Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta Elizabeth Ashford. Mostrar todas las entradas
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta Elizabeth Ashford. Mostrar todas las entradas
miércoles, 3 de agosto de 2011
The flute, all the flute and nothing but the flute
After a highly exciting concert (+discussions +lunch +gossipping) of JAKFlute (the Jakarta Flute Community whose members are always growing) at my place, the Ananda Sukarlan Center last Sunday July 31st, my sheet music with all my chamber & solo works involving the flute is now officially published. It was launched during that concert last Sunday. Its title is "Narcissus Dying and other works for flute(s)".
It took me several days to decide on the cover. The most natural is of course using John William Waterhouse's painting of Narcissus as it was the painting that helped me shape the piece. At last I cropped the painting "Echo and Narcissus" of Waterhouse, took only the Narcissus part as its cover.
All my flute music are connected with someone (mostly flutists), except "Rescuing Ariadne" which really just popped up from the blue. Well, Titian's painting was the trigger, but I didn't specifically write it for someone. There are 8 titles in that book:
-Narcissus Dying (now becoming my most popular work for flute)
-Rescuing Ariadne
-My recently premiered "The Sicilian Diary" for 3 flutes
-You Had Me at Hello (3 movements for flute solo, for Chendra Panatan's choreography)
-Vega & Altair's Love Song (for flute & harp)
-2 pieces for piccolo solo, for Rudy & Liz's 2 boys
-Prelude & Intermezzo from my opera "Ibu yang anaknya diculik itu", which is original written for flute & piano. Therefore this is not an arrangement
-Choreographic prelude to "Bibirku Bersujud di bibirmu". Now this title is missing on the score, but written down in the index of the book. This piece is a prelude (but can be performed separately) from my piece for soprano & piano based on the highly moving poem of Hasan Aspahani.
Aaaand ... I will use this opportunity to thank my flutty friends: Liz Ashford, Wendela van Swol, Roberto Alvarez, Mesty Ariotedjo who is also the ambassador of our dear Indonesian Classical Music Foundation (YMSI), founders of JakFlute Metta F.Ariono & Marini Marnoto, my new flutty friend Andika Candra and many more flutists who have played my music. I learned a lot from listening to you all playing it, and glad that you include my music in your repertoire. Hope my music can enrich the tutti flutty world!
viernes, 25 de junio de 2010
What is in a name?
I always like those weird short pieces by the American composer Virgil Thomson called "Portraits". The creative process of those pieces (hundreds of them) was always that the "model" sits in front of the composer, while he "painted" them, so it was exactly like the creative process of a painter.
Now I've never been musically inspired by the physical look of anyone, no matter how stunning. But I do like to play around with something that one has in him/her. And of course I like that Schumannesque game of putting initials of people's names as motifs of his work.
That's the background of my two short pieces, "To Adam G" and "Whooosh!" which will be included in my book, "Alicia's Second Piano Book", as well as the most recent "Finnley's Fanfare" for solo piccolo. This time, other people, who I should say friends, "helped" me write the music. "To Adam G" was written for the Hungarian pianist Adam Gyorgy as a gratitude for his invitation to the winners of Ananda Sukarlan Award to come to his summer masterclasses in Hungary last year. It is based on a motif built on his name : A.D.A.M(i) G. And "Whooosh!" (yeah, the music does sound like that!) was for Inge Buniardi, a very talented young Indonesian pianist now living in Amsterdam. It's based on her initials : A(nastasia) MI (Melania Inge, which should have been Inge Melania) B(uniardi).
2 days ago I received the good news that my good friends Rudy & Liz had a new baby boy, Finnley. Elizabeth Ashford is a flutist and has practically played all my music involving that instrument, and she's had this futile attempt in encouraging me to write for the instrument that I hate the most : the piccolo. But Rudy's email, curiously enough, gave me the idea of writing "Finnley's Fanfare", and unfortunately the initials of the piece's title is "FF", which is the perfect dynamics of a piccolo piece. I was totally stressed with my yet unfinished opera AND the rehearsal of our performance for these days to celebrate the 5th year anniversary of Chendra Panatan and me working together. Luckily I now have this tiny Lenovo laptop --am still fascinated by its really small size and how my operas and other works can fit inside it--, so in bed at 1 a.m after the exhausting rehearsal the whole day I relaxed myself writing the piccolo (and it's also tiny!) piece. I wonder why I always compose much more fluently lying down; is it because my brain receives more blood and therefore more oxygen? Anyway, hope that the number of pieces based on friends' initials will grow, since it's really fun to compose like that. It's like playing sudoku or making anagrams, you know what I mean?
Now I've never been musically inspired by the physical look of anyone, no matter how stunning. But I do like to play around with something that one has in him/her. And of course I like that Schumannesque game of putting initials of people's names as motifs of his work.
