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The Complete John Cage Variations I – VIII

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4/16/12 9:25 PMCaged animals unleashed: Decibel's John Cage odyssey - Classical Music - Limelight Magazine

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Decibel undertakes the first complete performance ofCage's colossal Variations for the composer's centenary.

On the back of a recent, successful tour to Europe, Perth-based new music ensemble Decibel this week stages a never-before-attempted complete performance of John Cage’s colossalVariations to celebrate the centenary of the maverickcomposer’s birth.

One can only imagine the dignified self -righteousness withwhich a young John Cage might have looked into the eye of histeacher, Arnold Schoenberg, and defiantly uttered the words,“Then I shall dedicate my life to hitting my head against a brickwall.” The rebellious upstart had been told by his oldercolleague that, as someone with no feel whatsoever forharmony, Cage's career as a composer would be doomed, andpursuing one would repeatedly bring him up againstunsurmountable obstacles.

It was perhaps this crucial moment that galvanised Cage andset him on his path as a musical revolutionary. Far from beingdeterred, as any lesser mortal may have been, he went aheadto forge a new future for classical music by subverting old,comfortable truths on the nature of the artform and calling intoquestion the role of the composer.

One hundred years after his birth, Cage’s ideas still boggle themind for their intellectual breadth and limitless vision. Evereager to push the envelope, Cage’s tireless curiosity took himon a voyage through numerous musical worlds – the preparedpiano, non-standard use of instruments, multi -media works and,perhaps most importantly, aleatoric or chance music –influencing generations of composers and sound artists afterhim.

To mark Cage’s 100th birthday, Perth-based new musicensemble Decibel are celebrating his genius with the first-evercomplete rendering of his Variations . Decibel premiered theworks at the Goethe Institut in Palermo, Sicily early this year asa part of their first European tour, impressing the audience withtheir use of mobile and graphic scores and innovative computerprogramming skills. They repeated the performance last monthat the Western Australian Museum in Perth, as the firstinstalment of TURA New Music’s Scale Variable chamberconcert series.

The Variations are a gargantuan set of eight separate works,each a complex world unto itself and based on distinct aleatoricpremises. Cage’s scores are by turns graphic and textual andalways painstakingly difficult to prepare, requiring meticulousinterpretative work. In Variations I, II and III, scores consist

Caged animals unleashed: Decibel's John CageodysseyBy Ilario Colli on Apr 12, 2012 (4 days ago) filed under Classical Music | Comment Now

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4/16/12 9:25 PMCaged animals unleashed: Decibel's John Cage odyssey - Classical Music - Limelight Magazine

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entirely of points, lines and circles on plastic transparencies.The performers of Variation V are instructed to use anastronomical chart. And Variation IV, often described as thepivotal work in the series, plays with the idea of soundspatialisation, including the distribution of its sound sources as apart of the score.

Key to Decibel’s take on the Variations is the realisation thatmany of the works’ chance operations could be executed usingprogramming software in a way that was both musicallysatisfying and faithful to Cage’s vision. Programming languagesMax/MSP and Java become the tools that enabled Cage’smusical indications to leap from plastic transparencies onto alarge screen as organic, graphic representations moving in realtime, that both performers and audience can follow as thepieces unfold. In this way, Cage’s inscrutable scores which, inother performances, often need to be thoroughly annotated, canbe instantly and intuitively interpreted.

This distinctive approach to performance is not new to Decibel.Last year, they premiered The Talking Board , a work co-composed by two of the ensemble’s members (artistic directorCat Hope and Linsday Vickery) for which they developed theprogramming since adapted for the interpretation of the starchart in Variation V. And their innovative mobile scores are bynow an established ensemble trademark, having alreadyfeatured in numerous concerts.

In the short time since its inception in 2009, Decibel has quicklymade a name for itself as one of Australia’s most cutting-edgenew music outfits. Its members (Hope, Vickery, Stuart James,Malcolm Riddoch, Tristen Parr and Aaron Wyatt) are committedto the realisation of an inclusive sonic artform that defiesclassification as either sound art, music or installation. Theywere awarded last year’s AMC/APRA Art Music InauguralAward for Excellence in Experimental Music and, in 2010, theyreleased a CD of original music by Hope and Vickery entitledDisintegration: Mutation.

On their recent tour to Europe, they played to enthusiasticaudiences in Belgium, Holland, Germany and Italy. Any senseof Australian inferiority they could have experienced in the greatmotherland of classical music was quickly shrugged off as theirtalents were validated by some of the giants of the Europeannew music scene, including Armin Kohler, director of theDonaueschingen festival. “He really engaged with us”, saysDecibel artistic director Cat Hope. “He loved our programmingstyle and found it very different from anything anyone else wasdoing. It was very affirming.”

It is with cemented self -confidence, then, that Decibel returnedfrom Europe to perform Cage’s Variations at the WA Museumin late March. Now, they will take the works to The Cage in Us,a Brisbane festival on April 12–14 celebrating Cage’s life andwork. A program more appetising to the sonic adventurer ineach of us could hardly have been dreamt up: one ofAustralia’s most vigorous new music ensembles playing one oflast century’s most audacious works to honour the centenary ofthe American avant-garde’s greatest iconoclastic.

In all this, I suppose, we have good old Schoenberg to thank. Ifhe hadn’t told the cold, hard truth, bursting poor John Cage’sbubble and, ultimately, reinforcing his resolve to go out thereand be himself – not a composer, that is, but more an inventorof sound ideas – we might have missed out on some of the20th century’s most exciting musical developments and, well,we wouldn’t be here today celebrating his centenary.

Since we only had 13 composers,we rolled Schumann's death(madness) and Schubert's (syphilis)into one with Hugo Wolf, whosuffered symptoms of both.

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Decibel performs the complete Cage Variations at TheCage in Us, a festival celebrating the music and life ofJohn Cage, at the Judith Wright Centre of ContemporaryArts in Brisbane, this Saturday April 14 at 7.30pm.

Copyright © Limelight Magazine. All rights reserved

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4/23/12 7:53 AMTribute to the master of discord | The Australian

Page 1 of 3http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/tribute-to-the-master-of-discord/story-e6frg8n6-1226328157422

The AustralianTribute to the master of discord

by: Martin BuzacottFrom: The AustralianApril 17, 2012 12:00AM2 comments

American composer John Cage would have been 100 this year.Source: Supplied

MUSICThe Cage in Us: A Festival Celebrating the Centenary of John Cage's Birth. JudithWright Centre of Contemporary Arts, Brisbane, April 12-14.

THINK avant-garde composers, and John Cage will probably be the first to come tomind.

The eccentric American, notorious for his 4'33" consisting entirely of silence, would haveturned 100 this year, and Brisbane's Clocked Out ensemble has honoured the occasion with athree-day celebration of the hero of 1960s-style "happenings", where sounds are generated atrandom, independent of the will of the composer.

Few works have dated as quickly as those of Cage, and the banks of old reel-to-reel taperecorders, transistor radios and theremins still in use like Cuban cars mark him as the first

4/23/12 7:53 AMTribute to the master of discord | The Australian

Page 2 of 3http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/tribute-to-the-master-of-discord/story-e6frg8n6-1226328157422

20th-century composer requiring historical performance practice.

Yet Cage remains an undisputed innovator in the field of theory. His notoriety has been earnednot so much for his own music, much of which to the layman remains utter rubbish, but in hisoften profound influence on subsequent, more communicative musical performers such asBjork, Brian Eno and anyone who has ever used telegraph wires as a backing band.

