Topic: The Hyper-Spectral Haven

[nathanb]

I have held my tongue in regards to composers with no threads for quite some time, but come on now.

Iancu Dumitrescu (1944-)
Ana-Maria Avram (1961-)
The Hyperion Ensemble

And all associated efforts.

Discuss.

[Brewski]

Well, no tongue-holding needed: feel free to start threads on any of these (all new to me).

Or, discussion here is fine, too.

 

--Bruce

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

I'm fairly sure I've heard something by Dumitrescu at some point when looking around for things in YouTube, but I have no clue what it was!

[GioCar]

I think I've never heard anything by Dumitrescu or Avram. Any works you recommend?

Re The Hyperion Ensemble, the only ensemble I know with that name is the jazzy one playing tango music http://www.ensemblehyperion.com/
They are very good actually, but they have nothing to do with Spectralism...

[nathanb]

I think I've never heard anything by Dumitrescu or Avram. Any works you recommend?

Re The Hyperion Ensemble, the only ensemble I know with that name is the jazzy one playing tango music http://www.ensemblehyperion.com/
They are very good actually, but they have nothing to do with Spectralism...

Any Dumitrescu for solo double bass(es) (or cello will suffice) is a good place to start. Medium III fits the bill. Origo will do. The things he does with bass harmonics are unbelievable. Some guy has mentioned loving his electronic music before. I want to say it was Meteors & Pulsars.

Avram is very similar, with perhaps a slightly different balance of spectral experimentation versus traditional musicality. Some works, off the top of my head, that I've always seemed to immediately connect with include: Zodiaque III, Orbit Of Eternal Grace, and Incantatio.

And obviously everybody loves string quartets, and both Dumitrescu and Avram have a handful of them.

And this is The Hyperion Ensemble in question http://www.spectralmusic.org/Hyperion/Welcome.html

[San Antone]

I have held my tongue in regards to composers with no threads for quite some time, but come on now.

Iancu Dumitrescu (1944-)
Ana-Maria Avram (1961-)
The Hyperion Ensemble

And all associated efforts.

Discuss.

I have listened to much of their (Dumittrescu and Avram) work but remain unconvinced.  Something of a P.T. Barnum impression.

 

[nathanb]

I have listened to much of their (Dumittrescu and Avram) work but remain unconvinced.  Something of a P.T. Barnum impression.

 

Do you generally enjoy spectralism?

[San Antone]

Do you generally enjoy spectralism?

Yes.  I've listened to and like music by Grisey, Murail, Claude Vivier, Peter Eötvös, also composers who have incorporated aspects of spectralism in their work, e.g,  Georg Friedrich Haas and Jonathan Harvey. 

[nathanb]

Yes.  I've listened to and like music by Grisey, Murail, Claude Vivier, Peter Eötvös, also composers who have incorporated aspects of spectralism in their work, e.g,  Georg Friedrich Haas and Jonathan Harvey.

Cool. Just checking. I tend to see this "hyper-spectral" movement as sort of comparable to, say, Milton Babbitt with serialism, Cage Variations with chance, etc. Just really pushing the idiom to it's extreme limits with generally less regard for musical elements that don't directly serve "spectralism".

[GioCar]

Any Dumitrescu for solo double bass(es) (or cello will suffice) is a good place to start. Medium III fits the bill. Origo will do. The things he does with bass harmonics are unbelievable. Some guy has mentioned loving his electronic music before. I want to say it was Meteors & Pulsars.

Avram is very similar, with perhaps a slightly different balance of spectral experimentation versus traditional musicality. Some works, off the top of my head, that I've always seemed to immediately connect with include: Zodiaque III, Orbit Of Eternal Grace, and Incantatio.

And obviously everybody loves string quartets, and both Dumitrescu and Avram have a handful of them.

And this is The Hyperion Ensemble in question http://www.spectralmusic.org/Hyperion/Welcome.html

Nathan, thanks for your recommendations.
Looking for some commercially available recordings to listen to... I saw they have their own label - Edition Modern - having quite a niche distribution.

[nathanb]

I've been listening to several works from both composers throughout the day and to be honest, I really like them. Iancu un particular has a really strong, dense, fullness to his style. Some of the sounds I've heard from them both are really mindblowing. I think I like them both more than Haas now!   

This chick asked me last night for an example of what I was listening to because I was feeling painfully pretentious trying to describe it at all. So I linked her a youtube performance of Gnosis.

I have so many regrets.

[San Antone]

This chick asked me last night for an example of what I was listening to because I was feeling painfully pretentious trying to describe it at all. So I linked her a youtube performance of Gnosis.

I have so many regrets.

It was the YouTube clips that turned me off to them.  If I just heard the music with out the arm waving, I might have had a different first impression.

 

[nathanb]

Is this girl romantically involved? Because if she would negatively judge you as a person over that, she isn't worth pursuing

Thankfully, I believe she's spoken for.

[Mandryka]

And obviously everybody loves string quartets, and both Dumitrescu and Avram have a handful of them.

What string quartets has Dumitrescu written? I can see see stuff for solo strings, but no quartets.

Just listening totally informally, I don’t hear the relation really between Dumitrescu and the French spectralists. Generally I’m finding Dumitrescu consistently stimulating while for me, Grisey, Murail etc are much less so. Basically I’ve decided to get everything I can by him, which isn’t much! As long as the purchase is supported by the PayPal buyer guarantee! (Just ordered something from Siberia!)

[Mandryka]

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/76rOkb04nwk" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/76rOkb04nwk</a>

Eureka.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

I haven't heard of "spectralism" before.  How would you describe it?  I try to keep an open mind.

Best,

PD

[Mandryka]

I haven't heard of "spectralism" before.  How would you describe it?  I try to keep an open mind.

Best,

PD

There were a whole bunch of composers working in the 70s and 80s who loved the timbres of sounds. In fact, they loved timbres so much, you could say that their music is about exploring sound colours as much as anything else.

 Here’s an example by an American composer called John Chowning which I like, a piece called Stria. It’s really sensual. Just lie back and enjoy the way all the colours change.

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/988jPjs1gao" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/988jPjs1gao</a>

[Pohjolas Daughter]

There were a whole bunch of composers working in the 70s and 80s who loved the timbres of sounds. In fact, they loved timbres so much, you could say that their music is about exploring sound colours as much as anything else.

 Here’s an example by an American composer called John Chowning which I like, a piece called Stria. It’s really sensual. Just lie back and enjoy the way all the colours change.

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/988jPjs1gao" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/988jPjs1gao</a>

Thank you for the info and link.  I'll listen to it later on this evening.   

[Mandryka]

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/EIVg2NfSqpA" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/EIVg2NfSqpA</a>

Three minutes of Dumitrescu's Alternances -- it should be 15, I've just contacted the Bergersen Quartet to see if they can let me have a recording of the whole thing, I don't hold out much hope, and as far as I can see the piece is nowhere else available.

[Old San Antone]

I haven't heard of "spectralism" before.  How would you describe it?  I try to keep an open mind.

Best,

PD

Here is an article I wrote about Spectral Music in 2014, in which I discuss the history of the movement and provide some audio clips from a few composers.  You might find it helpful; but it has been a while since I was listening to this kind of music and can't recommend any newer recordings.