That's the background of my two short pieces, "To Adam G" and "Whooosh!" which will be included in my book, "Alicia's Second Piano Book", as well as the most recent "Finnley's Fanfare" for solo piccolo. This time, other people, who I should say friends, "helped" me write the music. "To Adam G" was written for the Hungarian pianist Adam Gyorgy as a gratitude for his invitation to the winners of Ananda Sukarlan Award to come to his summer masterclasses in Hungary last year. It is based on a motif built on his name : A.D.A.M(i) G. And "Whooosh!" (yeah, the music does sound like that!) was for Inge Buniardi, a very talented young Indonesian pianist now living in Amsterdam. It's based on her initials : A(nastasia) MI (Melania Inge, which should have been Inge Melania) B(uniardi).
2 days ago I received the good news that my good friends Rudy & Liz had a new baby boy, Finnley. Elizabeth Ashford is a flutist and has practically played all my music involving that instrument, and she's had this futile attempt in encouraging me to write for the instrument that I hate the most : the piccolo. But Rudy's email, curiously enough, gave me the idea of writing "Finnley's Fanfare", and unfortunately the initials of the piece's title is "FF", which is the perfect dynamics of a piccolo piece. I was totally stressed with my yet unfinished opera AND the rehearsal of our performance for these days to celebrate the 5th year anniversary of Chendra Panatan and me working together. Luckily I now have this tiny Lenovo laptop --am still fascinated by its really small size and how my operas and other works can fit inside it--, so in bed at 1 a.m after the exhausting rehearsal the whole day I relaxed myself writing the piccolo (and it's also tiny!) piece. I wonder why I always compose much more fluently lying down; is it because my brain receives more blood and therefore more oxygen? Anyway, hope that the number of pieces based on friends' initials will grow, since it's really fun to compose like that. It's like playing sudoku or making anagrams, you know what I mean?
sábado, 26 de diciembre de 2009
Conversation with the poet of "Bibirku Bersujud di Bibirmu"
Sorry that this is only in Indonesian. Commemorating the 5th anniversary of the tsunami disaster in Sumatra (26 Dec 2004), I paste this article here. This article is important for my personal artistic reasons as well. It has been published in many newspapers in Kalimantan (Borneo) and Sumatra, and it's a conversation between me and the poet of "Bibirku Bersujud di Bibirmu", Hasan Aspahani. Here it is:
* Ananda Sukarlan Gubah Sajak Hasan Aspahani
Tajam, Pedih, dan Menggerakkan
Bagaimana dan apa jadinya jika sebuah sajak digubah menjadi sebuah komposisi musik klasik, dan dipadukan pula dengan sebuah tarian? Inilah yang akan terjadi pada tanggal 3 Januari 2010 nanti di Graha Bhakti Budaya, Taman Ismail Marzuki (TIM).
Ananda Sukarlan akan tampil dalam konser bertajuk Jakarta New Year Concert. Ia akan membawakan komposisi yang ia gubah dari sajak Hasan Aspahani "Bibirku Bersujud di Bibirmu". Chendra Panatan, koreografer bereputasi internasional, akan menghiasi konser itu dengan tafsir lain atas sajak itu lewat gerak tari.
"Bukan hanya judul sajak itu yang begitu menyentuh. Seluruh isi sajak itu tajam, pedih dan menggerakkan!" kata Ananda Sukarlan.
Kompisi "Bibirku" terdiri dari dua sesi: pertama, trio untuk piano, alto flute dan biola. Dan bagian kedua, untuk soprano dan piano. Masing-masing bisa dimainkan terpisah. Chenra tampil di bagian pertama.
"Kami tak menyebut tariannya sebagai balet. Karena memang bukan balet. Pokoknya, para penari tampil menyuguhkan gerakan yang kompleks dengan ratusan meter kain properti, yang dengan spektakuler mengesankan gerakan ombak. Ananda Sukarlan bermain dengan dukungan Inez Raharjo pada biola, Elizabeth Ashford pada alto flute, dan Aning Katamsi - penyanyi soprano.
Berikut ini petikan wawancara Hasan Aspahani (HAH) di Batam dengan Ananda Sukarlan (AS) yang menetap di Spanyol, ihwal kerjasama kreatif mereka tersebut.
HAH: Kenapa ya Anda tertarik dengan sajak itu? Saya ingat saya kirimi Anda buku "Orgasmaya.." Ada sajak "Bibirku... " di buku itu. Itukah pertama kali Anda membaca sajak tersebut?
AS: Wah, saya lupa dimana pertama kali baca-nya. Mungkin di buku itu, mungkin dari blog sejuta puisi. Yang saya ingat adalah "kortsleting" yang terjadi di badan saya saat saya membacanya. Kadang-kadang kortsleting itu hanya sebentar terus hilang, tapi dalam kasus "BBDB" itu "setruman"-nya cukup lama, bahkan saat saya sedang utak-atik untuk bikin musik, masih saja terasa.
