Sinusodial waves – Hörprotokoll Vivier

Hörte im Januar öfter Claude Vivier: Wo bist du Licht! (1981) 23′, für Mezzosopran, Perkussion, Streicher und Band. Da ist ein Eklektisches, Fläche, Kitsch, Fläche – tellerförmiges Pathos? – , das mich reizt. Die Hysterie einer Mondnacht, in der alle Fühler drei Monde sehen, obwohl bloß sechs da sind. Hört Ihr den Sinus? Er turtelt.

Wo bist du Licht! I

Wo bist du Licht! II

Michel Gonville, 1984, in einem Essay zu dem Stück:

Following an instrumental opening that shifts from noise to sound, a slow development begins with “smooth spectral music” leading to “spectral music that melodically follows the contours of a sinusoidal wave.” […] Un-metered rhythmical elements will slowly come together in a “steady beat.” […] The spectral range will progressively decrease [and] when it has thinned down in the centre, it will grow towards the extremes, articulated by a pulsation that quickly dissolves. Soon, this suddenly pulsated music will transform itself again, in order to follow the exact contours of the melody’s end (homorhythmy).

Textual Aspect, three types of texts:
1. An emotional one: Martin Luther King’s last speech and a recording in situ of Robert Kennedy’s assassination. Both texts are heard at the beginning of the melody, as some faraway recollections looming up in the music.
2. Abstract text, with no signification” (invented language). A sung text superimposed on the recording of another voice (male) reading Hölderlin’s text.
3.  Descriptive text about torture”

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