As his erstwhile teacher Arnold Schoenberg said, Cage wasn't really a composer at all but an"inventor of genius", and the success of this always stimulating, sometimes infuriating festivalcame from its focus on how those inventions are being transformed into 21st-century practice.

The highlight was Lawrence English and Scott Morrison's majestic re-creation of the score forCage's only film, One 11, where the sweeping electronic soundscape occasionally resembledthe middle section of Pink Floyd's Echoes.

Sweden's Kroumata Percussion played a ravishing version of Cage's Music for Carillon, usingfour distanced glockenspiels to create a disembodied chiming, most closely approximated innature by a colony of bellbirds.

European visitors Valerio Tricoli and Werner Dafeldecker expanded Cage's Williams Mix, withthe new version sounding bigger and better than Cage's manually spliced tape of the original.

The aptly named Decibel ensemble from Perth presented all eight of Cage's Variations, whichon paper was an important overview of Cage's career, but turned into a merciless 80-minuteaural assault.

Every night began with a Cagean "circus", where instrumental music and performance piecesoccurred simultaneously, as he directed them to be, perhaps to distract from their frequentpreposterousness.

In the end, the seriousness of intention within the curatorial team led by Erik Griswold andVanessa Tomlinson won out, and the festival provided an intelligent contribution to theperennial debate as to whether Cage was the musical Messiah or just a very naughty boy.

MUSICThe Cage in Us: A Festival Celebrating the Centenary of John Cage's Birth. Judith WrightCentre of Contemporary Arts, Brisbane, April 12-14.

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Wish this stuff didn't make me angry. of Brisbane. Posted at 2:01 PM April 17, 2012

Total simpleton, obviously hasn't read into Cage's works or philosophy.The works were performed incredibly, it's a shame the reviewer wasn't ableto appreciate them beyond his brief feeling of familiarity with stoner rock.Worthless review, basically paraphrases to 'I really disliked all of the avantgarde elements (they occasionally infuriated him even), but this work bythese ambient guys (which wasn't even a Cage piece) reminded me of PinkFloyd and that was the clear highlight. Can't even tell if he actuallyattended the concerts, it was a very rare chance for the evidently quite largefollowing of Cage and the American experimental tradition in Brisbane tosee many rarely performed works executed by internationally recognisedmusicians and it didn't disappoint. Some of the most rewarding listeningexperiences that I've had recently and I'm very grateful that something likethis was able to happen thanks to the hard work of Clocked Out, LawrenceEnglish, Joel Stern and others and in spite of the thinly veiled prejudices ofconservative reviewers like this who have trouble reconciling their tasteswith musical events that are more than 50 years past.

Cat Hope of Perth, Western Australia Posted at 11:37 AM April 17, 2012

Whilst i am glad this fantastic festival was reviewed, i was suprised to readthe Decibel concert described as an "merciless 80-minute aural assault".Given that five of the eight variations presented were delicate, quiet works -i feel this is rather a misrepresentation of what happened in the concert.

Read all 2 comments

Desire and Faded Utopia’s New works from Australia … during the 26th ‘Days for New Music’ series in Rottenburg, Germany. What could possibly be ground-breaking electronic experiments presented on Friday at the Rottenburg Zehntscheuer, by Perth ensemble Decibel’. THOMAS ZIEGNER Rottenburg. Interrupted by many pauses of different lengths and long oscillating decrescendos, Cat Hope’s ‘Longing’ is full of captivating and expressive glissandi. On the outer layer of what is an artfully produced work that varies in density (produced by soft sticks on a big drum), are cello and viola drawing grand glissandos while Cat Hope’s voice, with shining vowels, repeats the title of the piece ‘Longing’ throughout. The composer, flutist and director of the Decibel Ensemble Cat Hope calls the system used in this piece ‘Automated score reading’; the display of the graphic score via computer screen, stringing along from left to right with simultaneous control of the tempi. Beats, bar lines and metronome markings have been made redundant, making a maximum variability of tempo and coherency in the five voices become possible. This is probably ground-breaking for complex graphic scores. For the opera ‘I Opal’ by Hans-Joachim Hespos, a score-manager for the orchestral part was required to tediously add bar lines over whole opera manuscript to make the work playable. The ensemble paid homage to Percy Grainger (1882-1961), an Australian New Music progenitor (even though he actually hardly spent much time in Australia) by opening the concet with the 1936 piece‘Free Music No.1’. They performed the study in glissandi on four iPhone-Theremins in a more dynamic and much subtler way than than the version available on YouTube. ‘The Talking Board’ performed and co-produced by Cat Hope and Decibel member Lindsay Vickery (clarinet and programming) was a piece for 4 instruments and live-electronics. Four coloured circles, one for each instrument, were made visible for the audience, as they wandered over a graphical interface that consisted of 10 of Hope’s and Vickery’s collected images that included photographs of planets, a homage to Franz Liszt, and drawings made by the two composers. The instrumentalists found their textural, pitch and dynamic bearings from the directional movement and speed of the coloured circles’ motion. Soft and aggressive, or pure or noise-like selections of sounds were affected by the associations of the image content to the circles. The ‘Talking’ or ‘Ouija’ board was enthusiastically applied for spirititual sessions in the 1920’s. Spirits were supposed to give meaningful answers through the navigating of objects on a board.

In this case the ‘only spirits were in the machinery’ (as Hope and Vickery point out in their program notes), and were quite subservient in saving a collective improvisation from disintegrating into randomness. A strict logic of decomposition marked Vickery’s “Ghosts of Departed Quantities”, a piece for bass clarinet, bass flute, piano cello and electronics, inspired by the anti materialistic epistemologist George Barkley. The distances between staves get smaller and smaller until, as with a ‘devil’s ladder’, ascent is no longer possible, not unlike Gyorg Ligeti’s piano etude ‘Escalier du Diable’. Malcolm Riddoch (electronics) created the delicate “Variations on Electro Acoustic Feedback”, featuring incredible and fascinating stereophonic sound effects hitherto unknown by productively using the often feared uncontrollable ‘Larsen acoustic feedback effect’. This was followed by an impressive epitaph for the mental institution West Park, liquidised in the Thatcher area, in a work of the same name written by Samuel Dunscombe. Another work infiltrated with spooky reminiscences, creating a fragile balance “between two states of stability” was in Julian Day’s “Beginning to Collapse.” The concert concluded with enthusiastic applause.

