infotext:
AN ABSOLUTE VOCAL MUSIC This short essay cannot be about developing a comprehensive theory of sound poetry. However, since all of the texts in the »Marakra« cycle are onomatopoeic poems by me, i.e. a onomatopoetic story is being told, so to speak, I would like to outline some of my thoughts on the matter. On Wikipedia we read the following definition: Sound poetry and contemporary music Wouldn't it be possible to understand vocal music as pure, absolute music? To do this, however, it would have to be freed from all extra-musical, linguistic-semantic ballast. Why do composers continue to allow vocal music to be degraded, so to speak, to the servant of the text through the use of semantic words, sentences and poems, instead of realizing itself? (“Text servant” is meant polemically here, because by including a semantic text, the music is forced to deal with the textual content, whether it now illustrates it in terms of mood, whether it resists it because it doesn’t want to do it, or whether she even tries to ignore the text.) Sound poetry, on the other hand, would be a language that is created out of the music and that is completely absorbed by it. Sound poetry as an absolute art that is not tied to any semantic-programmatic content. The conflict between no longer intact (atonal) tonal language and still intact (semantic) word language has always bothered me. The fact that contemporary composers from the 1960s onwards break down semantic word language into individual phonemes that are no longer understandable because they feel that the uninterrupted use of language in this music is no longer correct is not a satisfactory solution for me. With sound poetry, both languages operate on the same level of invention. The asemantic, but in some way associative word structure of artificially created onomatopoeic languages is much more directly related to the musical structure of artificially created works of art than somehow alienated conventional, so to speak natural word structures, which in turn are directly related to natural circumstances. In a way, sound poetry would thus be the language of new music, a lyric poetry congruent with this music.
Sound poetry as an artificial language Sound poetry and musical composition Sound poetic texts and political engagement? For me, sound poetry is in a way a cry of the speechless. General thoughts on sound poetry I try to explore different forms and possibilities of communication with asemantic texts. How far can the available material go? How far can you still trust him? There is also a personal aspect that made me use my own onomatopoeic texts: I am so full of onomatopoeia inside that there is currently no space in my music for other poetic texts. When I hear the vocal lines of my compositions, the sound poetry just bubbles out of me. Nevertheless, I can imagine an opportunity for further development to play around semantic texts with sound poetic texts, expand them and lead them into unfamiliar areas. The unspeakable Rene Wohlhauser RENÉ WOHLHAUSER Mira Shinak for soprano, flute and piano, on an own onomatopoeic poem (2006) Momentary forms, high-contrast structures and characters between complexity and simplicity, combined with a special kind of lyricism, introduce the piece and seek to form productive connections. Special attention was paid to the resulting lines of force and the effects of their formal dramaturgy on the change in the speed of perception. This change in the tempo of perception can be experienced particularly clearly in the contextual embedding of the anti-solo of the piano. With regard to a freely discursive musical logic, parallel to the examination of different forms of perception, I emphasized the development of a grammar of constructive consistency, in which several paths are always open, but in which the path once taken can be perceived as consistent . This is intended to achieve coherence that counters arbitrariness with commitment. Mira Shinak mira shinak mishra ke Hurray nikna sama tok Mo ro no go like that lakme tokme smakra ki hero nokra simsa lock 'Srang for soprano, flute, clarinet and violoncello, on an own onomatopoetic poem (2007) The piece follows a concept in which fragments repeatedly become independent, detach themselves from their previous context, reassemble and thus constitute a new starting point from which a new compositional direction then develops. And also on the further path of life the living being is confronted with the fragmentary conception of the world. Fragments as a metaphor for (every living being's own) selective perception, which nevertheless tries to come to a uniform, meaningful assessment. (In contrast to the idea of an absolute (divine?) perception that is able to record and interpret all conceivable aspects at the same time.) Fragments as an image for