The Use of Electro-acoustic Processing in Pierre Boulez's Anthemes II
Chen Yang Xu
1. The Approach to Electro-acoustic Processing in Anthemes II In 1977, Pierre Boulez wrote that "from our education within a traditional culture we have learned and experienced how instrumental models function and what they are capable of. But in the field of electronics and computers - the instrument that would be directly involved [in the preparation for the integration of technology in music] - models do not exist, or only sporadically, largely thanks to our imagination."1 Anthemes II, written in 1997, offers an especial insight into how Boulez deals with “the non-limitation of possibilities�2 that is writing for electronics by merit of being both an expansion of the earlier Anthemes and by being Boulez’ last electroacoustic composition. In Anthemes II live recording is used for two primary purposes: first simple amplification for practical purposes (which may include some reverberation), and secondly for processing, where the sounds of the violin undergo treatment of reverberation, spatialisation, pitch shifting, and delay. Although the precise spatial setup is not specified, a setup using at least ten speakers is implied - two in the immediate vicinity of the violinist and always used only for amplification, in addition to at least eight to be placed in a circle around the audience.
Figure 1: Demonstrations of two possible setups from the technical manual of Anthemes II.3 Taking into account the fact that the material for Anthemes II is largely derived from the earlier Anthemes (which does not use electronics), and the fact that with the exception of some violin samples and one instance of sine waves no pre-recorded sound is used at all, it is not too preposterous to look at the work from the point of view that the processing of the violin sound is above all else an extension of the instrument beyond its physical capabilities, since throughout the work only in passing is the violin not carrying the most interesting musical material. Thus the relationship between the electro-acoustic processing and the solo violin is almost that of an "extended heterophony", where it is impossible on at any point to consider the electro-acoustic element truly independently of the solo violin.
Boulez, Orientations. Pg. 492. Faber and Faber. Boulez, Stocktakings from an Apprenticeship. Pg. 159. Oxford University Press 3 Source: Technical Manual included with the score by Andrew Gerzso. Pg.1. Universal Edition 1 2
The aesthetic implication of this premise of relationships is then that the content of the work, that is to say, where its interest lies for the listener, is, like in traditional instrumental music, an abstract one, as the work contains no concrete elements. Indeed, when discussing musique concrete in a historical context, Boulez dismisses of his experience of the concrete practice of the collage of pre-recorded sounds as a "musical flea market" where "compositional purpose" has been supplanted by arbitrary choice of meaningless incoherent sounds. Instead, he advocates that musical technology should be absorbed into "a more general musical vocabulary"4, that is to say, a vocabulary that is applicable both to electro-acoustic music and to traditional acoustic music – an idea that is central to the role of electronics in Anthemes II.
2. The "Building Blocks" of the work The introduction of the work, which comprises of the opening three bars, can be used as a starting point for discussing the role of electronics in the work because it essentially sets out a "kit" of material, both in terms of the violin and the electronics, that recurs throughout the work. If we take apart the material of these opening bars we can then see that most of the content of the work is based on variation and expansion of these simple but robust opening ideas.
4
Boulez, Orientations. Pg. 491-492.
Figure 2: Opening of Anthemes II, showing the “building blocks� used in further development. Idea Number (in Figure 1)
Violin
Electronics (Infinite Reverb continues throughout all 3 bars)
A
Demisemiquaver legato run
Sampled pizzicato downward run in demisemiquavers with infinite reverb
B
Semitone trill
Sampled pizzicato downward run in demisemiquavers (no reverb, activated in antiphony)
A+B
Demisemiquaver legato run + semitone trill (taken as a whole)
Sampled pizzicato first with infinite reverb, then without.
C
Staccatissimo semiquavers, in double stops, where there upper note is static
Sampled pizzicato, runs getting longer and alternating in direction (in antiphony)
D
Ricochet in double stops where the upper note is static with a glissando on the lower note.
Low frequency shift
E
Col legno battuto
“Turns off” all the electronics (ie. The remaining infinite reverb ringing on)
Figure 3: Ideas presented in the opening section. With the exception of the recurring Libre sections, all sections of the work use materials to some extent derived from these "building blocks", whether through variation, extension, or juxtaposition.5 The Col legno battuto idea E, however, is an exception because it is only used once again in the work, and that is at the very end, and again to "turn off" the electronics. To that end, it acts as a “frame” for the work. By looking at these opening three bars, we can see that the electronics are essentially doing two functions: first to act as an extension of the material in the violin and delineating it, and secondly to create multiplicity and antiphony surrounding the violin. The first function can be seen in idea A, where the downward figure of sampled pizzicatos with infinite reverb serves to further emphasise the similar downward figure in the violin, and also in idea D, where the spatialised lower frequency shift furthers the "splashing" character of the ricochet. The second function can been seen in ideas B and C, where the spatially separate sampled pizzicato runs essentially act as a virtual "second instrument" that plays in antiphony to the solo violin. Throughout the work, the “logic” of the introduction is usually preserved, with the electronics functioning similarly in the successive presentation of these ideas as in the introduction. 3. Electronics being used to extend the character of the original material Throughout the work, part of the function of the electronics is to extend the character of the original material in the live violin, and in doing so allows for the delineation of structure and facilitates clearer contrasts both between sections and within some sections when there are several different types of material present. The most macro-scale example of this appears with regards to the "Libre" sections, which appear in between the main sections as a sort of musical "comma". Here reverb is used with a long decay time of 30", each time ringing on for 8" after the violin has stopped – thus the reverb acts to further the character of the ringing, hollow timbre of the original natural harmonic.6
For a table showing an overview of the role of these opening ideas throughout the work, see the Appendix. The contrast here is even more marked considering that nowhere else in the work are harmonics ever used, and only in one other brief instance (at the end of Section II) do the electronics play without the violin playing at the same time.
