duplication/doubles

Spiegeltjes (little mirrors) (2016)

5 pieces for clarinet, tape and objects
The tape can be replaced by a second clarinet OR by any other melodic instrument: transpositions can be applied.
The different pieces of this project can be played as a cycle or individually.

This cycle of pieces (five in total) is inspired by the renaissance Flemish composers and their use of mirror techniques. Most of them are written for a solo instrument in dialogue with a tape/vinyl pre-recorded by the same instrument. Duo versions replacing the recording for a second player, are very welcome.

The music score is not published yet. Please email me if you are interested in this work.

# 1. Spiegeltjes / little mirrors: is symmetrically split into two equal parts with a vertical line, organizing the musical material with retrogrades and inversion techniques. On a smaller scale, the clarinet plays in counterpoint with itself conforming little mirrors which are expressed in groups of notes with stems up and down.

# 2. Snel / fast: the recorded clarinet is partially duplicated by the live clarinet creating a new melody (a mirror with holes). Mirrors are not only present in the music but they also reflect the acoustical space. This intriguing “quasi unison” shapes the harmony of the piece. It is advisable to explore the acoustics of the hall finding the most appropriate location for both performers, which will be different in every venue.

#3. Zand / sand: the pre-recorded clarinet plays in counterpoint with the live one in canon. The multiphonic chords are shaped by this written delay creating interesting harmonies.

#4. Tekening / drawing: (two players), the flutists and a drawer who draws in the mirror in synch with the clarinet.

#5. Terug / backward: an evergoing melody is played back and forth, written in classical retrograde style.

The inclusion of real mirrors on stage creates not only visual duplications but a blind spot behind. The two performers have a different setup for each piece of the program playing with the mirror but also taking different locations on the space. Simple movements create very different scenarios and emphasize the acoustics of the hall in a “hide and seek” but “always listening” game.

Spiegeltjes stage design – practical and flexible

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Dos #1 (2011) and Dos #2 (2015)

Program notes

Dos #1 for voice and two pickup players (or tape)
commissioned by Stichting Plan B, Amsterdam
Dos #2 for violin, cello and two pickup players (or tape)
commissioned by DieOrdnungDerDinge, Berlin

Working with recordings brings the possibility to recall different versions of the same piece. Old voices are in counterpoint with the live performance and the music splits into diverse historical lines. As a science fiction movie, the past converges with the present: in an ex-temporary gesture, Schumann is reflected on vinyl, the future for him.
In classical musical instruments, model, year, material, and builder have an enormous impact on the characteristics of their sound. The same happens with domestic appliances: every model, every speaker, every decade, brings its own particular sound.
These domestic appliances are generally built to be used at home and not in a stage. In this music -never better employed the term chamber music- domestic appliances bring the atmosphere of a house to the stage.
Devices are in dialogue with live instruments or the human voice in a “concerto” form. A historical pre-recorded vinyl version of Schumann´s Carnival is manipulated live in a “live electronics” DJ style.
The name Dos (two) refers to the sad bipolar condition attributed to Schumann. Two pickup players, slightly out of synch, build a psychological atmosphere full of distorted mirrors.

Program notes for Dos #2 DieOrdnungDerDinge, Berlin June 2016 (in Spanish)
Colección de piezas compuestas en base al “Carnaval” de Robert Schumann. Música para violin, cello y dos tocadiscos.
Este concierto se basa grabaciones en vinilo de música de Robert Schumann en contrapunto con nueva música compuesta por Cecilia Arditto para instrumentos en vivo.
La grabación histórica congela una versión específica de la música que dialoga en vivo con otro presente musical en una clara metáfora sobre el tiempo: un tiempo congelado en contrapunto con un tiempo nuevo.
Los tocadiscos son considerados también instrumentos musicales. Además de reproducir una grabación específica, cada tocadiscos, tiene un sonido particular en sí mismo, un aura, una historia que imprime una cualidad especial en el sonido reproducido, trayendo no solo las grabaciones del pasado, sino sus características de reproducción.
Las grabaciones originales del Carnaval de Schumann están procesadas en vivo, utilizando los recursos propios de los tocadiscos: alteración del volumen, tono y distintas velocidades (16-33 ½, 45 y 78) y manipulación del vinilo, scratches, ruidos con la púa, etc, en un estilo “low-tech DJ”.
Dos esta basada en el número Chopin del Carnaval op.9 de Schumann, reproducida en dos tocadiscos con grabaciones idénticas en un juego de velocidades cambiantes (16, 33 ½, 45 y 78 rpm) en contrapunto con los instrumentos en vivo. Dos remite a la condición bipolar de Schumann y su diálogo constante con sus “alter egos” presentes en su producción musical.

Link artículo PDF “Modicación de algunos parametros de una grabación en LP al cambiar la velocidad del plato” por Gabriel Abellán (Spanish)

Preparations

1. Overview

2. Buttons

3. Pitch

4. Finger gliss.

5. Speed

6. Speakers

Improvisation with pickups and props

Muziek als vinyls & tapes: Ratatouille TV- Amsterdam

Dos #1:

Download score PDF

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Dos #2:

Download score PDF

Send download link to:

Dos #1 (2011) and Dos #2 (2015) Read More »

La arquitectura del aire / The architecture of air (2009)

Program notes

for organ and two percussionists
comissioned by Orgelpark, Amsterdam

“La arquitectura del aire” is about the space between things. The two percussionists and the organ, form a triangle spread out in the hall, with the organist is situated above, and the percussionists spaced far apart on the ground level.
The three musicians create an invisible perimeter, which becomes the playground for air, in different conditions and states. A ventilator, a melodica, and an old radio exchange concrete air sounds in the form of fluctuations and noise bands.
The organ has a motor and pipes, and the vibraphone also has a motor and pipes, initiating a dialogue of frequencies primarily composed of air and electricity.
As the performance progresses, the performers define the space’s perimeter by playing string telephones. These instruments connect the three players through sound while also creating a visual line in the three-dimensional space, reaching the top of the organ. In a game of analogies, the humble tin from the string telephone communicates with the organ pipes, which share a similar nature.
This music is about the “in-betweens.” It is music crafted from air and threads, essentially composed of nothing, where the musicians tie sounds with strings and send signals to each other using their instruments, motors, and voices: a cathedral of air.

• Audio

La arquitectura del aire / The architecture of air (2009) Read More »

Time machine (2011) – program notes

Program notes

for violin, trombone, piano, radio, cassette player and a rocking chair
commissioned by NFPK, Holland

There are three people sitting in a room; they are just staying but also remembering the past and dreaming about the future all at the same time. It is always difficult to say what now and here means because our hearts gets always confused about organizing emotions on a timeline.
Koen rewinds, anticipates and plays the cassette player as a metaphor of past (and future?) memories. Bas plays a radio that catches the air in an ever-flowing present. Nora moves back and forth from the piano in a rocking chair, looped in her own clock.
Music is a powerful time machine, traveling through chronologically organized sounds, but mainly through the mixed archeology of our emotions.

Time machine (2011) – program notes Read More »

Spiegeltjes (little mirrors) (2016)

Dos #1 (2011) and Dos #2 (2015)

Preparations

La arquitectura del aire / The architecture of air (2009)

Related works:

Time machine (2011) – program notes

Related works: