.

Eum-Yang, in chinese pronunciation Yin-Yang, is an old oriental philosophy. Eum means dark and cold, while Yang means bright and hot. In music, these constrasts and polarity can be expressed in many ways: Color of harmony (dark and bright), Level of pitches (low and high), Level of loudness (soft and loud), and speed of rhythm (fast and slow).

The symbol of Eum-Yang, called Taeguk, is divided into two Yee (Divine Gender), which are in turn divided into four Sang (Divine Phase). The four Sang are divided into eight Kweh (Divine Diagram). Each of these eight Kewh has a meaningful names which are four polaric pairs: Sky and Earth, Pond and Mountain, Fire and Water, and Thunder and Wind. The piece contains eleven sections which are eight sections of each of above, each sections of Eum and Yang, and a section of combine of Eum and Yang, which is a kind of recapitulation.

A native of Seoul, Korea, Jun Kim received a Bachelor's degree in Composition from Kyung-Hee University, and a Master's degree in Composition from Boston University. He is currently pursuing a D.M.A. degree in Composition at Stanford University, studying with Jonathan Harvey, Chris Chafe and Jonathan Berger.


©1999 CCRMA, Stanford University. All Rights Reserved.
Created and mantained by Fernando Lopez-Lezcano, nando@ccrma.stanford.edu