Georg Hajdu Swan Song for cello, percussion and multimedia (2011/12)
Georg Hajdu: Swan Song - for cello, percussion and multimedia (2011/12) Notes: Like some of my earlier pieces, Swan song - for cello, percussion and multimedia is based on transcriptions of preexisting sonic materials: speech, music and noises. For this piece I have chosen the final scene of a masterpiece of Chinese cinema called Farewell, My Concubine by Chen Kaige, a movie that had a great impact on me when it was released in 1993. The movie revolves around a complicated love story and features scenes from an eponymous Peking Opera. Life and theater blend dramatically in the final scene. The rendering of the transcribed materials by the cello and percussion, mimicking the voices and instruments of Peking opera, are accompanied by processed video from the movie as well as electronic and prerecorded sounds. The first three tracks of the master score (written with MaxScore running inside my multimedia performance environment Quintet.net) are being used for real-time part extraction and sent to the players over the network, the fourth and fifth tracks for the control of audio and video playback and the sixth one is a click track, synchronizing the musicians to audio and video playback. Swan Song pursues the concept of on-the-spot composing facilitated by MaxScore which, in the networked environment, allows the musicians to see on their computer screens the changes made during the rehearsals without the intermediate step of needing to print the modified score and parts. Pedals connected to a Bluetooth controller allow the musicians to turn pages hands-free during the performance. Instrumentation: 1. Cello 2. Percussion a. Jing Ju Da Luo (Peking Opera gong) b. Woodblock w c. Chinese Drum d. Tam-tam ˇ. Circle around rim with metal pin - e. Bamboo wind chimes 3. Electronics (hardware) a. 4 laptop computers (2 of them preferably recent Apple computers) 2
b. 2 mics connected to c. Audio interface d. MIDI fader controller e. 2 earphones with extension cables for click track f. Small mixer g. AirTurn BT-105 Bluetooth page turner h. 2 keyboard pedals i. Ethernet router or switch j. 4 Ethernet cables k. Stereo amplification l. Video projection 4. Electronics (software) a. Max 6 (runtime version sufficient, download from www.cycling74.com) b. MaxScore (download from www.computermusicnotation.com; request JMSL authorization from Nick Didkovsky <didkovn@mail.rockefeller.edu>) c. Fonts: Opus Percussion (included in Sibelius) and Concreta d. Quintet.net (download from www.quintet.net) e. Swan Song project (available on request) f. PC users make sure they have recent versions of Quicktime and Java installed on their computers. 5. Quintet.net. The four computers run Quintet.net in the following configurations: a. Audio and video: Quintet.net Client logged in as performer #5 with Viewer add on, all running in Max 6 with overdrive off. b. Conductor: Quintet.net Conductor with audio output to headphones running in Max 6 with overdrive on. Quintet.net Server runs in Max Runtime or a separate copy of Max 6 with overdrive off. c. Performers: Quintet.net Client logged in as performers #1 (cello) and #2 (percussion) running in Max 6 with overdrive turned off. It may be desirable to change the screen resolution so that the Client window covers as much of the visible area as possible. Performance: 1. The performers play with Chinese opera masks. The cellist wears a female mask, the percussionist a male mask. 2. The performers are sync ed to electronics via click track and read their music off computer monitors. 3. The pitch of the Jing Ju Da Luo needs to be matched to the sound sample employed in the playback. 3
4. Cello part is notated on a grand staff in order to avoid changing clefs and improve legibility in the triple stops section. 5. Percussion mm. 43-82: vary dynamics so that the cello is always audible, introduce random accents and dampen gong if desired 6. Cello mm. 51-82: The part shows the pitch material that the cellist is supposed to choose from. He/she is free to create a his/her own path through the music. For instance, in m.51, the performer can either play the low notes, or the top two ones, or the bottom two ones. The choice should be made according to a dramaturgy for which a gradual move to higher sonorities is desirable. Triple stops can be played at phrase endings for dramatic effect, if possible. As most sections (except for mm. 103-170) were derived from speech, the rendering of the music should be speech-like during those sections. 7. Percussion mm. 105-170: Start playing on rim, starting in m. 153 gradually move to felt, first by playing the accents and eventually all pulses on felt. Inquiries: Please direct all your questions and inquiries to georghajdu@mac.com. 4
Swan Song Wiring Diagram. Blue: analog audio wiring; green: Ethernet cables; red: Firewire; burgundy: video connection; turquoise USB MIDI cable. 5