Classical performers playextreme sounds The six member Australian ensemble ‘Decibel’ present unusual sound constructions. By Guenter Vogel

BIBERACH – ‘Decibel’ is name of the group that performed on Tuesday night in the Town Hall. ‘Decibel’ may refer to their volume, yet apart from a few exceptions, the sound level was well contained. The program focuses on works which use playback processes as part of the score, making use of portable cassette players, CD players, tape decks as well as laptops. One of the classic definitions of ‘music’ describes music as an art that moves the soul through the organized structure of sound and allows the perceptive mind to rise to an aesthetic realm of thought. Listening to several of the Australian compositions, one could argue that point. Some results of the electronic actions are pleasant to hear; yet the performers delightfully presented cacophony as well. The onset of “Another Noisy Lullaby” by Warren Burt is very beautiful, with this lullaby being anything but noisy. Smooth, quiet sounds are developing in a delicate and balanced way, producing nothing short of a harmony within soul rather than in the music. Tonal manufacturing as music ‘Music for Airports’ by Brian Eno can be perceived like this: the diversified main theme becomes a hovering, iridescent ‘low volume’ kind of music. The harmonic responsiveness of the parts creates music from free from tonal fabrication. “Electronic Revolution” by William Burroughs creates a hubbub create by playback of incomprehensible syllables, producing a soundscape similar to a big party where everyone talks and no one understands a word. The program describes the process as ‘sampling and manipulating’ the words. ‘Prima Vista’ by Mauricio Kagel starts with beautiful singular tonal patterns. They do not unfold however, rather they are rudely brushed aside by diametral opposing sound rudiments; as well as a sudden painful bleating of the bass clarinet. There is no cooperation in this work, only performing ‘against each other.’ ‘Lingua Ignota’ is composition by Decibel. Each member tries in a different way - with the utmost effort - to avoid any ‘aesthetic ‘musical sound. It whistles and warbles, it quacks and toots; the bass clarinet cries out like a human. Audience endures sirens

During the last piece, ‘Ever Present’ by Alvin Lucier, the audience was required to listen to a siren-like, loud electronic continuous tones. There is no harmony whatsoever here. Altogether this was an interesting concert: new fields of resonance, and ways to producer them; the establishment of new associations; the otherwise never heard extreme tonal possibilities of violin, cello, bass clarinet and flute. The dedicated audience of approximately 40 paid tribute with a fierce round of applause. Translation by Russya Connor.

! «Far Away Ideas» – ferneIdeen: so nennen die Musiker des australi-schen Ensembles Decibel ihr Programm,das sie eigens für ihre erste Europa-Tour-nee konzipiert haben. Sie führte von Gent(Belgien) über Berlin, Biberach, Rotten-burg bis nach Catania und Palermo (Ita-lien). Und fast scheint es, als ob die pro-grammatische Auswahl ausschließlich aus -tralischer Kompositionen doch sehr subtilmit Down-Under-Assoziationen aus eu -ropäischer Perspektive spielen sollte: ImKonzert von Decibel etwa bei den Rot-tenburger Tagen für Neue Musik, präsen-tiert von Donaueschingen-Chef ArminKöhler, überwiegen ruhige, statisch-flä-chige, stille, meditative, murmelnde, natur-mystische Klänge.

Das mag auch an Percy Graingers FreeMusic No. 1 (1936) für vier Theremins lie-gen, einer Komposition in gleitenden Ton-höhen, die den in Australien aufgewachse-nen Folksong-Sammler auch als Experi-mentator in Erinnerung bringt und mot-toartig am Beginn des Programms steht:Die Idee einer von Tonskalen und Rhyth-men befreiten Musik («beatless»), so schriebGrainger später, habe ihn früh schon be-schäftigt – bereits zu Zeiten, da er als klei-ner Junge mit elf, zwölf Jahren die sonnen-beglänzten Wellen des Albert Park Lake beiMelbourne betrachtete (heute werden rundum den See Formel-1-Rennen ausgetra-gen). Das Ensemble Decibel benutzt beider Aufführung nun nicht die klassischenTheremins, wie sie 1919 von dem Russen

Leon Theremin (Lew Termen) entwickeltworden sind, sondern zeitgemäße iPhone-Theremins. Wie auch immer: Decibel be-schwört Graingers Glissando-Studie vor-wiegend im Pianissimo-Bereich als natur-haft schwebende, stufenlos fließende, ent-materialisiert auf und ab gleitende, poly-phon ineinander verschlungene, geister-hafte Sirenenmusik.

AKUSTISCHE UND ELEKTRONISCHEKLÄNGE «SIDE BY SIDE»

Decibel, 2009 in Perth gegründet, gehörtzu den führenden Neue Musik-Ensemblesin Australien. 2011 ist es mit dem «Inaugu-ral Award for Excellence in ExperimentalMusic» der australasiatischen Musikrechte-

52

DUNKLE, FERNE SCHATTENKLÄNGE ELEKTROAKUSTISCHE ABENTEUER: DAS AUSTRALISCHE ENSEMBLE DECIBEL ERSTMALS AUF EUROPA-TOURNEE

von Otto Paul Burkhardt

Foto

: Lis

a B

usin

ovsk

i

aus: Neue Zeitschrift für Musik 3/2012, © Schott Music, Mainz 2012

PORTRÄT !

53

Organisation APRA ausgezeichnet wor-den. Die Gruppe hat bereits 17 neue Werkebei australischen Komponisten in Auftraggegeben. Dennoch, von einem spezifischenSound in der zeitgenössischen Musik desfünften Kontinents will Cat Hope, die Lei-terin des Ensembles, nicht sprechen: zukomplex sind die globalen Vernetzungenund Wechselwirkungen geworden. Decibelspielt Stücke von Gruppenmitgliedern, vonaustralischen Komponisten wie auch Werkedes internationalen zeitgenössischen Re-pertoires.

Das zentrale Anliegen von Decibel, soformuliert es das Gruppen-Manifest, isteine Musik, in der akustische und elektro-nische Instrumente gleichberechtigt ne-beneinander vertreten sind – «side by side»,wie Cat Hope sagt. Die Mitglieder bringenErfahrungen aus ganz verschiedenen Be-reichen ein: Klassik, Videokunst, Klangin-stallation, Improvisation, Elektronik, Pro-grammierung, Noise, Rock. Ziel ist zudemdie Auflösung der Grenzen zwischen «soundart, installation and music». Der Decibel-Kosmos umfasst – neben den australischenKomponisten – Ennio Morricone ebensowie John Cage, Brian Eno und MauricioKagel, Velvet Underground und Alvin Lu-cier, Laurie Anderson und William Bur-roughs.

Beim Konzert in Rottenburg wird dasKonzept auch visuell greifbar: AkustischeInstrumente wie Bassklarinette, Cello, Alt-flöte, Viola, Gitarre und Klavier sind hiergleichwertig präsent wie elektronische,etwa besagte iPhone-Theremins und sechsLaptops. Decibel, bestehend aus Cat Hope,Lindsay Vickery, Stuart James, Tristan Parr,Malcolm Riddoch und Aaron Wyatt, be-greift sich auch als Forscherteam und be-schäftigt sich mit den Möglichkeiten elek-tronischer Partituren: The Talking Board(2011) ist eine grafisch notierte, vom Pub -likum auf Video mitvollziehbare Kompo-sition der Gruppenmitglieder Cat Hopeund Lindsay Vickery – der Titel spielt aufdas in Spiritistenkreisen beliebte «Hexen-brett» an, mit dem man Kontakt zu denGeistern der Toten aufnehmen wollte. Er-kundet werden hier nichtlineare Nota -tionsformen – denn die Partitur, bestehendaus Mars-Ansichten, Liszt-Fotos und Zeich-nungen, kann von den Musikern aus allenRichtungen durchquert werden: Live ent-steht bei Decibel daraus eine jeweils ein-malige Klangreise, die zwischen Compu-terspiel, assoziativer Musik und Kollektiv -improvisation vermittelt.

Mit einer grafischen Partitur, die als«scrolling score» mitgelesen werden kann,arbeitet auch Cat Hopes Longing (2011) –eine Studie, die Interaktionen von Glis-sandi und liegenden Klängen untersucht:Die Realisation zeigt, wie kleine Verände-rungen in einem ansonsten statischenSound-Umfeld zu großen Ereignissenwerden.

