Sound – space – movement / music composed for site specific locations.
1/ Music for het Maas Project I, Jan Boerman. 1988-94 * 20’09“
2/ Music for het Maas Project II, Jan Boerman. 1988-94 13’43“
3/ Vlechtwerk, Jan Boerman.1988 ** 12’52“
4/ Kompositie, Jan Boerman.1989 *** 18’45“
* “Maasproject, installation for sound architecture; designed by Jan Hoogstad”, was the title on the press release for the performances in 0ctober 1988 at the Parkhaven in Rotterdam. The music was written for six brass players, a Fairlight computer synthesizer, a keyboard and 16 tape tracks. The audience stands at the foot of the Euromast and the sounds reach them from above (two hydraulic cranes), below (street level) and far away (over the waters of the Park harbour and the top of the Euromast). The collaboration with architect Jan Hoogstad originated mainly from a common interest in the functioning of 3-dimensional effects in architecture and music. Hoogstad’s idea was to define space by means of sound and discover by experimental means if this would also be possible in the open air. My interest lay in the direction of sound, the direction from which a sound is experienced and in finding a way to incorporate this property of sound into a composition as a musical quality. A change in direction of the sound creates the suggestion of movement in space. The confrontation of this movement with movements in timbre and pitch is the most important aspect of the piece. To achieve this goal and test it, Jan Hoogstad designed a spatial plan that was tailored to the situation around the Euromast, but that would be flexible enough for use in other locations. He wrote: “The sound sources, loudspeakers and brass players, are placed at the corners of a mathematically determined shape in space: the sound space (…). The latter is composed of two structures. A pyramid with a triangular surface over the Parkhaven, with the Euromast as its upright edge. This figure is defined by laser beams. Within the pyramid is a second structure: a triangular prism around the listening area at the foot of the Euromast,
Jan Hoogstad researched the movement possibilities inside this spatial positioning and designed a notation system for it. I composed the music in the studio of the Royal Conservatory of The Hague on ten tape recorders to be run simultaneously. On the basis of the spatial plan, a spatial score’ was written in which the positions of the sounds within the installation were carefully determined and set. In Attie Bouw’s Bouwhaus studio, these sounds were recorded on a 16- track tape with the help of the highly sophisticated Fairlight synthesizer. During the performance, the Fairlight synthesizer controlled the sound projection to the various loudspeaker groups. In the original version of the Maasproject the sound movements are concerned with different aspects of sound. In the first place with the movement of pitch and timbre. A special kind of movement arises through making a certain sound jump from one sound-source to the other. The extremely spacious positioning of the sound sources makes this very audible. The movement that results is an illusion. A real moverent in space only occurs when the sound source is actually moving (fireworks, a train). Yet it is possible with the help of modern technology to suggest a movement in space. The confrontation with this phenomenon was for me one of the most important aspects of the entire project., the actual experiment. And specifically to be able to establish by experiment the musical relevance of sound direction, sound movement and spatial suggestion. The question whether this suggestion ought to be included in the work of composing as glamour, as ‘art’, still remains unanswered as far as I am concerned. This piece was also performed ten more times at the European Festivities on the Vijverberg in The Hague, in a modified version and without brass players under the title Klank, Ruimte, Beweging (1989). Again. Jan Hoogstad designed te spatial arrangement. An unexpected quality emerged during these performances: atmospheric influences amplified the high timbre movements, the piece was quite audible from a distance of five kilometers if the wind was blowing in the right direction.
** Vlechtwerk
The choice and the arangement of the material for Vlechthverk were made with the help of the sound diagram that was used for Kompositie 1979 as well; not only to create oppositions but also to be able to link sounds that have different natures. In Vlechtwerk, purely electronic sounds were used, as well as recordings of instruments, among others piano, cymbals, triangles and bass drum. At certain points these instruments are clearly recognizable, but mostly they have been alienated from their origin through the intervention of the equipment. The electronic sounds, on the other hand, have sometimes acquired an instrumental- acoustic form which makes them sound like a tremolo on strings or a blow to a metal sheet. The intertwining of these hybrid sounds with purely electronic and acoustical sounds is a characteristic of this composition. The work was compesed towards the end of 1988, in a relatively short time. The Golden Section was appled less rigorously than in former pieces.
*** Kompositie 1989 the balance
This work is part of a series: Kompositie 1972, 1979, 1989 and Vocalise 1994. They are ‘educational pieces’. Their common trait is that they are attempts at making a connection by experimental means between the Golden Section – as a time division – and the timbre. By this I mean timbre in the broadest sense of the word, as the texture of the sound material. (The word experimental can cause some confusion. The experimentation does not impair the intention, the content Or the meaning of the music. On the contrary, it serves these.) The form of electronic music is also determined by timbre. Not much is known yet about timbre and it is only possible to gain some experience with it by experimentation. Because the composer constructs and determines the timbre himself, timbre is embedded deeply within the compositional process. This makes composing itself a kind of experiment.
From The compler tape music of Jan Boemman.
CV=NEAR 06.
Donemus.
