line-up
jaan bossier > conductor
eric sleichim > composition, artistic director BL!NDMAN
serge verstockt > composition, artistic director champ d’action
BL!NDMAN [SAX]
koen maas > soprano saxophone
roeland vanhoorne > alto saxophone
piet rebel > tenor saxophone
raf minten > baritone saxophone
CHAMP D’ACTION
lode leire > double bass
marcel andriessen > percussion
sabine warnier > flute
sabine uytterhoeven > clarinet
tom verschoore > trombone
gudrun vercampt > violin
jeroen robbrecht > violin alto
arne deforce > cello
annelies boodts > harp
maarten buyl > electronics
els mondelaers > soprano
CRITICAL BAND is a BL!NDMAN and Champ d’Action production, coproduced by deSIngel/Antwerpen
BL!NDMAN is supported by the Arts Administration of the Ministry of the Flemish Community and the Flemish Community Commission of the Brussels-Capital Region. BL!NDMAN [sax] play Selmer Paris Saxophones.
CRITICAL BAND
homage to the American composer James Tenney
Tenney’s work, spectral even before the notion had gained general acceptance, is featured in this programme together with compositions by 2 European spectralists par excellence: Gérard Grisey and Giacinto Scelsi. |
The ensembles BL!NDMAN and Champ d’Action are both well-known for their non-conformist views on the manner in which contemporary music can be presented. They are often looking for special locations or are placing the concert hall in a novel, innovative setting. Light and spatial interpretations of the area where the musicians perform, turn their concerts into something different from what is commonly understood in the traditional sense.
For the project ‘critical band’ (after James Tenney), they have joined forces for the first time, in the first place out of the desire to collaborate, but also because they were driven by their joint passion for the music of James Tenney. When the latter passed away in August 2006, his death barely was mentioned in the media. Yet, Tenney’s name has been ubiquitous in American music history for at least the past 40 years. He made music with John Cage, Steve Reich, and Phil Glass. He was an influential theoretician, the founder of the Tone Roads ensemble, a teacher at the famous institute CalArts, and was instrumental in fostering the rise of an important group of composers. But, above all, he himself was an innovative composer, known for his elegant, acoustic and electronic creations. He is considered to be the forerunner of the later European spectralists. That is why his music in this project is joined by the works of the spectralists Grisey and Scelsi.
audio
http://www.blindman.be/assets/sounds/Ruisveld_(short_version).mp3 Ruisveld (short version) E.SLEICHIM
programme
introduction : james tenney > _*saxony_* [saxophone quartet + tape-delay system] 15’
eric sleichim > ruisveld [turntables, flute, clarinet, bassoon, trombone, violin, viola, cello, d.bass] 15’
giacinto scelsi > _*okanogon_* [harp, double-bass, percussion] 10’
james tenney > _*voice(s)_* [female voice, variable ensemble and tape-delay system] 20‘
pause
gérard grisey > _*périodes_* [flute, clarinet, trombone, violin, viola, cello, double bass] 16‘
serge verstockt > _*twisted pair 1_* [tutti] 10’
duration: 80’ (plus intermission)
premiere > 17 September 2008, deSingel – Antwerp
eric sleichim on ruisveld (version October 2009):
In Ruisveld four turntables play test-LP’s on which different colors of noise and pure sinuses build up abstract textures.
Six instruments (two clarinets, trombone, voice, contrabass and electric guitar) integrate the different sound-fields.
The sinuses are multiples of 33Hz, which for Hermann Helmholtz (19th century Physicist) was the minimal distance between two notes to be consonant. When several multiples of 33Hz are played together, the roaring pulse of this low frequency starts to take over the acoustic space. An electronic environment distributes the sounds around the audience and forms its own polyphony by combining the delayed tones of the instruments. When the Turntables make loops of different shape and speed, the musicians start playing these loops on metal bars. They form a condensed haze of sound that masks the clear tones which were build up until then. By filtering this condensed wall of noise, the turntablists finally obtain the initial silence again. – Electronic environment developed by GRAME / Lyon
CRITICAL BAND played among others on the following locations:
- 2009
- MADRID (ES) - Centro Difusión Música Contemporánea
- 2008
- ANTWERPEN / ANVERS - deSingel
- BRUSSEL / BRUXELLES - kaaitheater
- BRUGGE / BRUGES - concertgebouw