KLANGVERSTÄRKTE TRANCHIERMESSER

Neben weiteren Beiträgen von Ensemble-Mitgliedern präsentierte Decibel in Rot-tenburg auch Kompositionen der zeitge-nössischen australischen Musik, etwa WestPark (2011) von Samuel Dunscombe, dermit «field recordings» von tasmanischenWäldern, deutschen Bahnhöfen oder USAir Force Bases arbeitet und konzeptuellreale, instrumentale und elektronische Klän -ge miteinander verschmilzt. West Park inLondon war bis zur Schließung Mitte der1990er Jahre eine der letzten großen psy -chiatrischen Anstalten alten Zuschnitts –und Dunscombes Partitur spielt mit Ein-drücken beim Gang durch die verlassenenKorridore der Anstalt: Decibel fächert mitBassflöte, Bassklarinette und Elektronikeine Welt subtiler, unheimlicher Atemge-räusche, Artikulationsversuche und Schat-tenklänge auf, die etwas erinnern, das nurnoch erahnbar ist.

Allerdings: «Far Away Ideas», ein Pro-gramm, das auf Reflexion, auf lange Klänge,auf den «Flow» elektroakustischer Soundsabhebt, spiegelt bei weitem nicht die ganzeBandbreite des Decibel-Repertoires wider.Unter dem ironischen Programm-Titel«Pretty Things» präsentieren die Musikerauch makabre Skurrilitäten wie Kuklinski’sDream von Cat Hope, eine Studie über denMafia-Massenmörder Richard «The Ice-man» Kuklinski, in der klangverstärkte Tran-chiermesser verwendet werden. Häufigschlägt Decibel auch die Brücke zu Pop-und Filmmusik, covert etwa den Beatles-Hit Nothing Is Real (Strawberry Fields), setztBrian Enos Music for Airports als Perfor-mance mit Tonband-Loops und Live-In-strumenten um und bezieht sich im neuarrangierten Morricone-Song Ballad ofSacco and Vanzetti auf Morricones Avant-garde-Anfänge, auf sein Interesse an Im-provisation und elektronischen Klängen.

Die konzeptuelle Bandbreite von Deci-bel ist weiter, offener, überraschungsreicherals die mancher europäischer Neue Musik-

Ensembles. Und aus den Programmen lässtsich eine gewisse thematische Vorliebe fürdas Flächige, Ferne, Entlegene, Dunkle,Geräuschhafte ablesen. Kein Wunder, dassCat Hope sich für niederfrequente Klängeinteressiert (auch in ihren Ensembles «AbeSada» und «Australian Bass Orchestra»), beidenen Hören in körperliches Erleben um-schlägt. Und kein Wunder, dass sich einweiteres Programm von Decibel, «A Voicefrom the Dark Space», mit düsteren, stillen,mysteriösen Landschaften beschäftigt. Dochebenso charakteristisch für dieses Ensembleist ein wissenschaftlicher Erkundungsdrang– in Palermo führte Decibel eine kom-plette Neuerarbeitung der Variations I –VIII (1958-1976) von John Cage auf, einambitioniertes Projekt, bei dem Decibelhistorische Analog-Geräte mit aktuellentechnischen Möglichkeiten verbindet. DieArbeiten hierzu sind Thema einer Studiefür die Western Australian Academy of Per-forming Arts (WAAPA). Die Konzerte desaustralischen Ensembles in Europa dürftenwechselseitig erhellend gewesen sein –auch im Sinne eines interkontinentalenAustauschs, bereichernd für das australischeEnsemble wie auch für die europäischeNeue Musik-Szene. !

! INFOCD! Disintegration: Mutation, hellosQuarerecordings (2011); dem-nächst: Stasis Ecstatic

Buch! Cat Hope (Hg.): Decibel: Audible Designs, Perth Institute of Con-temporary Arts (PICA) 2011

online! decibel.waapamusic.com

«The Talking Board», 2011 – die grafisch notierte Komposition kann vom Pub likum auf Video mitvollzogen werden

Schott:  New  Magazine  for  New  Music  3/2012        DISTANT,  DARK,    SONIC  SHADOWS  AND  ELECTROACOUSTIC  ADVENTURES:  THE  AUSTRALIAN  ENSEMBLE  DECIBEL  ON  THEIR  FIRST  EUROPEAN  TOUR      By  Otto  Paul  Burkhardt  

   ‘Far  Away  Ideas’  is  the  name  of  the  program  the  Australian  ensemble  Decibel  devised  especially  for  their   first   European   tour.   They   travelled   from   Gent   (Belgium)   to   Berlin,   Biberach   to   Rottenburg  (Germany),  and  Catania  to  Palermo  (Italy).  It  almost  seemed  as  though  the  selection  of  Australian  only  compositions  might  subtlety  play  with  the  European  perception  of   ‘down  under’.  Showcased  by  Donaueschingen  director  Armin  Koehler,  Decibels’   concert   at   the   ‘Rottenburger   Tagen   für   Neue   Musik’   (Rottenburg   new   Music   Days),  presents  predominantly  quiet,  static,  flat,  meditative,  murmuring  and  almost  mystical  sounds.  Percy  Grainger’s   composition  Free  Music  No.  1   (1936)   for   four   theremins   showcased   their   gliding  pitches,   and   opened   the   program   with   a   strong   concept.   It   commemorates   the   Australian   born  Folksong  collector  as  an  experimentator  as  well.  Grainger  stated  that  from  an  early  age  the  idea  of  a  music   liberated   from  musical   scales   (or  pitches)  and  rhythm  (“beatless”)  occupied  him;  even  as  a  little  eleven  year  old  boy  staring  at  the  sun  kissed  waves  at  Albert  Park  Lake  near  to  Melbourne.  (In  recent  times  this  lake  has  become  the  venue  for  the  Formula  1  Racing  in  Australia).  Decibel  presented  not  only  classic  Theremin  sounds,  as  developed  by  the  Russian  Leon  Theremin,  but  using  a  more  recent  development,  the  iPad-­‐Theremin.  Decibel  evokes  Grainger’s  glissandi-­‐study  as   a   naturally   floating,   continuously   gliding,   dematerialized,   polyphonically   intertwined,   spectral  song  of  sirens.      ACOUSTIC  AND  ELECTRONIC  INSTRUMENTS  “SIDE  BY  SIDE”    Decibel,  founded  in  2009,  is  one  of  the  leading  new  music  ensembles  in  Australia.  In  2011  APRA  (the  Australaisan   Society   for   Performing   Rights)   awarded   them   the   prestigious   Inaugural   Award   for  Excellence  in  Experimental  Music.  So  far  the  group  has  commissioned  17  new  works  by  Australian  composers.  Nevertheless,  Cat  Hope,  the   director   of   the   ensemble,   dismisses   the   notion   of   a   specific   ‘fifth   continent   sound’   in  contemporary  music,  as  global  networks  and  musical  interdependency  create  complex  associations.  Decibel   repertoire   includes   compositions   by   group  members   and   other   Australian   composers,   as  well  as  international  contemporary  music.  Expressed  within  the  group's  manifesto,  Decibel’s  central  concern   is   a   music   that   equally   represents   acoustic   and   electronic   instruments   alongside   one  another   -­‐   "side  by  side",   says  Cat  Hope.  The  members  combine   their  experience   from  a  variety  of  domains:   classical   music,   video   art,   sound-­‐installation,   improvisation,   electronics,   programming,  noise,   and   rock.  The  aim   is   furthermore  dissolve  boundaries  between   "sound  art,   installation  and  music."   The   Decibel   cosmos   includes,   in   addition   to   the   Australian   composers,   Ennio  Morricone,  John  Cage,  Mauricio  Kagel,  Brian  Eno,   the  Velvet  Underground,  Alvin  Lucier,  Laurie  Anderson  and  William  Burroughs.  The  concert   in  Rottenburg  made   their   concept  visually   tangible:   the  acoustic   instruments   such  as  bass   clarinet,   cello,   alto   flute,   viola,   guitar   and   piano   are   as   equally   present   as   the   electronic  instruments,  such  as    the  iPad-­‐Theremins  and  six  laptops.  Decibel,  consisting  of  Cat  Hope,  Lindsay  Vickery,  Stuart  James,  Tristan  Parr,  Malcolm  Riddoch  and  Aaron  Wyatt,  see  themselves  as  research  team,  engaged  with  the  possibilities  of  electronic  scores.  In  The  Talking  Board  (2011)  –  the  audience  can  follow  the  graphical  composition  (by  the  group  members  Cat  Hope  and  Lindsay  Vickery)  on  a  video  screen.  Its  title  refers  back  to  the  “Talking  “  or  Ouija”  board,  used  in  applied  in  Spiritual  circles  to  make   contact  with   spirits   of   the   dead.   The   non   linear   notation   -­‐   the   score   actually   consists   of  