5 6
Figure 4: First “Libre� instance, between the introduction and Section I. Another similar instance appears in Section I in the way that the electronics characterise the ricochet figures, or idea D from the opening. This section consists of melodies consisting of numerous trills, or idea B from the opening, separated into different-length phrases by the ricochet. Here the processing, or more specifically, the spacialisation of the frequency-shifted ricochet furthers the "splashing" character of the figure and allows it to be more distinct from the melodic phrases surrounding it, where the spatialisation of their harmonisation is concentrated at the front. For the ricochet, the spacialisation is a "sweep" around the speakers starting at the back and going to the front via either the left or right side, chosen at random.
Figure 5: Bars 10~11 of Section I. Note the spacialisation of the ricochet, versus the spacialisation of the melodic phrases surrounding it. A final example appears in the second subsection of Section VI, where the primary interest is created through the successive alteration of four highly contrasting groups of material. The electronic treatment of the
violin, in extending the character of this material, facilitates contrasts by giving each group of material its own spacial characteristics.7 Material Group
Processing/samples used
Spacialisation
"Calme, regulier" (ricochet with glissando, opening idea D)
Low frequency shift
Clockwise or anti-clockwise from the front in a full circle in 500 msec.
"Agite" (rapid pizzicato semiquavers, opening idea C)
4 Harmonisers + delay "Long lead mute" samples
Harm. Delay: Back Samples: clockwise from the front in a full circle in 18"
"Brusque" (slurred groups of two or three demisemiquavers with triple or quadruple stops, opening idea A)
"Pizzicato"8 + "Short arco"9 samples
Right
"Calme, retenu" (arpeggiated pizzicato triple stops)10
"Sinus"11 samples, 10" reverb
Front
Figure 4: The four material groups in the second subsection of Section VI 4. Electronics being used for multiplicity, antiphony, and illusion in relation to the violin Sometimes the electronics, especially coupled with spaciality, is used to create the presence of other "virtual instruments" that variously interact with the violin. The first such instance after the introduction is in Section II, where "the balance should be that the listener could not distinguish the live violin sounds from the electronic sounds"12, or in other words, the effect is that the violin sounds are multiplied and the illusion is created of the presence of a number of violins. Here the solo violin plays pizzicato while six delay lines are active, each with frequency shifting the shifting the solo violin sound variously up or down, plus the use of pizzicato violin samples. The effect is thus one of a dense, almost granular multilayered texture where the listener cannot keep track of any one sound source, and the illusion is particularly effective given the confusion from the randomly generated spaciality of both the six pitch-shifting delay lines and the sampled pizzicato. The interest in this section relies upon the fact that until that this section is differentiated from the much of the remainder of the piece by the fact that the solo violin is not predominant.
It is interesting to note that in the corresponding passage in Anthemes, the basic overall premise of this passage is the same but each of the four groups of material are much shorter than they are in Anthemes II, with each material group only occupying a bar. This allows the material to be felt more distinctly because they are more closely juxtaposed. In Anthemes II, where electronics can be used for accentuation and characterisation, the groups of material do not need to be as closely juxtaposed to be felt as separate units. 8 From the Technical Manual: “Pizzicati with hard attack played forte” 9 Ibid. “Pizzicati with hard attack played forte (the attack here is softened in the sampler in the attack portion of the envelope)” 10 Throughout the work, it appears as though this figure is the only idea that does not bear any relation to the ideas in the introduction. 11 From the Technical Manual: “Long notes made of simple sine waves” 12 Andrew Gerzso: Boulez: Anthemes 2 Technical Manual. Pg.9. Universal Edition 7
Figure 5: Opening of Section II. Another example is the use of so-called "chaotic processes" and "cloud processes" throughout the work. Essentially, these processes involve playback of samples being randomly selected from a given set of pitches; in the "chaotic processes" the randomly chosen samples may be either pizz or arco, whereas in "cloud processes" they are always a "pizz doux" doubled with a "long"13. In the "Nerveux, irregulier" passage of Section III, the "chaotic processes" create a similar effect to Section II, whereby the listener cannot distinguish between the live violin from the electronic sounds, whilst simultaneously the "cloud processes" provide a backdrop.14 The effect is especially effective given the angular, disjunct character of the violin’s material.
