Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
2001 ISAST
53
The influence of Stockhausens approach to live electronics, however, involving his typically detailed compositional control over what was played and
operated, was, in my own work and that
of Gentle Fire, counterbalanced by that
of John Cage and David Tudor, who featured greater freedoms and more diverse
combinations of sound sources and often
of independent loudspeaker channels.
This was exemplified in a remarkable
concert they gave in London, together
with Gordon Mumma, in November 1966
during a visit by the Merce Cunningham
Dance Company, which for many years
was talked about as a major landmark by
all who were in the audience.
54
COLLABORATIONS
The group worked with Stockhausen on
many occasions. Although we knew
Cage, Tudor and Mumma, having met
up with them in at least three cities
when we and they were touring Europe
in the summer of 1972, we only performed with them once, in Christian
Wolffs Burdocks, together with the
Merce Cunningham Dance Company,
on one night that autumn at the Sadlers
Wells Theatre (now the Coliseum) in
London. We also collaborated several
times with Erhard Grosskopf (who wrote
one work for us and featured us in the
world premieres of two others) and
Wolff and, early on, once with the
painter and composer Tom Phillips. In
1974 Grosskopf and Wolff (who at the
time was also living in West Berlin) performed in their own works with us at
short notice when Hearn was not available for a concert at a festival in Metz;
Wolff also volunteered to take part in
our per formance of Stockhausens
Spektren; we happily accepted. Frederic
Rzewski considered composing an electronic symphony for us, and Earle
Brown was also interested in writing for
the group. Although Alvin Lucier allowed us to give the premiere of his
score Gentle Fire [4], it was not composed
specially for us (because it required sophisticated sound processing equipment
for what would now be called sonic
morphing, it was not really suited to the
group, unlike his Chambers, which we
performed several times). Lucier intended the title of Gentle Fire to refer to
the alchemical meaning (i.e. the slow
heating of metals for their transmutation) and was unaware of our groups
origin in the I Ching.
Another work in our repertoire that
also referred to the groups name was
Stockhausens 1968 verbal score Setz die
Segel zur Sonne (Set the Sails towards the
Sun). In the version that I originally
made of several of the texts from Aus den
sieben Tagen for British performances, I
translated the last two lines und der ganze
Klang zu Gold / zu reinem, ruhig
leuchtendem Feuer wird as and the whole
55
UNUSUAL PERFORMANCES
AND OTHER PROJECTS
Although we specialized in per formances of concert works, Gentle Fire
enjoyed the challenge of performing in
unusual spaces. In addition to theaters,
art galleries and museums (one was just
a building site) and a church, we performed on several occasions in parks
and streets. At the Shiraz Festival in
1972, we appeared at a roundabout on
the outskirts of the city one morning at
8 A.M. and played one of Stockhausens
verbal scores on acoustic instruments;
we were soon surrounded by an intrigued audience of passersbyuntil the
security police arrived to break up the
concert and remove us and our instruments from the scene. In 1971, at the
very first open-air rock festival in
Glastonbury, we gave the premiere of
Group Composition IV (Glastonbury Fair) at
dawn as the last event of a nights music,
on a stage set high up in the side of a silver-clad pyramid and, together with
Intermodulation, the Scratch Orchestra
and other British groups, participated in
a multi-room Wandelkonzert at the
Goethe Institute in London.
Among the workshops we gave as a
group, we held seminars and workshops
and per formed concerts at the
Dartington Summer School in 1971 (for
1 week) and 1972 (for a fortnight), and
in 1972 also contributed to a course for
composition students in Zrich, which
included adding live performances in a
concert to two tapes that the students
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REPERTOIRE
Over the 7 years of the groups existence
we gave 245 performances of 100 works
by 28 composers; 41 of these were
Gentle Fires collective compositions
and pieces by members of the group.