HAH: Kelihatannya susah ya menafsirkan isi sajak itu ke komposisi musik. Apa saja tantangannya?
AS: Yang susah bukan menafsirkannya. Menafsirkannya itu gampang, bahkan saya bisa bilang bahwa proses ini otomatis, karena ada beberapa puisi yg "bunyi" begitu saya baca (puisi-puisi lain adalah seperti "Dalam Sakit"nya SDD, "The young dead soldiers"nya Archibald MacLeish dll). Ini tidak ada hubungannya dgn panjangnya puisi ataupun struktur dll ... ada puisi yang "bunyi" di dalam diri saya, ada yang tidak.
Yang sulit adalah saat menerjemahkan detail-detail bunyi yang saya dengar. Itu berhubungan dengan teknik komposisinya, bukan penafsiran atau inspirasinya.
Ada bunyi-bunyi yang kompleks, dan tugas seorang komponis adalah menuliskannya untuk "mentransfer"-nya ke para musikus yang nanti memainkan not-not balok itu. Nah, bagaimana supaya bunyi itu bisa direproduksi secara akurat, itu yang sulit. Ini berhubungan dengan progresi harmoni-harmoni yang masih jarang (bahkan belum pernah) saya dengar sebelumnya, dan juga warna dari bunyi itu kan harus ditentukan (oleh karena itu saya menggunakan instrumen alto flute, yang belum pernah dipakai di Indonesia. Mungkin ini adalah karya komponis Indonesia pertama yang menggunakan instrumen ini). Juga hal-hal teknis lain misalnya proses repetitif tapi transformatif dari kata "gelombang".
Itu sama seperti kalau sedang dibaca : diulang-ulang tapi tidak sama intonasinya, kan? Nah, intonasi itu diterjemahkan ke dalam progresi harmoni kalau di dalam musik.
HAH: Berapa lama menggarapnya sampai merasa selesai, beres, pokoknya sampai Anda merasa ada sesuatu dari komposisi itu.
AS: Ada dua proses : sketching, dan kemudian proses menuliskan detailnya. Sketching-nya cepet banget : 1-2 jam setelah (dan sambil) baca puisi itu sudah kelar.
Sebetulnya setelah saya sketch, baru saya bikin beneran beberapa bulan setelahnya, karena banyak hal yang tidak bisa saya tinggalkan. Dengan sketching inspirasi itu tertulis dan jadinya tidak akan terlupakan. Sejak permulaan saya merasa bahwa ini bukan karya yang kecil (bukan hanya dari segi durasi, tapi juga dari kedalaman & kompleksitas ekspresinya).
Saya selalu bawa kertas kemana-mana, karena inspirasi kadang-kadang terjadi pada saat yang tidak tepat, dan kalau tidak saya tulis (walaupun hanya secara garis besar) biasanya akan lupa. Nah, penulisan detailnya itu saya kerjakan on and off, di tengah kesibukan lain, dan juga karena faktor bahwa karya ini cukup panjang dan arah-arahnya cukup "unpredictable". Makanya saya menganggap karya ini penting dalam daftar karya-karya saya (yang sekarang Alhamdulilah jumlahnya ratusan, dan tidak semua sama "pentingnya" buat saya he he ...) karena ada konsep harmoni baru yang buat saya sendiri merupakan suatu "discovery". Ini penting buat saya sendiri dan perkembangan musik saya.
HAH: Bisa sebutkan beberapa contoh karya anda yang "penting" dan juga yang "tidak penting" bagi perkembangan artistik anda ?
AS: Yang penting adalah "Dalam Sakit" (dari puisi Sapardi Djoko Damono), The Young Dead Soldiers (dari puisi Archibald MacLeish) dan Requiescat (karya instrumental untuk english horn dan string quartet). Karya-karya tersebut buat saya adalah references, atau tonggak-tonggak yang menentukan jalannya nilai-nilai artistik saya selanjutnya. Yang tidak penting misalnya musik saya untuk film "Romeo & Juliet" : itu musik yang --walaupun sekarang menjadi cukup populer di antara banyak sekali pianis yang memainkannya karena melodinya "enak didengar"-- saya ciptakan semata-mata untuk menggambarkan emosi dan latar belakang suatu adegan saja. Juga beberapa lagu-lagu pendek yang saya ciptakan misalnya untuk kado ulang tahun teman-teman, dan sebagainya. Anehnya, seperti kasus film R & J itu, banyak musik saya yang tidak penting buat saya tapi justru yang paling populer ....
HAH: Ada juga tarian nanti ditampilkan bersamaan dengan komposisi itu. Kenapa ada kolaborasi begitu? Bagaimana bisa muncul ide memadukan tari dan musik itu?
AS: Saya bercerita tentang musiknya dan kemudian saya mainkan ke Chendra Panatan , koreografer yg saya paling kagumi di Indonesia dan sering bekerjasama dengan saya.
