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richard barrett
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« on: 23:01:06, 04-05-2008 » |
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The other day I listened for the first time all through to Alois Hába's (1893-1973) opera Matka (The Mother), celebrated for being the first opera (and still one of the very few I think) to make systematic use of quartertones. Its performance requires a number of specially-built instruments (clarinet, trumpet and piano, I believe) and it hasn't been produced since the 1960s. Its music has a Moravian accent in the same general sort of way Janacek's does, though obviously its sound is quite different, at once more and less "folk-like", in the inflected melodies and the quite unique harmonies respectively. A look at Amazon showed that very little indeed of Hába's music is available in recorded form, nor does the Supraphon recording of Matka seem to be currently available. I think I quite like this work, though I don't have a libretto (I ripped the recording from a Berlin friend's CDs) and I only have a vague idea of what it's about. Does anyone else know it? or anything else by Hába? I notice that one of the few available recordings is a box of his complete string quartets (16 of them). Somewhat expensive for a first dip in the waters.
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autoharp
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« Reply #1 on: 23:40:58, 04-05-2008 » |
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I've been disappointed by Haba. Back in the 60s, there was a Supraphon LP of Quartets 11-13 (11 was 1/6 tone, 12 was 1/4 tone), but the best piece by far was a determinedly athematic Nonet Op. 40 - which was not 1/4 tone. The microtonal quartets worked best in the slow movements, whereas the faster movements sounded more like out of tune playing. Sounds like a MOR dismissal of microtonal music, doesn't it? But I've since heard stuff by Wyschnegradsky (or Vishnegradsky if you prefer) and Carrillo - and of course the Ives 3 pieces for 2 pianos - which seems to confirm that the kind of material that Haba employed was far less effective than that of the other early 20th century microtonalists. Somewhere I have a CD of other quartets, one in 1/5 tones (I wonder how accurate that performance is?) and a rather gruesome work for 4 trombones. I've not heard The Mother - despite my comments, I would like to: well, some of it. And hopefully someone will point me in the direction of his more worthwhile works.
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« Last Edit: 23:46:15, 04-05-2008 by autoharp »
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richard barrett
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« Reply #2 on: 00:00:11, 05-05-2008 » |
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Somehow I knew you'd be first with a reply!
I don't know anything by Wyschnegradsky but I haven't been too keen on what I've heard of Carrillo, although I did enjoy having a play on a couple of the pianos he designed, especially the 16th-tone upright piano which has 96 keys and a range of one octave... but I think what interested me about Hába's opera was the general sound world of it. As you imply, strings are not necessarily the most convincing advocates of this kind of microtonality, but when you have a much larger ensemble (not, though, a full orchestra) with winds and piano the quartertone harmony immediately sounds a lot more robust.
Sounds like I'll be avoiding the string quartets anyway.
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Ian Pace
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« Reply #3 on: 00:06:41, 05-05-2008 » |
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I have two discs of Wyschnegradsky, one of quartets played by the Ardittis, one with Ensemble 2E2M playing multiple microtonally retuned piano works and other pieces. Haven't listened to either for a while, but remember them both being excellent. Highly recommended (definitely for those who like Scriabin and the like - though personally I'd prefer to listen to Wyschnegradsky, much more focused and less self-indulgent). Hába I don't know.
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'These acts of keeping politics out of music, however, do not prevent musicology from being a political act . . .they assure that every apolitical act assumes a greater political immediacy' - Philip Bohlman, 'Musicology as a Political Act'
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autoharp
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« Reply #4 on: 07:26:46, 05-05-2008 » |
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Carrillo's Preludio a Colon (Prelude to Columbus) is highly recommended and recorded on a CD which also includes a version of Ives's 2nd Quartet in extended Pythagorean tuning. http://cdbaby.com/cd/pitchrecs3Also by Wyshnegradsky is the 24 preludes op. 22 for 2 pianos tuned 1/4 tone apart. Impressive though unrelievedly doomy. The BBC have broadcast Meditation on 2 themes from The Day of Existence (1918) for bassoon (with microtones) + piano (conventional). Quite a hoot, that one. |
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« Last Edit: 07:30:22, 05-05-2008 by autoharp »
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autoharp
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« Reply #5 on: 14:13:54, 05-05-2008 » |
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I hope Richard doesn't mind Wyshnegradsky and Carrillo getting a look-in on this thread. Together with Haba, they are the composers who were the chief investigators in the field of microtonal composition in the first half of the 20th century. But although Wyschnegradsky was certainly influenced by Scriabin in some ways, I'd respectfully suggest that there's precious little on the Ensemble 2e2m CD (to which Ian refers) which would remind anyone of Scriabin's music, harmonically, gesturally or in any other way. Even in the relatively early (fairly) tonal work - the Deux chants sur Nietzsche.
I have two discs of Wyschnegradsky, one of quartets played by the Ardittis, one with Ensemble 2E2M playing multiple microtonally retuned piano works and other pieces. Haven't listened to either for a while, but remember them both being excellent. Highly recommended (definitely for those who like Scriabin and the like - though personally I'd prefer to listen to Wyschnegradsky, much more focused and less self-indulgent). Hába I don't know.
