Dimensions of Current Compositional Practice (2) Composers in Dialog with Musicologists

Theoretical reflection is a distinctive feature of 20th- and 21st-century composers. This parallel activity makes us aware of areas of thought relevant to understanding their music. Composers’ writings are full of references to the general context of music theory and to the even more general contexts of philosophy, anthropology, and cognitive sciences. Musicologists are often engaged in discovering relationships or contradictions between the verbal utterances and the compositional practice; additionally, they develop theoretical perspectives that can have repercussions in future compositions. This seminar provides an opportunity to explore, in a dialogue between composers and musicologists, four key concepts: Notation, Time, Nature, and Voice.

The seminar adopts a dialogical approach on several levels. The concepts will be addressed alternately by two composers who have been at the center of international interest for decades: Georg Friedrich Haas and Liza Lim.  They will, in turn, engage in a series of dialogues with two musicologists who, through their teaching and publications, have made a significant contribution to the understanding of 20th- and 21st-century music: Ingrid Pustijanac and Nikolaus Urbanek. A group of young composers and musicologists, selected through a call for applications, will further stimulate the discussion and help to focus on the current situation. Perspectives from the past and the present will intertwine throughout all phases of the seminar.

26 May

15.00 – 18.00

Greetings – Introduction

by Gianmario Borio

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Notation / Time: Composers’ lectures

27 May

9.00-13.00

Notation / Time: Statements and Inputs by musicologists, discussion

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12.00-13.00

Open Rehearsal

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14.30 – 16.30

Nature / Voice: Composers’ lectures

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17.00-18.30

Open Rehearsal

 

28 May

9.00-13.00

Nature / Voice: Statements and Inputs by musicologists, closing discussion

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16.00-18.00

Roundtable with Filippo Martelli, Ernesto Napolitano and Gianfranco Vinay on the topics of Vinay’s book

Armonie cosmiche/La musica delle sfere nel XX e XXI secolo.

 

28 May Concert

19.00

Programme

Liza Lim:

An ocean beyond earth (2016) for solo cello prepared with thread and violin, 14.5′;

Transcendental Étude (2022) for solo piano with shruti box, 9′;

Ghosts make form (2023) for cello and piano, 13′;

James Morley, cello

Alexander Waite, piano

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interval

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Georg Friedrich Haas:

Hochwald (2023), for singing, speaking, whispering cellist, 43′;

Valerie Fritz, cello