Sebetulnya proses dia sama saja dengan proses saya dgn sebuah puisi. Kalau saya "mendengar" musik dari puisi itu, dia "melihat goyangan" dari musik saya. Ada musik saya yang "menggoyangnya", ada yang tidak, dan kebetulan "Bibirku" secara visual juga sangat "menonjok". Koreografi itu memakai gesture-gesture dan gerakan yang sangat besar, sehingga tubuh penari butuh semacam "extensions", makanya dia akan memakai kain-kain, efek lampu dan lain-lain. Sampai saat ini sih saya belum melihat koreografinya dia (yang masih juga dalam proses, belum selesai), tapi saya yakin efeknya akan sangat luar biasa, bukan hanya sekedar mencengangkan, tapi juga secara emosional sangat dalam.***
* Ananda Sukarlan Gubah Sajak Hasan Aspahani
Tajam, Pedih, dan Menggerakkan
Bagaimana dan apa jadinya jika sebuah sajak digubah menjadi sebuah komposisi musik klasik, dan dipadukan pula dengan sebuah tarian? Inilah yang akan terjadi pada tanggal 3 Januari 2010 nanti di Graha Bhakti Budaya, Taman Ismail Marzuki (TIM).
Ananda Sukarlan akan tampil dalam konser bertajuk Jakarta New Year Concert. Ia akan membawakan komposisi yang ia gubah dari sajak Hasan Aspahani "Bibirku Bersujud di Bibirmu". Chendra Panatan, koreografer bereputasi internasional, akan menghiasi konser itu dengan tafsir lain atas sajak itu lewat gerak tari.
"Bukan hanya judul sajak itu yang begitu menyentuh. Seluruh isi sajak itu tajam, pedih dan menggerakkan!" kata Ananda Sukarlan.
Kompisi "Bibirku" terdiri dari dua sesi: pertama, trio untuk piano, alto flute dan biola. Dan bagian kedua, untuk soprano dan piano. Masing-masing bisa dimainkan terpisah. Chenra tampil di bagian pertama.
"Kami tak menyebut tariannya sebagai balet. Karena memang bukan balet. Pokoknya, para penari tampil menyuguhkan gerakan yang kompleks dengan ratusan meter kain properti, yang dengan spektakuler mengesankan gerakan ombak. Ananda Sukarlan bermain dengan dukungan Inez Raharjo pada biola, Elizabeth Ashford pada alto flute, dan Aning Katamsi - penyanyi soprano.
Berikut ini petikan wawancara Hasan Aspahani (HAH) di Batam dengan Ananda Sukarlan (AS) yang menetap di Spanyol, ihwal kerjasama kreatif mereka tersebut.
HAH: Kenapa ya Anda tertarik dengan sajak itu? Saya ingat saya kirimi Anda buku "Orgasmaya.." Ada sajak "Bibirku... " di buku itu. Itukah pertama kali Anda membaca sajak tersebut?
AS: Wah, saya lupa dimana pertama kali baca-nya. Mungkin di buku itu, mungkin dari blog sejuta puisi. Yang saya ingat adalah "kortsleting" yang terjadi di badan saya saat saya membacanya. Kadang-kadang kortsleting itu hanya sebentar terus hilang, tapi dalam kasus "BBDB" itu "setruman"-nya cukup lama, bahkan saat saya sedang utak-atik untuk bikin musik, masih saja terasa.
HAH: Kelihatannya susah ya menafsirkan isi sajak itu ke komposisi musik. Apa saja tantangannya?
AS: Yang susah bukan menafsirkannya. Menafsirkannya itu gampang, bahkan saya bisa bilang bahwa proses ini otomatis, karena ada beberapa puisi yg "bunyi" begitu saya baca (puisi-puisi lain adalah seperti "Dalam Sakit"nya SDD, "The young dead soldiers"nya Archibald MacLeish dll). Ini tidak ada hubungannya dgn panjangnya puisi ataupun struktur dll ... ada puisi yang "bunyi" di dalam diri saya, ada yang tidak.
Yang sulit adalah saat menerjemahkan detail-detail bunyi yang saya dengar. Itu berhubungan dengan teknik komposisinya, bukan penafsiran atau inspirasinya.
Ada bunyi-bunyi yang kompleks, dan tugas seorang komponis adalah menuliskannya untuk "mentransfer"-nya ke para musikus yang nanti memainkan not-not balok itu. Nah, bagaimana supaya bunyi itu bisa direproduksi secara akurat, itu yang sulit. Ini berhubungan dengan progresi harmoni-harmoni yang masih jarang (bahkan belum pernah) saya dengar sebelumnya, dan juga warna dari bunyi itu kan harus ditentukan (oleh karena itu saya menggunakan instrumen alto flute, yang belum pernah dipakai di Indonesia. Mungkin ini adalah karya komponis Indonesia pertama yang menggunakan instrumen ini). Juga hal-hal teknis lain misalnya proses repetitif tapi transformatif dari kata "gelombang".
