14/04/2012

h.19 Auditorium San Fedele

Electronic Frescoes I

Radiohead (1985)
Treefingers (da Kid A 2000) 3’42
Kid A (da Kid A) 5’

Aphex Twin (Richard David James 1971)
Kladfvgbung Micshk (da Drukqs N.3 2001) 2’

Pierre Henry (1927)
Initiation (da Machine Danse, Seconda Parte 1973) 2’30

Amon Tobin (1973)
Journeyman (da Isam 2011) 6’38

Frederic Kahn (1966)
Longueurs D’ondes / Emérgence (2005) 10’06

Philippe Leguerinel (1976)
1 Dormeurs (2011) 5’18

Pink Floyd (1965-1995)
Signs Of Life (da A Memory Lapse Of Reason 1986-1987) 4’25

Amon Tobin
Calculate (da Isam 2011) 1’32

Brian Eno (1948)
In Dark Trees (da Another Green World 1975) 2’30

Amon Tobin
Piece Of Paper (da Isam 2011) 2’40
Switch (da Permutation 1998) 3’51

Dj Spooky [Paul D. Miller] (1970)
Ftp > Bundle / Conduit 23 (2002) 8’15

Ryoji Ikeda (1966)
One Minute (1997) 1’

Acousmatic interpretation: Giovanni Cospito

Electronic Frescoes I

The first of the two experimental programs from the point of view of composition: two polymorphic frescoes with contributions from different currents of electronic music of the last sixty years, including acousmatic music, progressive rock, IDM and hip hop. The initial idea of the mixing came from the musical references cited by Radiohead’s Yorke in the creation of their more experimental album “Kid A” in 2000, in which various electronic music tracks appear. For these compositions, Radiohead indicate multiple influences that are not limited to the experimental rock area of the 70s but touch IDM artists active since 1990 (Autechre and Aphex Twin, together with other Warp Records authors) and also the jazz (Charles Mingus, Alice Coltrane and Miles Davis) as well as the ambient by Brian Eno and even instrumental pieces by the Hungarian Gyorgy Ligeti.

Based on this information, the mixing began with Radiohead’s ambient track Treefingers, used as a germinal piece, a sort of introductory adage of a vast electronic poem. The sounds of Treefingers do not come from the synthesizer but from a sampled guitar. In the final part, an extract from the instrumental work Atmosphères by G. Ligeti is inserted, close to electronic music, conceived as a “continuous sound event, comparable to the atmosphere that surrounds us, a static sound, an uninterrupted sound vibration which however remains one background against which, as in the pauses, nothing happens ”.

THEME AND VARIATIONS I Radiohead is back with the curious Kid A who superimposes disparate musical elements: a sad music box and a rhythmic base of electro fx on which the distorted voice of Yorke’s vocoder enters. A passage of Atmosphères by Ligeti is grafted again, with a large cluster crescendo, before listening to a song twin to Kid A: Kladfvgbung Micshk by Aphex Twin. In it, various rhythmic figures intertwine between Bartok and minimalism on a repeated melodic base (major third). The soundscape is coherent, that of the prepared piano. The result: a disturbing gait of a Javanese gamelan. All this recalls John Cage’s Sonata II for piano prepared by John Cage from 1946, written 55 years before the Aphex Twin album, but much more radical in terms of timbral and rhythmic transformations. Cage creates a new sound universe, orientalizes the West. Also in Pierre Henry’s Initiation we can see a link with Kladfvgbung Micshk, this time however it concerns the melodic base that introduces the piece, in Aphex Twin it was the third major, in P. Henry it is instead the second major to trigger a sound mechanics that mixes concrete, instrumental and electronic sounds. The last variation, more developed than the others and which leads to “other worlds”, is the recent Journeyman by Amon Tobin. Archaic styles, glockenspiel interventions and gamelan sounds, however, open up sections of impressive phonic inventiveness. Undoubtedly among the most gifted and complete musicians of the IDM galaxy, capable of combining the sampler with Fellini’s oneirism, South American tradition, jazz, London meltin’-pot and more, Amon Tobin has a special place in the two. electronic frescoes.
TRIPARTITE ADAGIO With Frédéric Khan’s Longueurs d’ondes / emérgence, a sort of slow electronic blues, the central part of the fresco starts, a tripartite adagio that includes two acousmatic pieces and one of progressive rock. In Dormerus by Philippe Leguérinel and in Signs of Life by Pink Floyd the aquatic element appears, the expanse of water is crossed by a boat and then reaches the imaginary belly of the hull (Leguérinel) while in Signs of Life the rhythm of the oars opens a path from which emerges a solo of electric guitar picked up by a whistle.

THEME AND VARIATIONS II AND TRIPARTITE FINAL The last part of the fresco develops the melodic cues of Pink Floyd and gives ample space to the proposals of Amon Tobin. The first song, very short, Calculate, begins with the sweetness of the carillon, then enters a sequence with descending fifths and distorted synthesizer samples, the music takes on orchestral dimensions. One of Brian Eno’s most successful pieces follows: In dark Trees, with a sober structure but the whole comes to a surprising intensity. PIece of Paper by Amon Tobin, after a beginning with monstrous verses of virtual animals and a ritual theme, a simple and imposing melody emerges, close to a ground by Carla Bley with synthetic voices. The ending is at first an ironic tribute to Duke Ellington’s jazz (Switch by Amon Tobin), then, with FTP> Bundle / Conduit 23 by DJ Spooky, we move towards a large piece that summarizes the whole fresco because the sounds of all the other music. The basic inspiration is free jazz, however, mitigated by a continuum that develops with long loops. The conclusion is reserved for One Minute by Ryoji Ikeda.