Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Partners in creation

2007; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 26; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/07494460701250908

1477-2256

Barrie Webb,

Abstract This article discusses the role of the solo performer today, and the importance to composers of writing with particular performers in mind, with whom they are able to interact during the composing process. The author examines important composer – performer partnerships of the 1960s and 1970s, then traces the evolution of his own work as a performer of contemporary music, at the same time looking at his own evolving focus in the creation and documentation of new and recent music for his own instrument, the trombone. Keywords: ComposerPerformerComposer-PerformerTromboneElectroacoustic Music Notes [1] Solo is taken from Cage's Concert for Piano and Orchestra, pp. 173 – 184, published separately in 1960. [2] A detailed account of the circumstances and content of their discussion is contained in Rehak's letter to Stuart Dempster, dated 17 December 1977 and reproduced in Dempster (Citation1979), p. 97. [3] Email from Folke Rabe, 25 December 2006. [4] Whilst this might seem like an isolated development, Bolos soon became known in the United States through Jan Bark, who visited to the experimental San Francisco Tape Music Center in autumn 1962, and met Stuart Dempster during this time. Source: Folke Rabe, email of 2 January 2007. [5] Details of the circumstances are well documented in interviews with Dempster and Globokar conducted by Buddy Baker in 1988 and 1990. See Baker (Citation1994). [6] The reader is invited to refer to Barrie Webb (Citation2007a), which considers Sequenza V and its interpretation in detail. [7] It was as a result of Pauline Oliveros meeting Folke Rabe in 1962 that Jan Bark, already in the United States at the time, made the connection with the San Francisco Tape Music Center and Stuart Dempster referred to in Note 4. Source: Folke Rabe. [8] Introduction to the score. [9] Published as an insert to the score in Globokar (Citation1969). [10] The course structure in Bern (two separate weeks with a one-month gap in between) also gave participants an unusual opportunity to go away and practise before bringing the results back and presenting a selection in concert. [11] The kind of dissection of technique which takes place in Globokar's brass works of this period is closely related to his own work as a teacher (at the Musikhochschule in Cologne, 1967 – 76) and researcher (as director of instrumental and vocal research at IRCAM (Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique), 1973 – 79). [12] Where Michael Svoboda was also following the course. [13] Among fellow trombonists were John Kenny and Michele Lomuto. Composers included Michael Clarke and Michel Pascal, who subsequently wrote works for me during the 1990s. [14] However, he rejected the idea of four performances beginning simultaneously from different corners of the recital room! [15] Fernando Grillo, Melvyn Poore, Victor Arsene and myself. [16] Names for the Romanian equivalent of the Swiss alphorn. [17] We performed a 12-minute version (based on the fundamentals of pedal B up to pedal F and back) in Paris in July 1992, with accompaniment of sound icons. [18] After the premiere in Amsterdam, Liz Davis and I played EARTH at Darmstadt, in London and in Melbourne, where our 1989 Melbourne performance was attended by Daryl Buckley. In 1990 I found myself back in Melbourne as conductor of the ensemble Elision in a programme featuring Richard's music, included the premiere of Another Heavenly Day, which I directed, and EARTH performed by Brett Kelly and Peter Neville, with whom I was to collaborate so many years later. Small world! [19] Webb (Citation2007b) is devoted to a detailed examination of Barrett's trombone works. [20] As opposed to simultaneous singing and playing. [21] On the day, prior to the performance. [22] As a trombonist, Rabe was able to try out the effects in Basta during its composition. Source: Conversations with Folke Rabe, Stockholm, January 2006. [23] Davis Schuman (for whom Milhaud wrote Concertino d'Hiver in 1953) is credited with having given the first full-length trombone recital, in 1947. Daivid Guion (Citation2004). [24] Druckman and Berio were both teaching at Juilliard during the mid-1960s. [25] I had suggested the idea of a trombone piece to him after he attended my Sydney recital in 1988. [26] Boxman is the first of four individual works with optional video under the collective title Crossfire (1986 – 92). The others are Another Face (for violin), November Sky (flute) and In Between (percussion). I had the opportunity to perform the UK premiere of the complete version of Boxman with video walls along with Another Face at the 1989 Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival in Huddersfield Town Hall. [27] In the same programme was Vinko Globokar's Prestop II (Citation1991) for trombone and sound processor, which I was performing for the first time. [28] In the original Milan performance, recorded by Italian RAI and also broadcast in April 1993 by Radio France, electronic treatments were actually controlled at the desk by the composer. [29] Only these elements will be visible. The note in French at the foot of Figure 6 also indicates that in theory there is no need for a technician to look after the hidden elements. [30] The subject of a separate paper by the composer. See Bromwich (Citation1997). [31] David Zicarelli created MSP in spring/summer 1997 and it became available shortly afterwards. [32] A MaxMSP version of Harvey's Ricercare was produced by Michael Clarke at Huddersfield for trumpeter Stephen Altoft to play, and more recently by Benny Sluchin at IRCAM. Felder's Boxman was revised for MaxMSP in 1999. [33] The Bucharest International New Music Week (held annually since 1990) usually features a number of orchestral concerts, and therefore several spaces for soloists. Other musicians regularly invited to perform concertos there include Daniel Kientzy and Pierre-Yves Artaud. [34] For detailed information on Ioachimescu, Dănceanu, Lerescu, Popovici and their works, see Webb (Citation2004). [35] This was Yokoyama's Traces II. He subsequently used some material discarded during its composition to write Broken Branches. [36] The year 2001 marked Australia's Centenary of Federation. [37] I had already premiered the work in Seoul in 2003, but this was the first time to perform it with Michael, who is a particular champion of her music. [38] The works by Fujii and Greenbaum are new recordings, not previously published. [39] E flat at the start of bar 18 was always correct as in the original published version, the clef change coming after the first note, as in Rabe's original manuscript. [40] I also felt especially privileged to receive a copy of Folke Rabe's handwritten manuscript before I left. [41] In general Scelsi's works were not instrument specific, but usually improvisations, which Scelsi himself recorded in his house using the ondiola, a three-octave electronic instrument with a rotary attachment for producing microtonal inflections. [42] Webb (Citation2007c) gives full information on the research behind these performances.