images   of  Mars,   photos   of   Liszt   and   drawings-­‐   can   be   crossed   by   the  musicians   in   all   directions:  during   a   live   performance   Decibel   creates   a   one-­‐time   musical   journey   that   mediates   between  computer-­‐games,  associative  music  and  collective  improvisation.  

 Cat  Hope’s  Longing  (2011)  also  works  with  a  graphic  score,  which  is    read  as  a  "scrolling  score".  It  is  a   study   of   the   interaction   between   glissandi   and   drone:   the   realization   demonstrates   how   small  changes  in  an  otherwise  static  sound  environment  can  transform  into  large  events.      SONICALLY  ENHANCED  CARVING  KNIVES    In   addition   to   contributions   by   the   ensemble  members,   Decibel,     presented   other   contemporary  compositions   of   Australian   music   for   their   concert   in   Rottenburg;   an   example   being   Samuel  Dunscombe’s  West  Park   (2011).     He  mainly  works  with   "field   recordings"   (of   Tasmanian   forests,  German   train   stations  or  U.S.  Air  Force  bases)   and   fuses   sounds   conceptually,   instrumentally   and  electronically.  West  Park  was  one  of  the  last  large,  old  style  psychiatric  institutions  in  London,  until  its   closure   in   the   mid-­‐1990s.   Dunscombe’s   composition   plays   with   the   impressions   of   walking  through   the   deserted   corridors   of   the   institution.   With   bass   flute,   bass   clarinet   and   electronics,  Decibel   evokes   a   world   of   subtle,   eerie   breaths,   noises,   trials   of   articulation   and   sonic   shadows,  reminding  of  how  some  things  can  be  only  vaguely  remembered.  Although  the  program  "Far  Away  Ideas"  concentrates  on  introspective  long  sounds  and  the  "flow"  of  electro-­‐acoustic  sounds,   it   is   just  one  aspect  of  Decibel’s  spectrum.  Under  other  programs,  such  as  the   ironically   titled   "Pretty   Things"   the   musicians   present   macabre   oddities,   such   as   Kuklinski's  Dream   by   Cat  Hope.  A   study   of   the  Mafia  mass  murderer  Richard   "The   Ice-­‐Man"  Kuklinski,   using  amplified  carving  knifes.    Decibel  sometimes  crosses  into  pop  and  film  music,  performing  Lucier’s  cover  of  the  Beatles  hit  in  Nothing  Is  Real  (Strawberry  Fields)  and  performing  Brian  Eno's  Music  for  Airports  with   tape   loops  and   live   instruments.   Morricone’s   newly   arranged   Ballad   of   Sacco   and   Vanzetti   picks   up   on  Morricone's   avant-­‐garde   beginnings   and   his   interest   in   improvisation   and   electronic   sounds.   The  conceptual  range  of  Decibel  is  broader,  more  open,  and  contains  more  surprises  than  that  of  some  large  European  New  Music  Ensembles.    Picture  caption  is  for  ‘The  Talking  Board',  2011  -­  graphically  rendered  composition,  can  be  followed  by  the  audience  on  a  video  screen.    The   programs   demonstrate   a   certain   degree   of   fondness   for   the   flat,   remote,   distant,   dark,   and  noise-­‐like.  Cat  Hope  is  personally  interested  in  low-­‐frequency  sounds  (in  her  groups  "Abe  Sada"  and  "Australian   Bass   Orchestra"),   where   listening   becomes   a   bodily   experience.   So   it   comes   of   no  surprise,   another  Decibel   program,   "A  Voice   from   the  Dark   Space,"   contemplates   dark,   silent   and  mysterious   landscapes.   Yet   another   characteristic   of   this   ensemble   is   the   desire   for   scientific  exploration.   In  Palermo,  Decibel   showcased  a  complete  revisioning  of   John  Cage’s  Variations  I  -­  to  VIII   (1958-­‐1976),   an   ambitious   project   in   which   Decibel   connect   historical   analog   devices   with  current   technical   possibilities.   These   works   makes   part   of   their   engagement   with   the   Western  Australian  Academy  of  Performing  Arts  (WAAPA).    These  concerts  of  the  Australian  ensemble  in  Europe  have  been  mutually  illuminating  -­‐  in  the  sense  of  an  intercontinental  exchange,  enriching  us  both,  the  Australian  Ensemble  as  well  as  the  European  new  music  scene.      INFO  CD  Disintegration:  Mutation,  hellosQuarerecordings  (2011);    Coming  Soon:  LP  Stasis  Ecstatic,  Heartless  Robot  Productions  (2012)  Book  Cat  Hope  (Ed.):  Decibel:  Audible  Designs,  Perth  Institute  of  Contemporary  Arts  (PICA)  2011.    online    decibel.waapamusic.com  Translation  by  Russya  Connor.  

1/20/12 7:09 PMAustralisch ensemble Decibel met nieuwste projekt SomAcustica te gast in Logos : Oorgetuige

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Ictus : The Wayward

Do 19/01 in deHandelsbeurs, Gent

Concerten deze week : van ma16 t.e.m. zo 22/01/2012

Sophie Karthäuser &

Cédric Tiberghien :

Mélodies d'après

Verlaine

DECIBEL :

SomAcustica

Josse De Pauw & LOD

: Die Siel Van Die Mier

Brody Neuenschwander

& Zefiro Torna :

Shadows

Ictus : The Wayward

Gradus ad Parnassum :

Dagmar Robben, Elias

Mestdagh, Tina Jacobs

& Hélène Termonia

Emanon : Rota, Nuyts

Brahms

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Stuur

Klassiek Centraal

Zefiro Torna & BrodyNeuenschwander : Shadows

Do 19/01 in de RomaansePoort, Leuven

Josse De Pauw & LOD : Die SielVan Die Mier

Do 19/01 in het NT Gent -ma 23/01 inCultuurcentrum Kortrijk

Recente berichten

Tegendraadse blues van

Harry Partch door

Ictus...

Australisch ensemble

Decibel met nieuwste...

Sophie Karthäuser zingt

liederen op teksten

van...

Blazers van

deFilharmonie brengen

Eisler, Aho...

Shadows : een

intrigerende voorstelling

over...

Radio Klara neemt voor

het eerst deSingel in...

