Although modern personal computers are much more powerful than IRCAM’s 4X processor, many of the same issues still apply. The interaction between the
instrumental performer and the electronic part is crucial in any electroacoustic composition, and creating a clearly perceivable relationship between these two mediums remains a significant challenge. While a clear contrast between these two elements can be used as a compositional element, this approach is somewhat limited. Dialogue de l'ombre double (1985) was completed by Boulez shortly after Répons and this work for solo clarinet and pre-recorded tape illustrates how the contrast between these two mediums can be successfully used as a compositional device. The “dialogue” of the title is between the live clarinettist and the pre-recorded and
electronically processed clarinet on tape, and Boulez dramatically heightens the contrast between these two elements using lighting and spatial effects. During instrumental passages, the un-amplified clarinettist is positioned in the middle of the hall and audience while the electronic responses on tape are produced using six
loudspeakers positioned around the audience. Lighting is used to further heighten this contrast as during instrumental passages the clarinettist is brightly lit with a spotlight which is turned off for the electronic response of the tape part.
The composer Denis Smalley, when asked how his approach to spatial diffusion changes when additional human performers are added gave this response.
"The same factors are present, but they are considered differently because the focus of a live performance visually and musically - is the performer. So, I don't want to use as full a diffusion system as I do for tape pieces, because overdoing the diffusion will tend to undermine the carefully considered musical relationships between the live performer and the content of the acousmatic domain. - If you have more than one performer, there are different considerations, because the visual and sonic weight in front, on stage, is increased. Therefore, I think that there is more for the eye to focus on and follow, and the acousmatic possibiities become reduced. For example, one can't have a lot of visual silences on stage, where people are sitting doing nothing. " [Smalley et al, 2000]
Smalley suggests that this problem is apparent in performances of Edgar Varèse’s Deserts (1950-54) for wind, percussion and electronic tape [Smalley]. In two sections of this work, the musicians on stage sit quietly, doing nothing and the electronic tape part dominates. Smalley suggests that this creates a visual silence on stage that contrasts uncomfortably with the required acousmatic perception of the tape, as the human performers provide an unavoidable visual focus for the audience which conflicts uncomfortably with the acousmatic electronic part. The extent to which this is a problem in a particular work is however somewhat subjective, and other composers such as Natasha Barrett have suggested that this represents a broader dichotomy between the sonic demands of the composition, and its performance.
“Barrett: Sometimes. For example, unless I am composing a purely theatrical work, my initial agenda is sound, whereas the performers’ primary agenda is performance, and they are not necessarily the same thing. This is, of course, not always the case, but either way we need to integrate the demands of both performance and sound. For example, in Symbiosis, there is—toward the end—a stretch of three minutes for solo computer.
Otondo: There are also parts where it is almost purely instrumental.
Barrett: Exactly, and in Symbiosis, this is one way in which I balance the elements: to give both parts solos and to have both coming together at important meeting points. In those three minutes of solo computer, the performer has to find a way to “compose” herself. Everybody is looking at her, and she is a performer having to listen. In that section the theater emerges as she demonstrates the act of listening and not just sitting there waiting for the next thing to happen. You see a string quartet play a piece with computer or tape, particularly when they play with a click track, and they look like they are thinking, “When do I come in next? What time is it?”
[Barrett et al, 2007]
In the opinion of the author, the contrast between the visible and static performer, and acousmatic, spatially dynamic sounds can be problematic, but only if this issue is not addressed by the composer within the overall aesthetic. In addition, this is much less of a problem when the performers are distributed around the audience, or when smaller numbers of musicians are involved.
As stated earlier, perhaps the biggest issue is forging some connection between these two elements beyond that of contrast. Smalley suggests that the invisible acousmatic content in a mixed-media work must share gestural or behavioural characteristics with the instrumental part if both elements are to be
regarded as equally significant and since the acousmatic component is competing with the visible actions of the performer, it must have a strongly articulated presence [Smalley, 1996]. While this is certainly true, the amplification of the instrumental parts must be considered as an equally significant issue. In smaller venues, the acoustic instruments require little or no amplification, and in this case the positioning of loudspeakers close to the performers with a small amount of amplification of the instruments, can be sufficient to forge a connection with the amplified, electronic sounds. In larger venues, the greater issue is often the disconnect between the perceived position of the amplified, instrumental sound (which often collapses to the nearest PA loudspeaker), and the visual position of the performer on stage. If this issue is not addressed (perhaps through the positioning of performers close to the loudspeakers which are being used to amplify their particular instruments), then a connection between the acousmatic and instrumental sound may be achieved but a connection to the visual performer may not.
10 Spatial Music Composition
In this Chapter, a number of original works of acoustic, electronic and mixed- media spatial music will be discussed and analyzed. These compositions are
presented chronologically, beginning with Discordianism, the piece which as discussed previously, provided much of the impetus for this thesis.