Skip to main content

Listening report – Pauline Oliveros

 Prof. Dr. Herzogenrath

The Future of Avantgarde-Music

Blaha, Malte C.

Matrikelnummer 7509502

 

Listening report – Pauline Oliveros

First of all, I have the following to say about the piece With Goddard in the Dan Harpole Cistern: This is one of those “songs” or “musical pieces” where I have no idea what in the hell is actually going on. I guess there was the thought to create music out of the “moving space” but the moving space is not something like in the Poet Electronique, it is rather to the extent of people climbing a ladder up and down while singing. This does not only change the reverberant sound, but the sound in general, as it is constantly forced to move -in the way of reflecting against the walls, and additionally with the moving of the singing person itself.

While listening to it, I experienced some sort of consciousness that was able to demonstrate the power of sound. There are rather unconventional instruments -but only if you call them instruments. Otherwise, it seems that there are no instruments at all, but enough sound, vibrants, and reflecting notes to create a piece mastered by only the human expression. The sounds create a rich atmosphere that is not limited by traditional musical structures. Its is an intricate and expansive sound. It sort of creates a new sonic language that reflects the complexity and richness of the human voice. Despite the experimental nature of Oliveros music, I would not state that it is inaccessible. It seem to be the very contrary: there is a profound sense of empathy and inclusivity that is hearable through the high notes of the human voice. To the extent of my understanding, Oliveros created a space for listening and exploration that transcends traditional boundaries. 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

William Basinski – The Disintegration Loops III

  The Disintegration Loops is a quartet of albums published in 2002 and 2003 by American avant-garde composer William Basinski. The pieces are made up of tape loop recordings that were played over time, with noise and crackles rising as the tape deteriorated. Basinski noticed this effect when attempting to convert his older recordings to digital format. The completion of the recordings coincided with the September 11, 2001 events, which Basinski witnessed and adds a deeper meaning to the composition. The composition is fascinating in many ways and makes the listener lose track of time. The tape loop recording had a very calming effect on me and put me in a trance-like state when I listened to it in its entirety. The tape loop is really soothing, so much so that I didn't even notice the loss of quality when I first listened to it. It makes you forget about time and allows you to really get into the piece capturing the calmness it exudes. You forget or don't really notice how i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Pierre Schaeffer - Étude pathétique

  Pierre Schaefer begins the piece with sounds produced by drums and similar percussion instruments. One hears the sound of an object spinning and then coming to a stop. I assume it is a circular object, like a cymbal or hi-hat of a drum kit, that spins until it comes to a stop. Sounds of a locomotive follow, continuing with a mixture of drums and spinning objects as well as voices. There are slight parallels here with another piece by Schaeffer, "etude aux chemins de fer," in which he has the musical piece consist of sounds of trains and locomotives. I also recognize an accordion and a violin playing rapidly, accompanied by human sounds that are not really decipherable. By combining all these background sounds and using human voices, Schaeffer creates an exciting atmosphere while listening to the piece, and the listener's auditory senses are constantly challenged to decipher all the details of the sounds. At times one could be reminded of a scene from a scary movie, at l...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listening Report on John Oswald: Plexure

 Sarah Kumar Dr. Bernd Herzogenrath The Future of (American) Music 06 Mar. 2023 Listening Report on John Oswald: Plexure According to John Oswald, “[a] plunderphone is a recognizable sonic quote, using the actual sound of something familiar which has already been recorded” (Lecture Slides 18). However, only if the source stays recognizable can it be called plunderphonics. In his album Plexure , several songs are played back and mixed together, thus creating a new sound. This is interesting because while the excerpts of songs that are used are recognizable or at least sound familiar to some degree, played backwards and mashed up as they are in Plexure , they create a new sound. Like on the cover of the album, on which a collage making up a man can be seen, the mixing of different songs played backwards gives a new feeling to something known. The way the songs are mixed makes them unintelligible. The meaning of the words of the original recordings are not able to be compr...
Post a Comment
Read more