Kunstradio
presents three recent radio art works produced by the Irish Radio RTE
lyric fm and offered to the Ars Acustica members as so-called Listening
Proposals.
1) “I Have No Mouth” by Ian Fleming (2013)
“I Have No Mouth” is an electronic piece composed within
the schools of spectral music and post-digital 'glitch' music. It
explores the validity of combining elements of both spectral and
post-digital approaches in order to create a hybrid aesthetic with
which to achieve my compositional goals. Similarities between
spectral-thinking and post-digitalism can be identified; they also
possess inherent tensions which could ultimately lead to a rich
composition. The human voice acts as the main narrative and
compositional element, selected for the rich frequential content
present in the source material, and its philosophical and thematic
affinity to the overall aesthetic. The source material in question is
an audio reading of a science fiction short story.
For the piece itself, I decided to follow the narrative structure of
the story, with sections of the overall work ordered with reference to
what happens during the course of Ellison's narrative. It is divided
into 6 distinct sections – one for each character in the story.
Each character's 'section' is governed by a combination of their
prominence in the story, their actions, and the spectral data garnered
from analysis of Ellison's reading of their names.
The chronology of the piece runs:
Section 1: AM – the antagonist
Section 2: Gorrister
Section 3: Ellen
Section 4: Nimdok
Section 5: Benny
Section 6: Ted – the narrator
I have divided each separate section into two subsections. Each of
these are based around different frequencies gleaned from the analysis
data, with two notable exceptions: the very first part of section 1
contains no pitched material at all, as does the first part of the
final section. From a philosophical point of view, each corresponding
character section is influenced by the character's actions, the tone
and mood reflecting the character's mindset. There is a symmetrical
basis to the piece. It begins at its most post-digital, before
gradually becoming organic. Section 3 is the most blatantly 'spectral',
with a significant use of sustained samples and a minimum of glitched
elements. This pattern then repeats in the opposite direction for the
remainder of the work...
..I could bang on about this for ages, but I need a break. If anyone is
curious as to the different spectral techniques and approaches taken
throughout the sections I can send them on details.
Note: This interpretation of 'I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream' was
created with the full knowledge and participation of Harlan
Ellison.”
(Ian Fleming)
2) “Tracing A-7063” by Bernard Clarke (2014)
“’Tracing A-7063’” is a radiophonic impression
of a new documentary film in progress (working title A-7063) by the
young Polish director Maciek Klich. It grew out of a conversation with
Maciek: in Auschwitz last year he met survivor Eva Mozes Kor and
interviewed her concerning her experiences at the hands of the infamous
Doctor Joseph Mengele. Maciek has set out to tell Eva Mozes Kor’s
story in documentary film and animation for the memory sequences of her
experience in the Holocaust.
I was intrigued and inspired by what he told me and set out to render
such a dual style of narrating a story in sound. I divided my sources
into old and new, black and white. I dipped into archive interview
audio of concentration camp survivors Roman Halter, Ruth Foster and
Maria Ossowski (for me bleached out memory pieces) and also used some
of Maciek’s present day interview with Eva Mozes Kor (for me this
is black, a stereo present, but also black haunted memory).
I did the same with the music: the opening of Mozart’s Requiem
(in a recording as approved by the Nazi regime made in 1941, with all
references to Christianity’s Jewish roots excised: 'Te decet
hymnus, Deus in Sion' was replaced by 'Deus in coelis'; whilst 'In
Jerusalem' was replaced by 'hic in terra') with its whish and crackles
and pops-I used these very surface noises to generate (through additive
and granular synthesis) a lot of the sounds that follow.
I also transformed the shouts of Sieg Heil Sieg Heil (1’13
– 1’16) into midi patterns that I then used to generate the
soundscaping of the various music(s) that 'frame' the voices.
The greatest challenge I faced was the risk of sensationalizing the
material: alas, there is what is now called a 'Holocaust Industry'
particularly in print, so what was uppermost in my mind was respecting
the voices, keeping them as the primary sonic material and letting them
tell their tales. That said I also wanted these voices and sounds to
work sometimes in opposition and sometimes in complimenting each other.
To do this I turned some of my new soundscapes to traces of themselves
(blacks to grey’s): for instance the sound beneath Eva Mozes
Kor’s tale of her being tattooed is a stereo rendering bleached
out and scratched up to suggest vinyl and also the burning of the pen
and ink that will mark her forever: A-7063.”
(Bernard Clarke)
Voices:
Eva Mozes Kor, interview with Maciek Klich, Auschwitz, 2013.
Roman Halter, Ruth Foster, Maria Ossowski – Imperial War Museum, London, Random House Audio RC 918
'Sieg Heil, Sieg Heil' – Entartete Musik. A Documentation in Sound, EINE Pool Musikproduktion, Berlin, 65023 AV
Music:
Mozart Requiem – Bruno Kittel Chorus/Berlin Philharmonic/Bruno Kittel, Deutsche Grammophon, 459 004-2
3) “hearSpace” von Karen Power (2014)
’hearSpace’ is a new interactive piece of radio art
composed for and through Irish radio by Karen Power. It was created
live on RTÉ lyric fm on its new music programme Nova on 23rd
March 2014 at 9pm, broadcast from Limerick, Ireland.
‘hearSpace’ is based on the idea of exploring the sounds of
a particular time, place and memory. It features contributions from
listeners worldwide who were asked to record using their phone, a
portable recorder or computer, a space that had a special meaning or
carried some memory for them.
Links:
Ars Acustica
|