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Blackbox #012: The Music of Noise

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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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Blackbox #011: Beethoven and Electronics

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In this episode I would like to invite you to my upcoming concert with Beethoven’s 5th piano concerto. The concert is taking place on Friday, April 15th at Harvard’s Paine Hall. I will also talk a little bit about what makes this concert so special.

Those of you who can make it to the concert on Friday will hear something very extraordinary. I will be improvising a contemporary cadenza to the first movement of Beethoven’s 5th concerto using a live-electronics framework by composer Edgar Barroso.

In the concert on Friday I will insert an electro-acoustic improvisation into the middle of Beethoven’s notated cadenza demonstrating how different elements from within the concerto are perfectly suitable for such an experiment.

I hope to see many of you at the concert on Friday, if you cannot make it to the concert you will be able to hear a recording on my website, www.sedaroeder.com. I am really excited about this unprecedented experiment, and am looking forward to your comments.

Fri, April 15
8:00 PM
Paine Hall, Harvard University
$5 students
$8 general

Tickets can be purchased at the Harvard Box Office, or at the door.

Presented by the Harvard-Radcliffe Chinese Students Association.
Chinese Symphonic Masterpieces II
proudly presents:

Plum Blossom Country
composer Masaaki Hayakawa

Journey to the West
Double Concerto for Flute and Erhu
World Premiere; Co-commissioned by CSM
composer Oliver Caplan (Harvard SEAS Staff)
soloists Kevin Leu ’11, Flute; Charles Vanijcharoenkarn ’11, Erhu

Allegro from Piano Concerto No.5, Op.73 “Emperor”
composer Ludwig van Beethoven
soloist Seda Röder (Harvard Music Department), Piano

Music director Hanjay Wang ’11

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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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    Blackbox #008: Reinventing Dissonance and its Resolution

    How it all began Part 1: Reinventing Dissonance and its Resolution [ 8:38 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

    Tristan Chord

    Tristan Chord

    In Blackbox I usually talk about contemporary music. However recently I have been receiving questions about how it all began. So I decided to prepare a few episodes about the beginnings of modern music, and about some of the pieces that are pivotal in showing a new musical direction.

    For many of us, contemporary music is defined by its extensive use of dissonances: intervals that -when played simultaneously- sound clashing, and not really in harmony, for some ears even disturbing. But there is something very important here to keep in mind: dissonance as such is not necessarily something unpleasant or unnatural. Composers like Bach, Mozart, Chopin, all used dissonances. With one important point however, when these composers used dissonances, and created tension they always resolved it.

    Today I would like to bring three examples for the different uses of dissonance by Mozart, Chopin and Wagner, and show you how these composers handled dissonance and paved the way for the future composers.

    – Seda

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