Itu sama seperti kalau sedang dibaca : diulang-ulang tapi tidak sama intonasinya, kan? Nah, intonasi itu diterjemahkan ke dalam progresi harmoni kalau di dalam musik.
HAH: Berapa lama menggarapnya sampai merasa selesai, beres, pokoknya sampai Anda merasa ada sesuatu dari komposisi itu.
AS: Ada dua proses : sketching, dan kemudian proses menuliskan detailnya. Sketching-nya cepet banget : 1-2 jam setelah (dan sambil) baca puisi itu sudah kelar.
Sebetulnya setelah saya sketch, baru saya bikin beneran beberapa bulan setelahnya, karena banyak hal yang tidak bisa saya tinggalkan. Dengan sketching inspirasi itu tertulis dan jadinya tidak akan terlupakan. Sejak permulaan saya merasa bahwa ini bukan karya yang kecil (bukan hanya dari segi durasi, tapi juga dari kedalaman & kompleksitas ekspresinya).
Saya selalu bawa kertas kemana-mana, karena inspirasi kadang-kadang terjadi pada saat yang tidak tepat, dan kalau tidak saya tulis (walaupun hanya secara garis besar) biasanya akan lupa. Nah, penulisan detailnya itu saya kerjakan on and off, di tengah kesibukan lain, dan juga karena faktor bahwa karya ini cukup panjang dan arah-arahnya cukup "unpredictable". Makanya saya menganggap karya ini penting dalam daftar karya-karya saya (yang sekarang Alhamdulilah jumlahnya ratusan, dan tidak semua sama "pentingnya" buat saya he he ...) karena ada konsep harmoni baru yang buat saya sendiri merupakan suatu "discovery". Ini penting buat saya sendiri dan perkembangan musik saya.
HAH: Bisa sebutkan beberapa contoh karya anda yang "penting" dan juga yang "tidak penting" bagi perkembangan artistik anda ?
AS: Yang penting adalah "Dalam Sakit" (dari puisi Sapardi Djoko Damono), The Young Dead Soldiers (dari puisi Archibald MacLeish) dan Requiescat (karya instrumental untuk english horn dan string quartet). Karya-karya tersebut buat saya adalah references, atau tonggak-tonggak yang menentukan jalannya nilai-nilai artistik saya selanjutnya. Yang tidak penting misalnya musik saya untuk film "Romeo & Juliet" : itu musik yang --walaupun sekarang menjadi cukup populer di antara banyak sekali pianis yang memainkannya karena melodinya "enak didengar"-- saya ciptakan semata-mata untuk menggambarkan emosi dan latar belakang suatu adegan saja. Juga beberapa lagu-lagu pendek yang saya ciptakan misalnya untuk kado ulang tahun teman-teman, dan sebagainya. Anehnya, seperti kasus film R & J itu, banyak musik saya yang tidak penting buat saya tapi justru yang paling populer ....
HAH: Ada juga tarian nanti ditampilkan bersamaan dengan komposisi itu. Kenapa ada kolaborasi begitu? Bagaimana bisa muncul ide memadukan tari dan musik itu?
AS: Saya bercerita tentang musiknya dan kemudian saya mainkan ke Chendra Panatan , koreografer yg saya paling kagumi di Indonesia dan sering bekerjasama dengan saya.
Sebetulnya proses dia sama saja dengan proses saya dgn sebuah puisi. Kalau saya "mendengar" musik dari puisi itu, dia "melihat goyangan" dari musik saya. Ada musik saya yang "menggoyangnya", ada yang tidak, dan kebetulan "Bibirku" secara visual juga sangat "menonjok". Koreografi itu memakai gesture-gesture dan gerakan yang sangat besar, sehingga tubuh penari butuh semacam "extensions", makanya dia akan memakai kain-kain, efek lampu dan lain-lain. Sampai saat ini sih saya belum melihat koreografinya dia (yang masih juga dalam proses, belum selesai), tapi saya yakin efeknya akan sangat luar biasa, bukan hanya sekedar mencengangkan, tapi juga secara emosional sangat dalam.***
sábado, 14 de noviembre de 2009
The power of your lips
The Jakarta New Year Concert (JNYC) is gonna be in about 45 days from now. Preparations are going well, tickets are selling, and the management team is focusing the publicity on my second cantata "LIBERTAS" as the main course of the program, not only because it is a colossal work, but also the whole management team were impressed when they saw it during its world premiere by its commissioner, Bimasena, last August. It contains famous heroic poems such as Chairil Anwar's "Krawang-Bekasi" and Archibald MacLeish's "The Young Dead Soldiers", and to hear them turned into music is quite a surprising revelation for those who know the poems well. It is quite normal that they hold on to a piece which they know and fascinated with, and firmly believe that it will give a big impact to the audience.