From the Technical Manual: “Long notes played mezzo-forte” From the Technical Manual: “During the ‘chaotic’ processes the balance should be such that the listener is not able to distinguish the live violin sound from the electronic sounds. The ‘cloud’ processes should be distinctly heard but remain in the background. Particular attention should be given to balancing the sampler dyads with the live violin as of bar 36.”
13 14
Figure 6: Opening of the Nerveaux, irregulier passage of Section III. Note the boxes of pitches from which samples are randomly chosen, most of which duplicate pitches in the violin part. Lastly, the “Allant” passage of Section VI provides the most obvious example of the electronics acting as a “virtual second instrument” that interacts antiphonally with the violin in the performance space. In this section the violin repeatedly plays figures derived from Idea A+B in the opening, with the accompanying pizzicato run now spacialised to come out of the back speakers. If the setup is such that the violin is at the front, this is the longest possible spacial distance between the violin and electronics. This is the culmination of the antiphonal idea from the opening and the clearest instance where the violin and electronics are most deliberately separate.
Figure 7: Opening of Section VI. Conclusion Much of the success of Anthemes II lies in the fact that Boulez uses the electronic processes with enough nuance and subtlety as to never come across as passĂŠ. Much of this is achieved through the use of the violin as a true solo instrument rather than as one half of a duo or as a part of a larger texture. The non-concrete approach to electronics, on a whole, means that the details in the complex and difficult violin part have musical and acoustic space to have meaning, and in this way effectively resolves the issue of the electronics and the violin getting in the way of each other or rendering each other redundant.
Bibliography Printed Sources: •
Boulez, Pierre Anthemes pour violon seul. (Universal Edition, 1992)
•
Boulez, Pierre (Technical Manual: Gerzso, Andrew) Anthemes II pour violon et dispositif electronique (Universal Edition, 1997)
•
Boulez, Pierre (Trans. Cooper, Martin) Orientations: Collected Writings of Pierre Boulez. (Faber and Faber, 1986)
•
Boulez, Pierre (Trans. Walsh, Stephen) Stocktakings from an Apprenticeship. (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1991)
Discography: •
Boulez, Pierre Sur Incises, Messagesquisse, Anthemes 2. Ensemble Intercontemporain / Pierre Boulez (Deutsche Grammaphon, rec. 2000)
•
Boulez, Pierre Anthemes 2. Michael Barenboim. (rec. 2012) <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMYDgwNALY8> (Accessed April & May 2016)
Appendix Table of the use of ideas from the introduction in Anthemes II Main Section Number (from score)
Ideas used from introduction
How they are used
Introduction (Libre)
N/A
N/A
/I (Libre)
N/A
N/A
I (Tres Lent)
B: Semitone Trill
Trills are used to build larger melodies
D: Ricochet
Used as a recurring cadential figure to divide melodic phrases
I/II (Libre)
N/A
N/A
II (Rapide, dynamique)
C: Staccatissimo semiquavers
Used in pizzicato rather than arco; towards the end the idea of double stops where the upper note is static reappears twice
II/III (Libre)
N/A
N/A
III (Lent)
D: Ricochet
Used twice to reintroduce idea B (semitone trills)
B: Semitone trill
First used on its own, then used to form larger melodic material as in Section I
C: Staccatissimo semiquavers
Further ornamented with grace notes
III/IV (Libre)
N/A
N/A
IV (Agite, instable)
B: Semitone trill
Used on the top note of a number of double, triple and quadruple stops
A: Running legato demisemiquavers
Extended and interspersed with rests
IV/V (Libre)
N/A
N/A
V (Tres lent) On the whole, this section is quite similar to Section III
D: Ricochet
Used at the beginning and end to "frame" the section
B: Semitone trills
Used to form larger melodic material as in Section I and III
C: Stacatissimo semiquavers
As in Section III
V/VI (Libre)
N/A
N/A
VI, Subsection 1 (Allant)
A+B: Demisemiquaver run + Semitone trill
Demisemiquaver runs are varied in length, trills are sometimes on the whole tone
C: Staccatissimo semiquavers VI, Subsection 2 (Calme, regulier) D: Ricochet (Notably, this section contains an arpeggiation pizzicato idea that bears no relation to the building blocks set out in the opening) C: Staccatissimo semiquavers
VI, Subsection 3 (Calme)
Altered into staccato single notes Used as musical punctuation that occasionally divides phrases of the other three ideas in this section Pizzicato, always in triplets
A: Running legato demisemiquavers
Fragmented into various lengths, always beginning with a triple or quadruple stop.
A: Running legato demisemiquavers
Varied through different articulation, and combined with the semitone trill idea
(B: Semitone Trill, to an extent) (No Section Marking) (Libre)
B: Semitone Trill
Unusually, this final Libre section uses the trill idea from the opening, which dissolves into the harmonic idea that recurs throughout each Libre instance
E: Col legno battuto
The second and final instance of this idea.
Note: Here the staccatissimo semiquavers (opening idea C) and the pizzicato semiquavers (in section II) to be two versions of the same idea is because in both those cases the electronics are used to similar ends: as another â&#x20AC;&#x153;virtual instrumentâ&#x20AC;?, and consciously spacially separate.