tbray@mprvaxa.UUCP (Tim Bray) (02/07/84)
x <-- USENET insecticide Went to the New Music Society the other evening, and they featured the works of Lous Andriessen, a well-known (they say, I hadn't heard of him) Dutch composer. He was there and made a nice little speech. Two works - the first, PRIX ITALIA, is a tape/video number which consists of a tape loop of a speech of Mussolini feedbacking itself into whitenoise, while an equivalent process takes place with a film of M. on the monitors - after the white noise level has been reached, there is closing quote of, of all things, "also sprach Z.", with an eagle on the monitor. Sort of an aural Campbell's soup can. OK. Then - a big work called Hoketus, which impressed me deeply and I encourage you to run & see it if you get a chance. It is scored for two groups, each consisting of Electric Bass, Acoustic Piano, Electric Piano, Congas, and Panpipes. It is rhythmic, antiphonal, and very very exciting. The performance is under the control of the musicians - the vast majority of the score is a set of repetitive rythmic chord figures that bounce back and forth - each going on as long as they feel like playing it. It is fantastically difficult technically, and impossible to sit still through. It's still running through my head. There's a recorded version, but I don't know if it would work. Tim Bray ...decvax!microsoft!ubc-vision!mprvaxa!tbray