Today we had a really enjoyable chat about the avant-garde movement, what constitutes 'music' and the intent of the composers behind the pieces we listened to.
First up was Sequenza III by Berio, filled with expression, extended technique and necessary virtuosity of the performer. It was mentioned that, although Berio achieved what he set out to do - to showcase the many different ways of using the voice - the piece is academic rather than one for pleasure.
Alessandro compared this with a piece written by Cathy Berberian, Stripsody, a much more accessible, audience-friendly experimental voice solo:
Ant made NMB history by playing the first example that was not a piece of music. I personally love the sound of an orchestra tuning, and 'sound that brings pleasure' would definitely be many people's definition of music.
Craig brought out some electronica, which made a refreshing change from all of our classical nonsense. There were interesting subverting drumbeats and basslines from Squarepusher, and otherwordly soundscapes from Future Sound of London. We discussed the benefits and drawbacks of electronically composed music, which could be a really interesting topic for a future session.
I brought one of my favourite pieces by minimalist Steve Reich, Piano Phase. Using only two phrases played on two different pianos, Reich created a hypnotising piece of music - as one phases out of time with the other, all sorts of melodies and rhythms can be heard. Through the simplicity grows complexity, which is a major aspect of minimalism.
Though this piece can be labelled as avant-garde through its conceptuality, it is pleasant to listen to even from a non-academic perspective, as like most minimalist pieces it is highly repetitive, and so the listener can easily assimilate the patterns. I shared the theory that every sound, when repeated enough, can become musical to the human ear. The video that inspired this discussion is linked below.
Alessandro compared this hypnotic repetition to Morton Feldman's String Quartet no. 2:
As the afternoon drew to a close, we heard the lovely cluster chords, breaking with traditional harmony, composed by Alessandro himself!
And to finish, we were all weirded out by Roy's favourite band (yes, really), a French concoction of operatic metal called Igorr:
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