fragmentary everyday experiences. The life that is put together from the most disparate impressions and yet is presented by many as a unit in retrospect. Fragments that develop their own dynamic in their respective constellation and (in the sense of chaos theory) create unusual, new situations. Nobody can know everything. Our knowledge in its fragmentary constellation shapes our view of life and our perspectives, which are often contrary to the perspectives of other people with a different fragmentary life experience. Human behavior as a result of fragments of fallen knowledge. What does this mean compositionally? Designing complex microstructures, working with fragments from a fragmentary world, which combine to form new sound conglomerates that may open up new experiences and perspectives for the audience. 'Srang Nallti gimmi kasari Kiam song trang gon Mimikra rakatotosiri rokome In my day molle sëën kon Mekoro risitotokara kramimi ouae iea uo… Riggli samma nolli Gebbi Huk lak sol take sokrak for soprano, flute, clarinet, violoncello and piano, on an own onomatopoetic poem (2008) How can sonority be structurally composed in such a way that it transcends itself and achieves depth of expression? These are some of the questions that occupied my mind while working on this composition. It was therefore a question of examining the effect of sound perception, the mode of action of sound-structured time, the temporality of the sound flow, the sound-flowing time, the sound-structuring of time as a quality of perception on perception. What changes in perspective enable fleeting sound traces to emerge from the shadowy sonority and turn into a sonic embodiment of expression, into real presence and get stuck in the filter of perception? Ultimately, a concept of raising awareness of sound perception. In this piece, this occurs with a clear formal concept: in the first part, the music grows out of the pre-tonal world of noise. In the second part the tone is found and the music develops from this one tone. In the third part, the hitherto held back stock of sounds explodes in overabundance, which turns into a global sonority grounded in a layer of noise. In the fourth part, the structures of the first part return in a different form, with the players no longer making their structures sound instrumental, but using mouth noises. In this way, all parts are structurally connected to one another. It is also about exploring different mixing and merging possibilities of speech sound and music: sokrak sch s, chr tl, tux rex söx, schomo; SS-sokraks. umu, su, lagu, res; sutamu, misorex, karamalogo; No, lagaro; sox rex, schomo; höx nex pux, molo; lax, moga, nox, wira. So, marago; uma suta rome; uma suta romelo; sak rak hak nak; well noin for, ma; sik rak, saga; sö lö, fog pis, poka nika haka, mala; Iguur-Blay-Luup for soprano solo, soprano-baritone duo and soprano with small ensemble (bass flute, bass clarinet and violoncello), on own onomatopoeic poems (2009) In the emblematics of the fictional language Sulawedic, »Iguur« means a metaphor, which in »Blay« is bewildered by an unexpected resonance, only to be resurrected in »Luup« in a changed, so to speak purified form and in a different context. Various texture types characterize the first piece igur for soprano solo: Urged cries of distress are thrown into the silence at the beginning, separated from each other by pauses in tension. Gradually, however, dialectic contrasting material is infiltrated (quasi spoken). After an accentuation of the contrasts in the 2nd part, the 3rd part becomes much denser and more lively, only to end with long tones and a whole bar break as compensation. The glissandi are formally at the beginning of the 4th part, which is now more special and experimental, until correctly spoken for the first time marks the beginning of the last part, in which different texture types come together. The second piece blay for soprano-baritone duo is also divided into three formally clearly distinguishable parts by means of different structural types, separated from each other by short spoken interludes and gradually accelerated by a system of tempo modulations. While the first two parts of this piece are canons, the third part consists of the transformation of a duo of the 15th/16th century canon master. Century, Pierre de la Rue, the age of the emergence of emblematics in European art. Due to its three-part structure, this central piece refers to the entire three-part cycle in the manner of a triptych. In the third piece oops for soprano and small ensemble the soprano adopts the structures of igur together with the third tones in a different form and enters into a musical dialogue with the other instruments. At the beginning only the soprano has third tones, the instruments do not react to it. Only from the region of