24 uur van het podium :

« Sophie Karthäuser zingt liederen op teksten van Verlaine in de Munt | Homepage | Tegendraadse blues van HarryPartch door Ictus in Gent »

14-01-12

Australisch ensemble Decibel met nieuwste projekt SomAcustica te gast in

Logos

DECIBEL is een Australisch ensemble dat de effekten van klank op hetmenselijk lichaam bestudeert. Met SomAcustica brengen ze eenopwindende set die deels performance, deels uitvoering en deelsresearch bevat. Je ziet hen aan de slag met werk van Warren Burt,William Seward Burroughs, Mauricio Kagel, Brian Eno en AlvinLucier.

DECIBEL is een heterogeen ensemble voor experimentele muziek uitPerth (West-Australië). De groep telt zes leden die allen zowel musici,onderzoekers als uitvoerders zijn. Hun gemeenschappelijke 'corebusiness' is het uitpluizen van effekten van georganiseerd geluid en

akoestische fenomenen op het menselijk wezen. Met Tape it!, een van hun eerste projekten alscollektief, reisden ze al hun thuiscontinent af, nu trekken ze hun geografisch kader open meteen toernee door West-Europa en hun daarbijhorende nieuwste produktie, SomAcoustica.

DECIBEL schrikt er niet voor terug om ook iconen uit verschillende muzikale strekkingen door hunmangel te halen. Zo mag je je op dit concert aan een setlist verwachten waarin de 'ernstigemuziek' van Mauricio Kagel en Alvin Lucier gesupplementeerd wordt door de 'Gebrauchsmusik'van Brian Eno. Van Logos-sympathisant Warren Burt krijgen we dan weer een speels iPhone-stuken zelfs The Biggest Literary Outlaw, William Burroughs, komt aan het woord met diensverstorende, ongrijpbare 'Electronic Revolution'.

'Electronic Revolution' is een essay dat Burroughs schreef in 1970, na zijn doorbraak met NakedLunch en The NOVA Trilogy en bevat - weliswaar nog in rudimentaire vorm- de belangrijkstethema's die zijn oeuvre de decennia daarop zouden kenmerken: taal als een injectie vanbuitenaards leven dat de menselijke communikatie overhoop gooit, de ongecontroleerdediktatuur van nieuws, pers en politieke demagogie en de onderwerping van de wil van hetindividu aan de vrije interpretatie van woorden, symbolen en beelden. 'Electronic Revolution'oefende een sterke invloed uit op experimentele progrockers uit de jaren 70. Met name RichardH. Kirk van Cabaret Voltaire betitelde het als "a handbook of how to use tape recorders in acrowd … to promote a sense of unease or unrest by playback of riot noises cut in with randomrecordings of the crowd itself."

DECIBEL is samengesteld door volgende zes knappe koppen: Cat Hope (artistiek leider, fluit &electronics), Lindsay Vickery (rietinstrumenten, programmeur, electronics), Stuart James(piano, perkussie, programmeur & electronics), Malcolm Riddoch (gitaar, netwerk & electronics),Tristan Parr (cello) en Aaron Wyatt (viool & altviool).

Tijd en plaats van het gebeuren :

DECIBEL : SomAcusticaDinsdag 17 januari 2012 om 20.00 u Logos Tetraëder - Gent Bomastraat 26-289000 Gent

Meer info : www.logosfoundation.org

1/13/12 10:13 PMKulturkalender Biberach

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club modern24. 01. 2012 | Stadthalle

Decibel TAPE IT

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Donnerstag, 24. Januar 201220:00 Uhr | Stadthalle

Decibel TAPE ITDer Südwestrundfunk SWR veranstaltet in Zusammenarbeit mit dem club modern Biberach und präsentiert von der Schwäbischen Zeitung am Dienstag,24. Januar 2012 um 20 Uhr in der Stadthalle Biberach ein Konzert mit dem Australischen Ensemble „Decibel“. Das Konzert wird vom SWRaufgezeichnet und bringt Werke von Warren Burt, William Burroughs, Brian Eno, Lindsay Vickery, Cat Hope, Mauricio Kagel, Alvin Lucier sowieeine Gemeinschaftskomposition des Ensembles zur Aufführung.

“Tape it der Name ist das Programm. Von elektronischer Musik existiert im Grunde ein bestimmtes Klischeebild: Musik aus der Maschine - oderschlimmer aus der Retorte. Das klingt zumeist nach steriler Laborarbeit. In Wahrheit ist die elektronische Musik aber vielgestaltiger und vielfarbiger.Und Tonbandmusik ist eben nicht Live-Elektronik. Schließlich aber: Wer kennt sie nicht, diese kleinen elektronischen Pieper, die so manchesKinderzimmer verschönern und den Erwachsenen nur auf die Nerven gehen. Das sind eigentlich auch Instrumente, nur eben elektronische.

Genau diesen Aspekten ist das Programm von “Tape it gewidmet. Es ist ein Programm, bei dem der Fokus auf Werke gerichtet ist, die Playback-Verfahren als Teil der Partitur nutzen. Das musikalische Spiel mit Bändern wird hierbei verstanden als Umgang mit den vielfältigen Verfahren desPlaybacks: Traditionelle Tonbandgeräte kommen hier ebenso zum Einsatz wie tragbare Kassettengeräte und CD-Spieler, Tape-Decks,Schallplattenspieler und die jüngste Generation der Playback-Technologie durch die Verwendung von Computer-Laptops zur Klangerzeugung. Alle

1/13/12 10:13 PMKulturkalender Biberach

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Playback-Klänge wurden entweder durch das Ensemble selbst aufgenommen oder werden in bestimmten Einzelfällen in Echtzeit produziert. DasPlayback wird dabei in jedem Stück als einzigartiges, den akustischen Raum gestaltendes Instrument eingesetzt, das sowohl die Spielsituation als auchdie Aufführungsvoraussetzungen bestimmt. “Tape It versucht die verschiedenen Möglichkeiten hörbar zu machen, wie das Playback in eine Kompositionintegriert werden kann.

Die aus,- und aufführende Gruppe Decibel ist ein junges Ensemble, das sich der Aufführung von Kammermusik widmet, die elektronische undakustische Instrumente miteinander verbindet. Die Kernidee von Decibel ist es dabei, das elektronische Playback-Verfahren als ein eigenständigesInstrument zu verstehen und einzusetzen, so dass es seine eigene akustische Präsenz, Qualität und Gewichtung besitzt Kategorien die gemeinhin nur aufakustische Instrumente angewandt werden. Decibel setzt sich dafür ein, das reichhaltige, aber bislang vernachlässigte Repertoire zu entdecken, daselektronische und akustische Instrumente miteinander verbindet, in dem dabei originalgetreue Wiedergaben der ursprünglichen Technologie ebensoeingesetzt werden wie auch gegenwärtige Interpretationen, was ein “elektronisches Instrument sein könnte. Es handelt sich dabei um ein höchst delikatesVerfahren, denn: neue Technologien sind nicht immer und unbedingt besser, aber sie klingen anders. Das zeigt sich allein schon bei den qualitativenUnterschieden zwischen einem Tonband, einer digitalen Aufnahme oder einem Playback von der CD. Auf der anderen Seite vereinfachen neueTechnologien die Anwendungen und Einsatzmöglichkeiten elektronischer Instrumente. Decibel engagiert sich dabei sowohl für das Werk australischerals auch internationaler Komponisten, die für dieses Repertoire gearbeitet haben.