But there is another piece in the program which now I also consider important in my opus, and that is the dance-work "Bibirku Bersujud di Bibirmu". The free translation would be like "My lips bow (or surrender ?) to your lips", or that my lips are conquered by yours. I know, I know, it sounds strange in English, but it is very poetic in Indonesian. And it's not only the title that is so touching; the whole poem is so poignant and moving. It is by an Indonesian poet of about the same age of mine, Hasan Aspahani who I admire so much, have talked to so many times through the internet but still haven't got the pleasure to meet personally. He's told me that he will travel to Jakarta (he lives in Batam Island) to attend the concert (I also set another poem of his, "Palestina" as the second number of LIBERTAS).
"Bibirku" is a virtuosic work that consists of two sections : the first is a trio for piano, alto flute (doubling "normal" flute) and violin, and the second is for soprano & piano (where the poem is set to music). Each section can be performed separately. Chendra Panatan will choreograph the first section. We won't call it a ballet, because it is not. In fact, the dancers will work on complex movements with hundreds of meters of materials, which will spectacularly give the impression of the waves. The poem is about love and destruction and inspired by the great tsunami of Sumatra in 2004. The big form of "Bibirku" is quite straightforward, but the intricate details gave me a hard time in composing it, since I am employing complex harmonic progressions especially for the noisy "tsunami" middle section (what for, you ask? Ain't I missing the point of just making a big noise instead of worrying about the harmonies for it? Yes, but somehow my pretentious artistic intentions make my life even more complicated, he he ...). And those harmonies are in fact quite dissonant and adventurous (especially for such a festive concert like the JNYC !), although it begins and ends with a melodic, expressive and very tonal love music. But I am sure that the Indonesian classical music lovers are prepared for it; at least its visual and choreographic aspect will be quite amazing. You might think that you don't like strange, modern classical music of Bartok or Shostakovich, but then you unconsciously listened to it --and loved it, right?-- in films such as Harry Potter or Sleepy Hollow. And d'you know that Stanley Kubrick used that haunting, eerie and fascinating music of Gyorgy Ligeti in his films, such as 2001 Space Odyssey or Eyes Wide Shut ? Aren't they marvellous?
"Bibirku Bersujud di Bibirmu" will receive its world premiere at the Jakarta New Year concert, January 3rd 2010, by Inez Raharjo -violin, Elizabeth Ashford -alto flute, Aning Katamsi -soprano and myself on the piano
But there is another piece in the program which now I also consider important in my opus, and that is the dance-work "Bibirku Bersujud di Bibirmu". The free translation would be like "My lips bow (or surrender ?) to your lips", or that my lips are conquered by yours. I know, I know, it sounds strange in English, but it is very poetic in Indonesian. And it's not only the title that is so touching; the whole poem is so poignant and moving. It is by an Indonesian poet of about the same age of mine, Hasan Aspahani who I admire so much, have talked to so many times through the internet but still haven't got the pleasure to meet personally. He's told me that he will travel to Jakarta (he lives in Batam Island) to attend the concert (I also set another poem of his, "Palestina" as the second number of LIBERTAS).
"Bibirku" is a virtuosic work that consists of two sections : the first is a trio for piano, alto flute (doubling "normal" flute) and violin, and the second is for soprano & piano (where the poem is set to music). Each section can be performed separately. Chendra Panatan will choreograph the first section. We won't call it a ballet, because it is not. In fact, the dancers will work on complex movements with hundreds of meters of materials, which will spectacularly give the impression of the waves. The poem is about love and destruction and inspired by the great tsunami of Sumatra in 2004. The big form of "Bibirku" is quite straightforward, but the intricate details gave me a hard time in composing it, since I am employing complex harmonic progressions especially for the noisy "tsunami" middle section (what for, you ask? Ain't I missing the point of just making a big noise instead of worrying about the harmonies for it? Yes, but somehow my pretentious artistic intentions make my life even more complicated, he he ...). And those harmonies are in fact quite dissonant and adventurous (especially for such a festive concert like the JNYC !), although it begins and ends with a melodic, expressive and very tonal love music. But I am sure that the Indonesian classical music lovers are prepared for it; at least its visual and choreographic aspect will be quite amazing. You might think that you don't like strange, modern classical music of Bartok or Shostakovich, but then you unconsciously listened to it --and loved it, right?-- in films such as Harry Potter or Sleepy Hollow. And d'you know that Stanley Kubrick used that haunting, eerie and fascinating music of Gyorgy Ligeti in his films, such as 2001 Space Odyssey or Eyes Wide Shut ? Aren't they marvellous?
"Bibirku Bersujud di Bibirmu" will receive its world premiere at the Jakarta New Year concert, January 3rd 2010, by Inez Raharjo -violin, Elizabeth Ashford -alto flute, Aning Katamsi -soprano and myself on the piano
sábado, 4 de abril de 2009
Dichotomy
No, that's not a title of a new piece. It's what I have been thinking these days, writing my new opera.
