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Certain Sundays and the Berliner Gesellschaft für Neue Musik teamed up to present a dense and exciting evening of presentations from three radically different artists. Robin Hayward showed us the anatomy of his one-of-a-kind microtonal tuba, and accompanied by Christopher Williams on contrabass as the duo Reidemeister Move, presented a work-in-progress performance of “Borromean Rings,” a piece exploring sustained tone music in just intonation.
Composer Oliver Schneller presented a slideshow demonstrating his techniques of transcribing and integrating recordings of artifacts such as bells and French cattle calls into instrumental music, as well as sharing his recent explorations into unconventional uses of the Electronic Wind Instrument (EWI).
Lastly, Catherine Christer Hennix took a philosophical left turn, challenging the audience with excursions into Wittgenstein and ancient Indian texts in her inimitable take on Stockhausen’s piece “Unbegrenzt.”
Robin Hayward on microtones:
[audio:http://www.certainsundays.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/microtones.mp3|titles=Robin Hayward]
Robin Hayward on the overtone series:
[audio:http://www.certainsundays.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/overtone.mp3|titles=Robin Hayward]
Robin Hayward in discussion:
[audio:http://www.certainsundays.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/discussion1.mp3|titles=Robin Hayward in discussion:]
Oliver Schneller on his extended EWI:
[audio:http://www.certainsundays.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/schneller.mp3|titles=Oliver Schneller]
In Zusammenarbeit mit der Jour-Fixe-Serie der “Berliner Gesellschaft für Neue Musik” stellt Certain Sundays drei in Berlin lebende Komponisten und Performer von mikrotonaler Musik vor: Robin Hayward wird über seine selbstentworfene mikrotonale Tuba sprechen, einige speziell für dieses Instrument entwickelte Werke vorstellen und eine neue eigene Komposition für Tuba und Kontrabass zur Aufführung bringen. Oliver Schneller spricht über sein Konzept von Mikrotonalität in Verbindung mit einer seltenen Aufführung seines Werkes für Solo Saxofon und elektronisches Blasinstrument. Und schließlich wird Catherine Christer Hennix -ausgehend von ihrem eigenen kompositorischen Werk- in einem Exkurs ihre Erfahrungen mit Aufführungen von Stockhausens Intuitiver Musik erläutern.
In collaboration with Berliner Gesellschaft für Neue Musik’s Jour Fixe series, Certain Sundays presents three very different composers and performers of microtonal music based in Berlin. Hayward will discuss his self-designed microtonal tuba and present work developed specifically for it, including a live performance of a new composition for tuba and contrabass. Oliver Schneller will present thoughts on his own approach to the subject, with a rare public performance of a work for solo saxophone and Electronic Wind Instrument. In her first public appearance in Berlin since arriving last year, Catherine Christer Hennix will take a detour from her work as a composer to expound on her experience performing Stockhausen’s Intuitive Musik.
Robin Hayward (Berlin)
The tuba player Robin Hayward, born in Brighton, England in 1969, has been based in Berlin since 1998. He has redefined the tuba’s potential both in the areas of noise and microtonality, and his compositions for other instruments reflect a similar experimental, medium-specific approach. Pieces have been written for him by such composers as Alvin Lucier and Christian Wolff. He has toured extensively both solo and in collaboration. His approach to the tuba has been documented in the solo CDs “Valve Division” and “States of Rushing”, along with various collaborative releases. Active in many contemporary music ensembles including Phosphor and Kammerensemble Neue Musik Berlin, in 2005 he founded Zinc & Copperworks for continued research into brass instruments.
Catherine Christer Hennix (Berlin)
Catherine Christer Hennix (born in 1948) is a Swedish-American composer, philosopher, scientist, and visual artist associated with minimal drone music. Hennix was affiliated with MIT’s AI Lab in the late 1970s and was later employed as a research professor of mathematics at SUNY New Paltz. She currently lives in Berlin.
Hennix began her musical studies in the 1960s by exploring the music of Iannis Xenakis and Karlheinz Stockhausen. In 1970 Hennix met La Monte Young and Hindustani raga master Pandit Pran Nath at the Nuits du Fondation Maeght festival and pursued studies with both during the decade. She also drew inspiration from Japanese Gagaku music and the early vocal, thirteenth-century music of Perotinus and Leoninus. Hennix frequently worked together with the American anti-art philosopher, composer, and violinist Henry Flynt, and has played as a drummer with such notable jazz musicians as Don Cherry and Joe Lovano. Her landmark The Electric Harpsichord was recently released on Die Schachtel recordings was featured in The Wire magazine’s Top Ten Albums of 2010.
http://www.ubu.com/sound/hennix.html
Oliver Schneller
Oliver Schneller (b. 1966 in Cologne) grew up in Africa, Europe and Asia and studied in Germany and the USA. After completing a MA in political science and musicology at the University of Bonn he worked for the Goethe Institute in Kathmandu, Nepal (1990-91) on a project to support and sustain local forms of traditional musical practice. In 1994 he moved to the USA, first studying composition at the New England Conservatory in Boston, then at Columbia University New York as a student of Tristan Murail, where he received his doctoral degree in composition (2002) with a thesis on music and space. At the City University of New York he developed and expanded the CUNY Computer Music Studio. From 2000-01 he lived in Paris as a participant of the cursus annuel de composition et d’informatique at IRCAM/Centre Pompidou. From 2002 to 2004 he was a compositeur en recherche at IRCAM working on “Jardin des fleuves” a work for ensemble and live-electronic spatial processing. Schneller’s works have been performed by Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Intercontemporain, MusikFabrik, Ictus, Speculum Musicae, Court Circuit, Ensemble Mosaik, Kammerensemble Neue Musik Berlin, Ensemble Courage, Antares, the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, and St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble.
As a saxophonist, Schneller has performed with ensembles such as the George Russell Big Band, the Gustav Mahler Youth Symphony under Seiji Ozawa, and with the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra as a soloist in Tan Dun’s Red Forcast. He’s also worked with various jazz and improvisation ensembles in Cologne, Amsterdam, Boston and New York.
Since October 2009 Oliver Schneller holds a professorship in composition at Stuttgart Conservatory of Music.
http://www.oliverschneller.net
In Zusammenarbeit mit der Jour-Fixe-Serie der “Berliner Gesellschaft für Neue Musik” stellt Certain Sundays drei in Berlin lebende Komponisten und Performer von mikrotonaler Musik vor: Robin Hayward wird über seine selbstentworfene mikrotonale Tuba sprechen, einige speziell für dieses Instrument entwickelte Werke vorstellen und eine neue eigene Komposition für Tuba und Kontrabass zur Aufführung bringen. Oliver Schneller spricht über sein Konzept von Mikrotonalität in Verbindung mit einer seltenen Aufführung seines Werkes für Solo Saxofon und elektronisches Blasinstrument. Und schließlich wird Catherine Christer Hennix -ausgehend von ihrem eigenen kompositorischen Werk- in einem Exkurs ihre Erfahrungen mit Aufführungen von Stockhausens Intuitiver Musik erläutern.