the golden ratio, which is marked by bar 48 as the only tacet bar in the piece, do the instruments also take on third tones. Conversely, the soprano gives up its changes from the same point and remains the same as in igur. The title oops has nothing to do with the English word "loop". Rather, by giving this title, I am consciously defending myself against the appropriation of certain sound combinations by the fashionable use of language. igur Soramo paritola some Sema no rome remoramo roma blay Hagonamo moribola ralame bimo rosi? s, tgtgtg, rt, ch, schi ro, sg to re, margg Osi meama Masiome mogiame rapa dioma ülp char og mud, saraba pomi Remi kun töwi be gela dozia qua. oops like "iguur" Charyptine for soprano, baritone, flute, clarinet, violin and violoncello, on an own onomatopoeic poem (2010) This piece is about the possibilities and impossibilities of interaction, mixing and role reversal between vocal and instrumental sounds. This corresponds to the overlapping and mutual penetration of individual time levels, which thus become something like a new dimension of time perception. It is about exploring the various in-between areas between whispered, spoken and sung, both vocally and instrumentally, about the search for sonic and temporal gaps and for a different category of material that is neither spoken nor sung. Fragile states of vocal and instrumental expression should be made audible. The piece consists of three cycles. The first cycle addresses the juxtaposition and gradual intertwining of vocal and instrumental phrases. In the 1nd cycle, the instrumental develops out of the vowel and distances itself from it by increasingly organizing the passage of time differently. Consequently, the 2rd cycle consists only of vocals, which avoid any contact with the instrumental and thus become instrumental, so to speak. The onomatopoeic texts reflect the applied ("cryptic") compositional processes, for example by using the title Charyptine in the vocal duo parts constituting the work is hidden and played around in text fragments that are torn apart and sound-like, but without appearing verbatim. Charyptine (Introduction: soprano) (1st cycle, 1st phrase, baritone) (2nd phrase, soprano) (3rd phrase, baritone) (4nd phrase, soprano) (Baritone) (5nd phrase, soprano) (Baritone) Pu (6nd phrase, soprano) Sha saga ma banter life (Baritone) Legere mere te Brro zigo Chigaraz Brro digo like that Sha saga (2nd cycle, 1st part, soprano) Sha ronagana sala Ma sore la magore shame ego (Baritone) Sharona mola Shame go Lo pot make Sale da gawe pero (2nd cycle, 2st part, soprano) (3rd cycle, baritone) Rüscha woreto (Soprano) To raba la Marakra code Ø for baritone solo, on an own onomatopoetic poem (2011) A "code" is i.a. a key for transferring ciphertexts to plaintext and vice versa. For example, in Morse code, a dot is considered a "function" or "representation" of the letter "e." Or in technology, speed is considered a "function" of distance and time. Sometimes we experience an intuition, as if a code were thrown at us and a sudden insight made something suddenly clear to us that we did not understand before. There is a sudden, striking turning point in this piece. After that, the onomatopoeic syllable sequences of the beginning appear transformed into semi-semantic text fragments, embedded in an atmospherically and structurally changed musical environment. Marakra code Ø Marakra code 2 (Soprano) (soprano and baritone) (Soprano) (Soprano) (Baritone) (Baritone) (soprano and baritone) (Baritone) (Soprano) (Baritone) (Soprano) Sikorimata Maro Kola mora Saro poramatuba Oratukamo Magofito Marek Or Ama? Aloma (Soprano) (Baritone) (Soprano) (soprano or baritone) (Baritone) (Soprano) (Baritone) whiff as… (soprano and baritone) (Baritone) (Soprano) (Both) |
program:
The Marakra Cycle [01] Mira Shinak (2006) * 11:10 [02] 'Srang (2007) * 10:29 [03] sokrak (2008)** 10:32 Iguur-Blay-Luup (2009)*** 16:18 [07] Charyptine (2010)**** 12:40 [08] Marakra code Ø (2011)***** 02:12 [09] Marakra code 2 (2011)***** 16:16 Total playing time: 79:52 Ensemble Polysono Guests: Tabea Resin, flute [01] Marzena Toczko, violin [07] |
Press:
February 2016
Pierre Rigaudiere
sound poetry The Swiss René Wohlhauserist is a composer, pianist, baritone, music teacher, theorist and writer all in one. Some of this artistic multitasking is combined on this CD, which Wohlhauser recorded with the Ensemble Polysono. The interpretive quality is correspondingly sophisticated! “The Marakra Cycle” (2006-2011), a compilation of pieces based on self-written poetry in fantasy language, contains a good portion of esotericism, but also almost Webernian clarity, compositionally impeccably well heard. You could also put it this way: If you threw Webern and Scelsi into one pot, Wohlhauser would come out of it. [...] Dirk Wieschollek |