Let's face it, my (and many of other artist's) taste is not (always) the common public taste. Nobody has heard even one note of my new "pocket opera" IBU (oh, by the way, this word means "Mother"), but many questions, opinions and even protests (!) have been sent to me regarding my article about my creative process (see my previous entry). Most of you expressed concern about this surrealistic idea of mine of writing "unfinished" arias in my new opera. And now that it is 99% finished, I can see that I am truthful to my original idea about "unfinishing" arias, recitatives, even its overture and instrumental intermezzi. Basically, most of your reaction is simply "Hmmm ...Andy, I don't think it's a good idea ..."
"Unfinished" is my way of symbolizing the underlying theme of IBU : What really happened to my son ? And it also expresses this kind of strange sadness. If you have an unanswered (and very important) question in your life, I guess that's what happened. Everything keeps hanging in the air. But one thing is symbolism, another thing is being artistic. Will the public stand an opera, sung by one and only one singer (Aning Katamsi will be spectacular in her singing and acting, I can assure you, but this lasts for 35 minutes non-stop !), singing broken arias all the time ?
But hey, writing with this technique could perhaps make an "Indonesian identity". You see, Indonesian public likes to clap (which is nice, I know. Imagine a public who does NOT like to clap !), especially between movements and even before a piece is finished. I always regret them clapping right before the coda of my song, "Dalam Doaku". This coda was very difficult to write, and I think I succeeded in its timing and placement. But Indonesian public never heard it because they always clap right before the coda arrives ! So, "broken arias" might be a solution to avoid them clapping, he he ...
I have done some "dangerous" artistic experiments in my life. Some failed, some succeeded, as usually happened in any kind of experiments. I lost count on the amount of music I wrote that ended up in my dustbin. The last time I did this kind of experiment was in the film "Romeo & Juliet" by film director Andibachtiar Yusuf, already received its world premiere at the Hongkong International Film Festival a few weeks ago, and due to be premiered in Indonesia on the 25th this month. Some say it's outrageous, some say it's brilliant, but I will let time to tell the ultimate truth. Which means that in a few years time, when I am older (and hopefully wiser) I will look at it again and see whether I did a brilliant thing or I was just exercising an idiocy.
Some artist friends always told me that the public is not my business. But then I believe, with several other artists friends, that I am part of the public. Whatever the truth is, for many many years now I've been holding on to this catchy phrase of my favorite painter Piet Mondriaan : "Art has to be forgotten, beauty must be realized".
World Premiere of "IBU -- yang anaknya diculik itu" will be held at the World Theatre of BIS ( British International School )
Bintaro Jaya Sektor IX, Jl. Raya Jombang
Ciledug, Pondok Aren
Sunday, June 7, 2009 at 4 p.m
Performers will be : Aning Katamsi, soprano as IBU
Elizabeth Ashford, flute
Ananda Sukarlan, piano
BIS Children Choir dan JCOM Children Choir
conducted by Elizabeth Ashford dan Mirta Hartono
Let's face it, my (and many of other artist's) taste is not (always) the common public taste. Nobody has heard even one note of my new "pocket opera" IBU (oh, by the way, this word means "Mother"), but many questions, opinions and even protests (!) have been sent to me regarding my article about my creative process (see my previous entry). Most of you expressed concern about this surrealistic idea of mine of writing "unfinished" arias in my new opera. And now that it is 99% finished, I can see that I am truthful to my original idea about "unfinishing" arias, recitatives, even its overture and instrumental intermezzi. Basically, most of your reaction is simply "Hmmm ...Andy, I don't think it's a good idea ..."
"Unfinished" is my way of symbolizing the underlying theme of IBU : What really happened to my son ? And it also expresses this kind of strange sadness. If you have an unanswered (and very important) question in your life, I guess that's what happened. Everything keeps hanging in the air. But one thing is symbolism, another thing is being artistic. Will the public stand an opera, sung by one and only one singer (Aning Katamsi will be spectacular in her singing and acting, I can assure you, but this lasts for 35 minutes non-stop !), singing broken arias all the time ?
But hey, writing with this technique could perhaps make an "Indonesian identity". You see, Indonesian public likes to clap (which is nice, I know. Imagine a public who does NOT like to clap !), especially between movements and even before a piece is finished. I always regret them clapping right before the coda of my song, "Dalam Doaku". This coda was very difficult to write, and I think I succeeded in its timing and placement. But Indonesian public never heard it because they always clap right before the coda arrives ! So, "broken arias" might be a solution to avoid them clapping, he he ...
I have done some "dangerous" artistic experiments in my life. Some failed, some succeeded, as usually happened in any kind of experiments. I lost count on the amount of music I wrote that ended up in my dustbin. The last time I did this kind of experiment was in the film "Romeo & Juliet" by film director Andibachtiar Yusuf, already received its world premiere at the Hongkong International Film Festival a few weeks ago, and due to be premiered in Indonesia on the 25th this month. Some say it's outrageous, some say it's brilliant, but I will let time to tell the ultimate truth. Which means that in a few years time, when I am older (and hopefully wiser) I will look at it again and see whether I did a brilliant thing or I was just exercising an idiocy.
