Harrison Birtwistle's Silbury Air, Pulse Labyrinth?
phil
and there was mention of a composition technique calle the "Pulse
Labyrinth" that seemed to imply the music was finding it's way through
a maze.
Does anyone know anything about this technique? What it involves etc?
cheers
phil jones
Mark Stratford
> I was reading the sleeve notes to Harrison Birtwistle's Silbury Air,
> and there was mention of a composition technique calle the "Pulse
> Labyrinth" that seemed to imply the music was finding its way through
> a maze.
>
> Does anyone know anything about this technique? What it involves etc?
According to his catalogue - the score of Silbury Air "is prefaced by
a Pulse Labyrinth". I guess it's a matrix or grid that he used - but
afraid I don't know any more. Fantastic piece isn't it...?
Incidentally here's an interesting interview with the gruff Sir Harry.
I love the bit where he says Stockhausen "has gone potty" these days.
http://www.paristransatlantic.com/magazine/interviews/birtwistle.html
Samuel Vriezen
> inte...@postmaster.co.uk wrote
>
>
>>I was reading the sleeve notes to Harrison Birtwistle's Silbury Air,
>>and there was mention of a composition technique calle the "Pulse
>>Labyrinth" that seemed to imply the music was finding its way through
>>a maze.
>>
>>Does anyone know anything about this technique? What it involves etc?
>
>
> According to his catalogue - the score of Silbury Air "is prefaced by
> a Pulse Labyrinth". I guess it's a matrix or grid that he used - but
> afraid I don't know any more. Fantastic piece isn't it...?
If I recall correctly, having once glanced over the score, the pulse
labyrinth is a grid of tempo relations.
--
Samuel
UB
> Mark Stratford wrote:
> > inte...@postmaster.co.uk wrote
> >
> >
> >>I was reading the sleeve notes to Harrison Birtwistle's Silbury Air,
> >>and there was mention of a composition technique calle the "Pulse
> >>Labyrinth" that seemed to imply the music was finding its way through
> >>a maze.
From Robert Adlington's "The Music of Harrison Birtwistle" Pg. 107 -
108 but not continuous.
"This (how the music suggests in some ways Silbury Hill and its
surroundings) is governed by a four-part 'pulse labyrinth,' a complex
network of interrelated tempos that governs the music's numerous
changes of metre and speed. - Birtwistle uses his pulse labyrinth in
such a way that every new tempo is strongly related to the old one.
Groupings or subdivisions of pulses may change, but some level of
pulse remains constand at each moment of interruption."
In a seminar I attended Birtwistle made it plain that it was important
to him that each new composition contains something from the
immediately prior composition. Therefore it is not strange to find
that he would use the same idea in tempos within a piece. His
statement was that he would not be surprised that if someone suggested
he only wrote one piece of music through his whole life.
Mark Stratford
Composed a couple of years after Silbury Air (1979) it also uses
"interconnected pulsings" .
UB
> If I recall correctly, having once glanced over the score, the pulse
> labyrinth is a grid of tempo relations.
You have a good memory Sam -
Jonathan Cross shows the 'labyrnith' in his book on Birtwistle. It is
a set of four charts of each is a stair-step arrangement of 15 boxes.
In Cross' words "This is the 'pulse labyrinth', four charts of time
signatures and metronome marking which - in the abstract - govern the
progress of the work."
Samuel Vriezen
I should have thought of Cross! I have the book and actually read it
some years ago!
The pulse labyrinth grid reminds me of some grids you sometimes see in
tuning theory, only applied to tempos instead of pitch frequencies;
which, mathematically speaking, makes no difference at all, of course.
--
Samuel
phil
This is turning out to be interesting. My main curiosity is about the
image of mazes related to musical composition. eg. Birtwistle's Pulse
Labyrinth, the Little Harmonic Labyrinth described in Hoffstadter's
book "Goedel, Escher, Bach". And something slightly more trivial, my
Gbloink! software (http://www.gbloink.co.uk).
Also Silbury Air is one of my favourite Birtwistle pieces (along with
bits of Yan Tan Tethera)
I'm still a bit hazy about how Birtwistle would use the PL. (I don't
have much modern composition theory.) Is it used like a series ie. he
uses it as a table to look up different rhythmic patterns? The sleeve
notes talk about the music finding it's way forward, hitting a dead
end and then having to try again. Is this literally something that can
happen in the use of the PL?
cheers
phil
Scott Kurtz
phil <inte...@postmaster.co.uk> wrote in message
news:d7825a3e.0304...@posting.google.com...
Jerry Kohl
Did I miss something? What does Birtwistle's "pulse labyrinth" have
to do with P.-M. Davies? Was Davies mentioned earlier on this thread?
Jerry
Scott Kurtz
extensive and illuminating interview with Birtwistle and during the course
of the interview Birtwistle suggested that he and Max are no longer in close
contact as in earlier days. He also didn't seem too fond of the music Max
has been writing in recent years.
Jerry Kohl <jerom...@attbi.com> wrote in message
news:3E90ADB1...@attbi.com...
Jerry Kohl
I did miss something, then. Thanks for pointing it out.
Jerry
Mark Stratford
>>in recent years.
Well thinking over the last 20 yrs -
if you compare truly great pieces like 'Gawain', 'Earth Dances', 'The
2nd Mrs Kong','Mask of Orpheus', 'Harrison`s Clocks', 'Last Supper' &
the 'Antiphones' piano concerto with PMD's rather thin stuff - I think
H.B. has a good point.
Mark Stratford
Chris Hodges
Birtwistle is always brilliant in interviews (eg that one with Norman Lebrecht)
Q) do you believe in God...?
A) Mind your own business..!
Q) Will you tell us the story about your meeting with Tony Blair..?
A) I'm a composer...I don't do anecdotes...
etc
UB
> <<an interview at...
>
> Birtwistle is always brilliant in interviews (eg that one with Norman Lebrecht)
In the week long seminar I asked Sir Harrison what living British
composers he thought were writing interesting music. After saying he
does not listen to much music by others, he said the only one he could
think of was Simon Holt. I then mentioned that Michael Nyman seem to
admire his music and his response was that he did not feel the same
about Nyman's.
Jeremy Wardle
Kong',
>> 'Mask of Orpheus'......'Last Supper'
Birtwistle is a REAL theatrical composer. All those early years at
National Theatre writing incidental music (culminating in that might
Orestea) gave him a massive understanding of what can be done on
stage. I've seen 5 of his operas and been knocked sideways by his
great theatrical skills.
Also HB's operas get done, revived, translated and toured. It's not
like Stockhausen where there's a 5-night run and they're NEVER ever
done again - the fault (we're repeatedly told) of archictects not
understanding how to build theatres, choruses not knowing how to act
& directors not knowing how to direct...!!
JmW
Mark Stratford
>After saying he does not listen to much music by others
I think he thrives on this. When Gawain was staged in London - someone
asked whether he'd has any influences from Wagner - and he said he
really hardly knew any. He'd once had a tape of Gotterdamerung for his
car radio - but after it snapped he "didn't get round to replacing
it"...!
Still he knows his Machaut pretty thoroughly
BTW: seems he has another Covent Garden commission (for 2007)