Programm:Warren Burt: Another Noisey Lullaby (2009)für vier Instrumente und Ghetto-Blasters William Burroughs: Electronic Revolution (1970)für zwei Laptops und Plattenspieler Cat Hope: In the Cut (2009)für Bassklarinette, Bassgitarre, Plattenspieler, Cello und ElektronikMauricio Kagel: Prima Vista (1972/74)für zwei Tapedecks und vier MusikerBrian Eno: Music for Airports 1/1 (1978)für Altflöte, Altsaxophon, drei Tonband-Loops, Klavier und Cello Decibel: Lingua Ignota (2011)für vier Instrumente und elekotroakustische Rückkoppelung Lindsay Vickery: Transit of Venus (2009)für drei Instrumente und Elektronik Alvin Lucier: Ever Present (2004)für Sinuswellen Flöte, Altsaxophon und Klavier

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1/13/12 10:34 PMKulturverein Zehntscheuer e.V. Rottenburg am Neckar

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TAGE FÜR NEUE MUSIK 2012

Neue Musik aus Australien

Decibel New Music Ensemble

Werke von Lindsay Vickery, CatHope, Percy Grainger, Decibel,

Rainer Linz, Julian Day undanderen

Neue Musik aus Lateinamerika

Ensemble Aventure

Werke von Germán Romero,Mariano Etkin, Mesias

Maiguashca, Natalia Solomonoff,Edgar Barroso und Rodolfo

Acoste

INFO

Neue Musik aus Australien und aus Lateinamerika

Globalisierte Welt, heile Welt? Nicht so in den Künsten. Diese suchen nach wie vor ihremaßgeblichen Anregungen in den nationalen Quellgebieten. Die Tage für Neue Musik legen ihrAugenmerk auf zwei der Quellgebiete: jene in Australien und in Lateinamerika.

Die Gäste, die wir dazu eingeladen haben, stammen von dort: das Ensemble Decibel New Music ausAustralien, Perth.Das Decibel New Music Ensemble ist ein junges Ensemble, das sich der Aufführung von

1/20/12 8:10 PMBERLIN - DECIBEL - Far Away Ideas: New Experimental Music From Australia - 19.1.2012 @ WABE Berlin

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Degem - Deutsche Gesellschaft für elektroakustische Musik e.V.Sie sind hier:

HomeNewsBERLIN - DECIBEL - Far Away Ideas: New Experimental Music From Australia - 19.1.2012 @ WABE Berlin

Intern[ 05. Januar 2012 ]

BERLIN - DECIBEL - Far Away Ideas: New Experimental Music FromAustralia - 19.1.2012 @ WABE BerlinVon: "Elke Moltrecht" Datum: 5. Januar 2012 04:15:52 GMT+08:00

Wir freuen uns, Ihnen die Deutschlandpremiere des australischen Ensembles DECIBEL aus Perth ankündigen zu können:

DECIBEL - Far Away Ideas: New Experimental Music From Australia19.1.2012: Einlass 19 Uhr, Konzertbeginn 20 UhrEintritt: 12,- €/erm. 8,- €WABE Berlin

decibel.waapamusic.comwww.x-tract-production.dewww.wabe-berlin.de

Erstmalig spielt das australische Ensemble Decibel in Deutschland: ein Programm mit ausschließlich australischen Werken für akustische und elektronischenInstrumenten. Der Abend in der Wabe wird gemeinsam gestaltet mit in Berlin lebenden australischen Musikern, durch eigene Kompositionen und Improvisationen.

Mit:ENSEMBLE DECIBEL (AUS):Cat Hope - Künstlerische Leitung, Flöte, BassLindsay Vickery - Blasinstrumente, Programming, Score PlayersStuart James - Piano, Percussion, ProgrammingTristan Parr - VioloncelloMalcolm Riddoch - Electronics, NetworkingAaron Wyatt - Violine, Viola

THOMAS MEADOWCROFT – Orgel, RevoxSTEVE HEATHER + TONY BUCK – SchlagzeugBORIS HAUF – Syntheziser

Kompositionen von PERCY GRAINGER, LINDSAY VICKERY, CAT HOPE, MALCOLM RIDDOCH, STUART JAMES und JULIAN DAY Kompositionen undImprovisationen von THOMAS MEADOWCROFT, STEVE HEATHER, TONY BUCK und BORIS HAUF

In Kooperation mit x-tract-production/Elke MoltrechtMit freundlicher Unterstützung durch Tura New Music und Edith Cowan University.

Herzlich grüßend

Elke Moltrechtx-tract-production.deElsa-Brändström-Str. 113189 BerlinTel. 030 505 93 400www.x-tract-production.de

CURV

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CONCERTI27 GENNAIO TIM HODGKINSON EXPERIENCE 1 ATELIER MONTEVERGINI

28 GENNAIO TIM HODGKINSON EXPERIENCE 2 ATELIER MONTEVERGINI

29 GENNAIO TIM HODGKINSON EXPERIENCE 3 ATELIER MONTEVERGINI

3 FEBBRAIO IL SUONO DEI SOLI DECIBEL 1 CANTIERI CULTURALI GOETHE-INSTITUT

4 FEBBRAIO IL SUONO DEI SOLI DECIBEL 2 CANTIERI CULTURALI GOETHE-INSTITUT

9 FEBBRAIO IL SUONO DEI SOLI ULRIKE BRAND CANTIERI CULTURALI GOETHE-INSTITUT

10 FEBBRAIO IL SUONO DEI SOLI HÉLÈNE BRESCHAND 1 CANTIERI CULTURALI GOETHE-INSTITUT

11 FEBBRAIO IL SUONO DEI SOLI HÉLÈNE BRESCHAND 2 CANTIERI CULTURALI GOETHE-INSTITUT

16 FEBBRAIO IL SUONO DEI SOLI JOHN TILBURY 1 CANTIERI CULTURALI GOETHE-INSTITUT

17 FEBBRAIO IL SUONO DEI SOLI JOHN TILBURY 2 CANTIERI CULTURALI GOETHE-INSTITUT

24 FEBBRAIO IL SUONO DEI SOLI BADANO/FERRARI CANTIERI CULTURALI GOETHE-INSTITUT

25 FEBBRAIO IL SUONO DEI SOLI PAOLO EMILIO CARAPEZZA CANTIERI CULTURALI GOETHE-INSTITUT

1 MARZO IL SUONO DEI SOLI FLAVIO VIRZÌ CANTIERI CULTURALI GOETHE-INSTITUT

2 MARZO IL SUONO DEI SOLI THOLLEM MCDONAS CANTIERI CULTURALI GOETHE-INSTITUT

3 MARZO IL SUONO DEI SOLI MCDONAS/SFAMELI CANTIERI CULTURALI GOETHE-INSTITUT

10 MARZO TIPTONS SAXOPHONE QUARTET CANTIERI CULTURALI GOETHE-INSTITUT

17 MARZO GIOVANNI CUTELLO PREMIO PIPPO ARDINI ATELIER FORME D’ARTE

21 MARZO THOMAS LEHN PALERMO MEETING 1 CANTIERI CULTURALI GOETHE-INSTITUT

22 MARZO THOMAS LEHN PALERMO MEETING 2 CANTIERI CULTURALI GOETHE-INSTITUT

29 MARZO SUPERSAX CONTEST 1 CANTIERI CULTURALI GOETHE-INSTITUT

30 MARZO SUPERSAX CONTEST 2 CANTIERI CULTURALI GOETHE-INSTITUT

31 MARZO SUPERSAX CONTEST 3 CANTIERI CULTURALI GOETHE-INSTITUT

venerdì 3 febbraioCantieri Culturali alla Zisa, Goethe-Institutore 21,15 concerto