Some artist friends always told me that the public is not my business. But then I believe, with several other artists friends, that I am part of the public. Whatever the truth is, for many many years now I've been holding on to this catchy phrase of my favorite painter Piet Mondriaan : "Art has to be forgotten, beauty must be realized".
World Premiere of "IBU -- yang anaknya diculik itu" will be held at the World Theatre of BIS ( British International School )
Bintaro Jaya Sektor IX, Jl. Raya Jombang
Ciledug, Pondok Aren
Sunday, June 7, 2009 at 4 p.m
Performers will be : Aning Katamsi, soprano as IBU
Elizabeth Ashford, flute
Ananda Sukarlan, piano
BIS Children Choir dan JCOM Children Choir
conducted by Elizabeth Ashford dan Mirta Hartono
viernes, 26 de diciembre de 2008
Book of faces, Midori and my string quartet
Today, officially the tickets for Java New Year Concert in Jakarta, January 4th are completely SOLD OUT. I would like to congratulate the whole team of JNYC for this. Chendra Panatan, my manager, choreographer, and head of the team of JNYC, has experimented a new method for the publicity for this concert : we don't spend any cent in publicity on newspapers or other mass media. He does it all through the internet, especially facebook. And I must admit, I hated Facebook up till a few weeks ago. Chendra convinced me of facebook a few months ago, by saying that my greatest idol with the great baritone voice, Barack Obama has done a most successful presidential campaign through Facebook. If he does it, then it must be correct.
Preparations are going well. The young pianists who will perform are at their best stamina. My flute and piano piece, "Rescuing Ariadne" was the last piece I rehearsed with. The players will be the English flutist Elizabeth Ashford and the young pianist from Bandung, Alfred Young Sugiri. This 5-minute piece was inspired by the painting of Titian, "Bacchus and Ariadne", hang in the National Gallery of London. Why the title ? Well, because Albert Roussel's Third Symphony (great piece, by the way) is titled as the painting, and I don't want to make a piece with the same title.
The soprano Bernadeta Astari has arrived from Holland, and we performed today at the Federasi Teater Indonesia some of my songs, including the one based on a poem of WS Rendra, Tidurlah Intan. We chatted with him afterwards.
Several days ago the Japanese legendary violinist Midori played my short string quartet "Lontano" with 3 other young musicians (from Singapore, Australia and USA) at the residence of the ambassador of Japan in Jakarta. Her foundation, Music Sharing (based in New York) commissioned it last year and I already finished it before summer this year. After this performance they then toured it to Jogja and Medan, and then to Japan. I didn't have time to rehearse with them beforehand, so I was rather nervous before the concert (and they played Debussy's --which is my all time favorite, adored, admired quartet-- as the last piece, which was the first time I heard live). But then they played so marvellously that they took my breath away. Still, nobody could beat the greatness of Debussy ; I admire that Frenchman more and more thru the years. What a f***ing genius !!
After the New Year Concerts, I will face my biggest challenge : writing music for solo guitar, commissioned by the fantastic Spanish guitarist Miguel Trapaga.
Preparations are going well. The young pianists who will perform are at their best stamina. My flute and piano piece, "Rescuing Ariadne" was the last piece I rehearsed with. The players will be the English flutist Elizabeth Ashford and the young pianist from Bandung, Alfred Young Sugiri. This 5-minute piece was inspired by the painting of Titian, "Bacchus and Ariadne", hang in the National Gallery of London. Why the title ? Well, because Albert Roussel's Third Symphony (great piece, by the way) is titled as the painting, and I don't want to make a piece with the same title.
The soprano Bernadeta Astari has arrived from Holland, and we performed today at the Federasi Teater Indonesia some of my songs, including the one based on a poem of WS Rendra, Tidurlah Intan. We chatted with him afterwards.
Several days ago the Japanese legendary violinist Midori played my short string quartet "Lontano" with 3 other young musicians (from Singapore, Australia and USA) at the residence of the ambassador of Japan in Jakarta. Her foundation, Music Sharing (based in New York) commissioned it last year and I already finished it before summer this year. After this performance they then toured it to Jogja and Medan, and then to Japan. I didn't have time to rehearse with them beforehand, so I was rather nervous before the concert (and they played Debussy's --which is my all time favorite, adored, admired quartet-- as the last piece, which was the first time I heard live). But then they played so marvellously that they took my breath away. Still, nobody could beat the greatness of Debussy ; I admire that Frenchman more and more thru the years. What a f***ing genius !!
After the New Year Concerts, I will face my biggest challenge : writing music for solo guitar, commissioned by the fantastic Spanish guitarist Miguel Trapaga.
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