It is possible that one of the keys to the act of creation is to grasp what there is in common between elements of the world that at first sight —or at first listening— are unrelated. To grasp the link between elements where before, apparently, there was no link constitutes a restructuring of the perception of that very world in which things were found. Levi Strauss in his book “Savage Thinking” posited the differences between the do-it-yourselfer and the engineer and drew an analogy with the differences between mythical and rational thinking. In mythical thinking —as in that of the bricoleur— elements are taken and isolated from their contexts and reconfigured into a new one. In rational thinking —as in that of the engineer— a project is proposed and the starting point is raw materials. The same thing that happens with bricolage happens with the concrete music invented by Pierre Schaeffer, one starts from sound structures taken from “reality” and puts them in dance to create a discourse. The works on this album are based on this intention: to enrich our perception of the world and perhaps, in this very act, to expand our openness to it.
On the other hand, these works —made in the 21st century— constitute a late revival of mid-20th century musique concrète. The advent of the personal computer has made the creation of musique concrète more accessible. The ease with which sound material can be manipulated and transformed opens up the possibility of attending to the material aspects of sound and the formal dimensions of the work without major inconvenience.
These works were constructed with simple sound editing software. Almost all the materials are fragments of recorded sounds and, to a lesser extent, cuttings of other music. Also, very few processes were applied: the material is hardly modified, the richness of the original sound is preserved. If it is not easy to identify the source in what you hear, it is mostly due to the overlapping and juxtaposition of the materials.
Another of the intentions behind the composition of this selection of works is the articulatory processes. The form of these works is the result of the articulations and the different operations they involve.
Miniatura Concreta N° 1.
For electroacoustic media (2003). It was premiered on August 16, 2003, at the Teatro Municipal Gregorio de Laferrere in Morón. It is the author’s first electroacoustic work. It has a symphonic character —it seems to imitate an orchestra— and consists of two parts where the second is a variant of the first.
Gígnomai.
For electroacoustic media (2004). Premiered on March 6th 2004 at the Auditorium of the Escuela Superior de Música de la Provincia de Misiones, Posadas. Ciclo Otras Músicas II, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de la UnaM. It was designated as a “Recommended Work” in 2004 in the competition co-organised by FARME and Radio Nacional Clásica and also selected in the international competition organised by the Destellos Foundation, 2013 edition. It is a programmatic work, narrating the passage from the arid, uninhabited to the human expressed by the choral voices at the end.
Electroacoustic Guilt. Para medios electroacústicos (2011)
Finalist in the International Electroacoustic Music Competition at the Destellos Foundation, 2012 edition. It is a rhapsodic work. It consists of six parts. Each part is static, the movement is created from the displacement of its elements.
Reflujo de lago en el río. Para medios electroacústicos (2016-2017)
Premiered on 3 March 2017 as part of the seventh edition of Nuevas músicas por la memoria: Teatro Margarita Xirgu/Untref. The idea of this work is the non-resolution of tension. Things do not end up being resolved and through a “reflux” they return to the process of growing tension.
CREDITS:
Composed, performed and produced by Claudio Gabriel Eiriz.
Mastering: CALATHEA Experimenta
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