Thirty-two performances were recorded
for radio and seven for television broadcasts (several works were recorded but
never performed live). Gentle Fires first
performances as a group were primarily
group improvisations, but from 1969 we
concentrated mainly on compositions by
57
To Liz
GRAHAM HEARN: ART MUST BE FED (1972)
PIANO AND INSTRUMENTS
PIANO
ACCOMPANIMENT
WHAT TO DO
(CHANCE MACHINE/DIE I)
______________________
DURATIONS
(CHANCE MACHINE/DIE II)
______________________
1. Single note
2. Chord/cluster
3. Melodic phrase
4. Noise
5. Mixed bag
6. Free reminiscence
Fig. 1. Graham Hearn, Art Must Be Fed, score of a composition for Gentle Fire, 1972. Hearns compositions typified the spirit of Gentle
Fire. ( Graham Hearn)
GROUP COMPOSITIONS
AND OTHER SPECIALLY
COMPOSED WORKS
As Simon Emmerson has pointed out
[12], Gentle Fire was a welcome exception in pioneering group compositions,
which warrant a more detailed discussion.
Apart from a few compositions that involved additional performers, group compositions were the most substantial works
in our repertoire, and together form the
most representative encapsulation of the
groups music. We explored three different approaches: detailed live electronic
treatments, specially created instruments
and a circular structure in which each person composed the part for the next person in the cycle. In comparison, the collaborative work of other live electronic
groups in that period largely focused on
other aspects. Stockhausens group only
performed his music; the Sonic Arts
Union and Composers Inside Electronics
concentrated on per forming compositions by their individual members; Cage,
58
Procedure
Pianist
Repeat the phrase without change for the entire length of the performance. If you are reminded of other
pieces, moods, styles etc., you may make the memory audible by humming, whistling, singing etc. for
short periods (cf. free reminiscence). The phrase may be transposed a fraction from one performance to
another.
Accompaniment
Use two dice to decide what you do for an event and when you do it. Perform events when you feel ready
take your timeuse silence.
Dynamics are equal to or softer than piano level; occasionally the piano can be drowned. You can relate
what you play to the sounds of the pianist and other players if you wish. Free reminiscences are snatches
of music familiar to youthey may be sung, played, hummed or whistled.
If the sum of the two numbers obtained from the dice is odd, make a change in the sound with respect to
any parameter (excl. duration). Otherwise play the events straight. If the two numbers obtained are
identical, that total number of succeeding events is to be performed badly. Further identical numbers
obtained before such a series of events is completed may be ignored or added to the previous number(s).
You must decide what constitutes, relative to your own capabilities, a badly performed event. Exaggeration
may be required. Ensure that there is sufficient distinction between these and the other events.
59
Fig. 2. Gentle Fire playing the gHong (Akademie der Knste, Berlin, 1972), here suspended
from a low ceiling rather than on its own stand; from left to right: Richard Bernas, Graham
Hearn, Michael Robinson (back to camera), Stuart Jones, Hugh Davies. (Photo Petra
Grosskopf)
CONCLUSION
All creative organizations seem to have a
natural life of around 7 years, after
which substantial renewal is needed if
they are to continue. Gentle Fire managed to evolve during the first 5 years of
its existence, but a variety of factors,
mostly mentioned or implied above,
caused the groups gradual demise. After 1972 our earnings from concerts fell
sharply, and, due to the decreasing availability of money in the arts, invitations
were less common. Hearn and I had already established the principal elements
of our careers, but the three other members had not, and needed to explore different potential sources of income [14].
The York members had started out in
the group while they were still students,
but skill in Gentle Fires repertoire was
not an appropriate qualification for
more conventional musical activities at
the time. Rehearsals were often awkward
to schedule, with two members (later
one) living in Yorkshire and the others
in London. Finally, none of us had a
60
Discography
Furnival, John. Ode, Ceolfrith Press 17-cm CPR 1
(incl. with exh. cat. John Furnival) (1971).
Gentle Fire. Earle Brown, Four Systems; John Cage,
Music for Amplified Toy Pianos and Music for Carillon
Nos. 13 (performer: Graham Hearn); Christian
Wolff, Edges. Electrola LP 1C 065-02 469 and
Toshiba LP EAC-80295 (1974).
Gentle Fire. Group Composition IV (excerpt) Live
Electronics, Contemporary Music Review 6, No. 1
(cassette incl. with journal) (1991).
Orton, Richard. concert music 5, 17-cm LP included
in book Approach to Music, Vol. 3 (Oxford, U.K.:
Oxford Univ. Press, 1971).
Stockhausen, Karlheinz. Sternklang, Polydor LP
2612031 and DGG LP 2707 123 (2 LPs) (1976); reissued on Stockhausen Gesamtausgabe CD 18A-B
(2CDs) (1992) (with 16 other performers).