Ballet Mécanique (Feb. 17, 7:30 p.m.)
Which piece takes a tam-tam, seven electric bells, a siren,
three airplane propellers and a pair of earplugs to be performed? The
answer is Georges Antheil's Ballet Mécanique
which will be presented at Friedberg Hall on February 17,
at 7:30 p.m.. Composed in Paris in 1924 by the 24-year-old
American, Georges Antheil, Ballet
Mécanique was the first piece ever written solely for percussion
orchestra. Combining sounds of the industrial age, atonal music, and
jazz the original
version calls for four bass drums, three xylophones, a tam-tam, seven
electric bells, a siren and three different-sized airplane propellers
(high wood, low wood, and metal) as well as two human-played pianos
and 16 player pianos. Synchronizing player pianos however, was
beyond the technology of the day, forcing Antheil to scale down the
instrumentation. As a result, Antheil never heard his magnum opus the
way in which it was originally envisioned. The Ballet Mécanique
was intended to be more than a piece of music; it was conceived
as a soundtrack for a film of the same name by cubist artist Fernand Leger, photographer
Man
Ray and cinematographer Dudley Murphy. Tragically, the
synchronization issues were never resolved (to further complicate
things, Antheil's score turned out to be twice as long as the
film). The two works were premiered separately, and have had separate
lives. Thanks to Prof. Lehrman's (Tufts University) realization of
the Ballet Mécanique, the live performance synchronized to the
film was premiered
on the 13 of November at the Percussive Arts Society International
Convention in Columbus, Ohio, by the Peabody Percussion Ensemble under
Julian Pellicano. The Percussion Ensemble, with the aid of the Peabody
Computer Music Department, will present this extraordinary work at
Peabody's Friedberg Hall on the 17 of February (7:30 p.m.). Admission
is free.
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Bassist Robert Black (Feb. 27, 7:30 p.m.)
The Peabody Computer Music Consort is proud to present
bassist Robert Black to the Peabody Community for a solo recital on
Thursday February 27 (7:30 p.m. in Griswold Hall; admission is free).
Perhaps best known for his pursuit of contemporary music, Robert
Black's 1996 O.O. Discs
recording
State of the Bass
saw the artist performing with computer-controlled delays, electric,
electric-upright, and MIDI Bass. His current program should include
Iannis Xenakis's 1976 work Theraps as well as Christian
Wolff's 1991 Look, She Said. Black will also be hosting a
Bass Department Master class on February 25 (time/location TBA). For
more information on Black's groundbreaking solo work or his ensemble
work with the genre-defying Bang
on a Can All-Stars look for Mike Giuliano's piece in the
January/February 2003 Peabody News.
PCM Welcomes New Faculty Member
The Peabody Computer Music Department is happy to welcome
Craig Sapp as a new member of the department.
Craig is completing his Ph.D. in
Computer-Based Music Theory and Acoustics at the Center for
Computer Research in Music and Acoustics, Stanford University. His
dissertation work is on computational music harmony analysis,
enabling computers to extract the underlying harmonic structure
of Western music for applications in interactive computer
music composition and simulated musical performance. He holds an
M.A. degree in Music Composition and Piano Performance as well as
a B.A. in Physics and Music from the University of Virginia. (more...).
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