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richard barrett
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« Reply #6 on: 14:51:50, 05-05-2008 » |
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Really I should have entitled the thread "Alois Hába and microtonal music", shouldn't I?
There are numbers of other composers in this area I know nothing or next to nothing about, Ezra Sims for example, though I notice there's a selection of his work at the Avant Garde Project which I'll get around to downloading at some point.
I don't think there are many composers who would describe themselves these days as writing "microtonal music", even if they write music full of microtones. No doubt there are many more composers doing this than in the "early days". On the other hand, Hába taught a class in microtonal music for some time in Prague (in which his pupils included Karel Ančerl) and I think you'd be hard put to find such a thing on any curriculum these days.
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Evan Johnson
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« Reply #7 on: 15:04:48, 05-05-2008 » |
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Really I should have entitled the thread "Alois Hába and microtonal music", shouldn't I?
There are numbers of other composers in this area I know nothing or next to nothing about, Ezra Sims for example, though I notice there's a selection of his work at the Avant Garde Project which I'll get around to downloading at some point.
I don't think there are many composers who would describe themselves these days as writing "microtonal music", even if they write music full of microtones. No doubt there are many more composers doing this than in the "early days". On the other hand, Hába taught a class in microtonal music for some time in Prague (in which his pupils included Karel Ančerl) and I think you'd be hard put to find such a thing on any curriculum these days.
My brief exposure to Sims, Ben Johnston, John Eaton, and the like (the three of them are probably the go-to group of American microtonalists) is that the material is draggingly conventional in everything but the tuning, as if they don't want to distract the listener's attention from how cool microtones are. As a result, the specter of gimmickry is never far away. I have never heard anything by Hába or Wyschnegradsky so I can't say if they suffer from the same approach ( mutatis mutandis in re "conventional" of course), but I personally have little patience for music that says nothing to me but "don't these intervals sound cool?" Beacuse in order to ask that question, one has to assume in the listener something universally familiar to compare them to, and ... |
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Turfan Fragment
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« Reply #8 on: 19:37:16, 05-05-2008 » |
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My brief exposure to Sims, Ben Johnston, John Eaton, and the like (the three of them are probably the go-to group of American microtonalists) is that the material is draggingly conventional in everything but the tuning, as if they don't want to distract the listener's attention from how cool microtones are. What you say follows logically from this statement, but I can't agree with the point of departure, at least in the case of Ben Johnston. I don't know Sims or Eaton well enough to comment on their work, though. With Johnston, it isn't microtonality but really an alternate notion of tonality that's at work. I do think that of the Just Intonation people he's the most searching and thought-provoking one. I certainly think very highly of his 3rd and 4th String Quartets, where I get a unique impression of 'strange' microtones becoming 'euphonious' microtones, then 'nondescript' microtones, then back again... there's this dialogue going on with my understanding of what tuning 'should' be, what tuning 'could' be, and what in Johnston's world tuning 'is.' Perhaps the fact that I'm unable to attribute these sensations, i.e., unable to determine whether they're subject to the control of the composer or are entirely my own 'reading' of the music is I think very much part of the fascination: is this beautiful music or am I merely imagining it to be beautiful? |
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autoharp
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« Reply #9 on: 20:30:19, 29-05-2008 » |
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I'm spinning Haba's Matka as I'm writing and having a pretty good time with it. Surprising really, considering I'm not an opera fan, nor am I particular keen on Haba. But this is infinitely more interesting and effective microtonal writing than experienced in the quartets, as least as far as this listener is concerned. Like Richard, I have little idea what the opera's about, but I may know someone who does and will post something if + when the info turns up.
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autoharp
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« Reply #10 on: 20:21:17, 30-05-2008 » |
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Having now listened to the whole of Matka, I am happy to announce that I'm no longer disappointed in Haba and look forward to giving it a couple more spins in the near future. A real surprise, this.
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autoharp
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« Reply #11 on: 18:55:35, 31-05-2008 » |
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Here's an interesting article on Haba http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Alois+Haba+(21st+June+1893-18th+November+1973):+between+tradition+and...-a0138488785and it does have a paragraph on Matka - and it briefly describes the plot. This bit I thought was worth bringing to general attention: "The twenty-three years that the opera covers are divided into ten scenes --- scenes of ordinary everyday life. They are stripped of all the contrasts, stylisations and paradoxes usually employed to create dramatic tension and movement towards a denouement. Haba's style of opera might be compared to reportage. Instead of stylised focus, Haba enlarges the sphere of his work to cover the entire field of life, thus cancelling the difference between 'ceremonial/festival art' and the 'art of the everyday'. The lack of theatricality is sometimes interpreted as deliberate and innovative, but in many respects the work perhaps aims wide of experiment. Moreover while the use of the quarter-tone system secures the opera Matka a special place in world opera repertoire, on the other its specific requirements make it a piece for which few companies would have the resources . . . " |
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« Last Edit: 19:05:24, 31-05-2008 by autoharp »
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