THE COMPLETE JOHN CAGE VARIATIONS

DECIBEL ENSEMBLE (Perth)

Cat Hope direttore artistico, flauti, basso elettricoLindsay Vickery strumenti ad ancia, programmazioneStuart James pianoforte, strumenti a percussioneTristan Parr violoncelloMalcolm Riddoch elettronicaAaron Wyatt volino, violaSilvia Giuffrè (ospite) danzaCamillo Amalfi (ospite) onde radioFrancesco Calandrino (ospite) onde radioSimone Sfameli (ospite) onde radio

–––––Variations I (1958)–––––Variations II (1961)–––––Variations III (1962)–––––Variations IV (1963) –––––Variations V (1965)–––––Variations VI (1966)–––––Variations VII (1967)–––––Variations VIII (1968)

100JOHNCAGE

sabato 4 febbraioCantieri Culturali alla Zisa, Goethe-Institutore 21,15 concerto

NEW EXPERIMENTAL MUSIC FROM AUSTRALIA

DECIBEL ENSEMBLE (Perth)

Cat Hope direttore artistico, flauti, basso elettricoLindsay Vickery strumenti ad ancia, programmazioneStuart James pianoforte, strumenti a percussioneTristan Parr violoncelloMalcolm Riddoch elettronicaAaron Wyatt volino, viola

–––––Percy Grainger/ Free Music No. 1for 4 iphone theremins (1936)–––––Lindsay Vickery/ Ghosts of Departed Quantities (2011)per clarinetto basso, flauto basso, violoncello, elettronica –––––Samuel Dunscombe/ West Park (2011)per flauto basso, clarinetto basso, elettronica–––––Lindsay Vickery/ Cat Hope The Talking Board (2011)per quattro strumenti, processi elettronici e spazializazione [prima mondiale]–––––Cat Hope/ Longing (2011)per cinque strumenti con sustain –––––Malcolm Riddoch/ Variations on Electroacoustic Feedback (2010)per elettroacustica, violoncello e flauto in sol–––––Stuart James/ Particle 1 (2011)for 2 cimbali usurati, laptop, 2 microfoni e altoparlanti–––––Julian Day/ Beginning to collapse (2008)flauto in sol, clarinetto basso, violoncello, chitarra, tastiera, cimbalo e playback

10/10/12 10:02 PMCool Perth Nights : Articles

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MAILOUTWhat do you get when you crosscashmere with a loud hailer?

ARTICLESChronicles, articles, live reviewswith Lyndon Blue, Tahlia Palmer,Amber Fresh, Christopher Isaacs& Felicity Groom

VENUEPROGRAMMINGThank you Mister Tony Joe Whitenow for a seven piece Gongband!

PUBLICITYYeah we've drunk Cava with thatmedia group - they can hold theirbooze.

CONTACTCome to us we will help youmake it happen!

ARTICLESLYNDON BLUEEXPERIMENTAL: GILDED AND DECIBEL ALBUMREVIEWSOctober 10

Gilded – Terrane (Hidden Shoal)

I’m no geologist, but thanks to a bit of search-engine scholarship I can now tell youthat a “terrane” is a land-mass phenomenon where a tectonic plate breaks off andfuses with another, leaving a fault-line where the two bits of Earth-crust have“sutured.” The metaphorical inference to be made here – that collaborators AdamTrainer and Matt Rosner’s respective approaches/oeuvres are comparable totectonic plates, monolithic, timeless, and joined at last – might seem a touch self-important if not for a few facts. (A) Adam and Matt are well-known to be top dudes,tirelessly honing their crafts for years with no time for chest-puffing; (B) theirapproaches/oevres actually DO feel somehow monolithic and timeless, detachedfrom the mundanities of modern life, alluding to something more cosmic or ancient,and © well, it’s just a darned album title isn’t it, and it would be a bit rough to drawassumptions about the fellers’ personalities thereupon.

For a more rigorous glimpse into the inner workings of the Trainer/Rosner collectiveconsciousness, cue up their debut long-player. You will be handsomely rewarded.“Terrane” is one of the most simultaneously accessible and uncompromisingexperimental records to come out of Perth – perhaps ever. The pair’s sharedpenchant for slow-burn textural development, distant gestural melody and ambientdrifting is adapted and forged into a record that is remarkably concise andconsistently engaging – you might even call it muscular.

Opener “Velar” is all glassy piano, sparse percussion and ghostly bow strokes, butimmediately “String and Stone” reworks similar textures into decisive 4/4, a quiet,sanguine momentum – dance music for sunbeams. “Tyne,” similarly, relies onrepetition, and nods towards Trainer’s pop and post-rock roots. Other tracks – like“Road Movie,” “Straight Crest,” and “Moth Food,” allow more for these textures tofloat, unbridled by tempo, foregrounding the freeform interplay of campfire crackleand dawntime drone. Yet never does the record drag; my indie-pop-adoring

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teenage sister likes it; no less is it bound to please the most avid aficionados ofexperimental soundscaping. Gilded have achieved that special alchemy –transcending “genre” with a record that will appeal to many, sacrificing none of itsunique, esoteric quality in the process.

DECIBEL – Stasis Ecstatic (Heartless Robot)

Holding Decibel’s (very beautifully packaged) new gatefold LP in your hands, you’restruck with an inevitable question. How does a group like Decibel – whose workdeals so much with experimental engagement with space, real-world acoustics,audiovisual interaction and replicating/subverting traditional performance protocol –condense itself into a standalone sound-document, let alone good old-fashionedvinyl? (Okay, it’s a long-winded question, but it’s still inevitable). The answer lies inhaving the maturity to fully accept the limitations of the medium, and the artistry towork deftly within them.

Statis Ecstatic’s title lays bare its preoccupations. This is not a record about movingtowards a destination; rather rejoicing in stillness and prolongedexperience/exploration. Nor are we talking about the mantric, somehow sexual(getting Freudian here) elation that can accompany fiercely repetitive “aimless”music (the “motorik” beat, the hefty droning of doom metal, the relentless pulse ofhouse beats). No – the ecstasy here is more subtle, mysterious, phantasmic – butit’s a sort of joy nonetheless. While it might rightly called a “challenging” listen, thestrange adventures within Statis Ecstatic are by no means a chore to experience.

Rather than try to encapsulate the very eclectic, cross-disciplinary and often site-specific nature of their performances, Decibel have wisely forged an album that isboth focused and atmospheric. Yes, the pieces herein do operate at academic andintellectual levels, employing experimental technologies, innovative scoring stylesand extended techniques. But importantly, they are mood-inducing and aurallyenticing too. Pervading these soundscapes is the sense of something ghostly andjust out-of-sight, like the inexplicable presence felt in a haunted house (indeed,Linsday Vickery’s “Ghosts of Departed Quantities” readily alludes to sonic specters).Drones, strings, woodwind, feedback, cymbals, electronics, vocals and even theodd spy-rock guitar mingle in an outer-space void of cavernous reverb to producean hour of sound that is as seductive as it is unsettling. The record’s intriguingconclusion is performed by Stuart James on a sound-invention by Dwellingup-dweller Alan Lamb called “The Infinity Machine.” Using wires and magnets, themachine provides a sonic articulation of chaos theory, and a capacity to endlesslyreconfigure strange, industrial and otherworldly sounds – until at last the recordspins around a single note for a seemingly indefinite duration. How better to end arecord about ecstatic stasis than with “infinity” – the most mysterious, sublime andcuriously static proposition of them all.

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