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CreatePermanence is Now Online!

We have just released a new web application that lets users create their own version of the opening piece “Permanence” of the CD “Listening to Istanbul”. CreatePermanence web application includes listeners in the process of making music. “You can listen to many improvisations and musical gestures that I recorded specifically for this website and then remix them on a timeline at certain points in the compositions,” says Seda Röder, who has been described as “the master of avant-garde pianism” by piano legend Alfred Brendel. “Permanence” by the Turkish composer Tolga Tüzün is written in open form and consists of composed segments and improvisational sections that can be played in an order chosen by the performer. The web application features improvisations that were recorded for “Listening to Istanbul”, plus additional ones that were intended specifically for this web application. With this web application you can re-arrange these segments and improvisations, and change the sonic path of the piece. After you are done, you can download your own version of “Permanence” free of charge.

Please feel free to share it with your friends!

GO TO CREATEPERMANENCE WEBSITE.

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Blackbox #012: The Music of Noise

Blackbox 012: The Music of Noise Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In this episode I would like to talk about understanding “noise” as a musical element and discuss briefly two milestone pieces that show different approaches to integrating noise into a composition: Poème électronique by Edgar Varèse and Guero by Helmut Lachenmann.

Enjoy!
- Seda

Watch&Read
Art of Noises (1913) by Luigi Russolo

Poème électronique by Edgar Varèse (audio only)

Poème électronique by Edgar Varèse (original video)

Background on Poème électronique

Guero by Helmut Lachenmann (video)

Excerpts in the podcast come from:
CD 1: Electro Acoustic Music: Classics, Neuma Records, 1990
CD 2: Lachenmann, Piano Music / Marino Formenti, Col Legno, 2003

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Seda Röder improvizes first-ever electro-acoustic cadenza for a classical concerto

In this video, New Music Pianist Seda Röder improvises the first-ever electro-acoustic cadenza for a classical concerto!

Röder, who specializes on bringing contemporary music to new audiences, says that “the public at Beethoven’s time would have expect the soloist to improvise in the cadenzas. I wanted to do the same, but in a style that is my own and entirely modern.”

To turn this vision into reality, Seda worked together with Mexican composer Edgar Barroso who provided an electro-acoustic framework that she could use for her improvisations.

When Röder was approached by Harvard conductor Hanjay Wang with the suggestion to perform with the Chinese Symphonic Masterpieces Orchestra, the unusual idea finally came to life!

To find out more about this very special project, please listen to the latest episode of Seda’s podcast in which the pianist shares her thoughts on the unusual performance.

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Blackbox #010: New sounds … New techniques …

Blackbox 010: New sounds... New techniques... [ 6:06 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

By the end of the 19th century we already start seeing composers like Berlioz and Debussy experimenting more and more with the characteristic sounds and colors of different instruments. As a natural result of thinking more in color and effects the instruments had to be forced to their sonic extremes, to create a new sound world. The composers started to explore and expand the sonic possibilities of instruments and pushed these to previously uncharted territories.

In this episode of Blackbox, I would like to give you a short introduction on the development of new playing techniques to create such new sounds. I will also show you a two examples for such interesting sounds from my own repertory: the “fishing line” section from “Lacrymae” by Murat Yakin and the “e-bow+mallet+plucking+whistling” section from “Drifting through the Echoes of Time” by Turgut Erçetin.

Enjoy!
-Seda

Links for further exploration:

  • Stephen Scott’s “Bowed Piano Ensemble”
  • How to use an e-bow on a piano
  • Preparing the piano for “Sonatas and Interludes” by John Cage
  • “Aeolian Harp” (1923) by Henry Cowell
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    Blackbox #009: It’s OK if it’s rhythmic!

    Blackbox #009: It is OK if it is rhythmic! [ 6:27 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

    In this episode I would like to continue where I finished last time (have a look at: Blackbox #008) and focus on another element which is quite different in contemporary music compared to other types of music: Rhythm.

    In this episode I am going to show you that dissonances are actually as such not the reason why some of us find contemporary music uncomfortable. You will see that when we are provided with a steady beat, and a clear rhythmic structure, we can take even the most unbearable dissonances.

    Enjoy!
    –Seda

    PS: next time when you listen to a popular song by Björk or Röyksopp try to imagine the music without the beat. Then you will also see how dissonant some of the most popular songs actually are. If you want to try this out just click on the links below:

    Röyksopp: A Higher Place
    Björk: Possibly Maybe

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