I am thankful to the piano duo, and duet, and twin sisters Shanti & Sonja Sungkono from Berlin when they thought of, and mentioned my name when they were asked by the Berlin-Jakarta Arts Festival about which composer's music should inaugurate its event. Sonja & Shanti were asked to perform in front of a distinguished audience that include the mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit and the mayor of Jakarta Fauzi Bowo.
When they asked for music which would be a "meeting point" between Berlin and Jakarta I immediately thought of Rudyard Kipling's words : East is east and west is west, and never the twain shall meet". Well, I want to contradict his words, but not with words which I am not good at, but with music. And as a title, I would just use 5 of Kipling's : ".. and the twain shall meet".
It's funny that I can't even say whether I am "east" or "west". Even for this particular piece, I can't pinpoint which "east" element it is; it is gamelan, yes, but which? West or Central Java, or even Bali? The scales are sort of confusing. What I did in "meeting" the east and west is by juxtaposing them both vertically (one pianist is playing the "western" melody" while the other is playing "eastern" figurations accompanying) and structurally; hence there are sections which are clearly "east" or "west". The western part is quite obvious, though also dubious: it is a sort of mix between the Latin-American rhythms and Shakira's (who of course is very Latin American).
It is also rather difficult to make a virtuosic piece for 4 hands on one piano, since both pianists' hands should not bump into each other! Listening to Schubert's fantastic 4-hand piano pieces definitely helps, but not as much as I would like to. And that apparently explains my scarcity of 4-hand repertoire; until now I have just written those short and easy 4-hand "Pieces of cake" pieces to be played with my daughter Alicia. "..and the twain shall meet", after more than 35 years of pianistic life, is my first "real" piece for piano 4-hands!
"..and the twain shall meet" will be performed by Shanti & Sonja Sungkono at Admiralspalast Berlin on the 25th of June at 8 p.m.
lunes, 23 de mayo de 2011
lunes, 9 de mayo de 2011
original interview with Erza S.T. for The Jakarta Post
Erza S.T., founder of Indonesian Opera Society & writer for the newspaper The Jakarta Post interviewed me on my opera Ibu, yang anaknya diculik itu. It was published on April 28th, as usual heavily cut & edited by the newspaper, so I thought to post our original interview here which contains some more information
1. What's the background story of this opera? What inspired you to start composing it?
Many things: first & foremost of course the monologue of Seno Gumira Ajidarma itself which I read in a newspaper back in 2008. After I was commissioned to do an opera of any theme of my choice by the Jakarta Opera (which is a small but significant opera company here in Jakarta) I immediately thought of this. But the idea of writing for just 1 female singer was too crazy at that time, both because it was something quite new not only for me but for the world of music, and second because I didn't really believe that a single singer would be able to do that: singing & acting for 40 minutes non stop.
But as you have seen, Aning Katamsi proved it to be possible. And then there was another example of an opera as such already in the history of music: La Voix Humaine by the French composer Francis Poulenc, which I luckily could witness live at Teatro Real, Madrid, where it was about a lady who was talking on the phone all the time. But even that opera with its similar rich themes of loss, fear & death lasts shorter than my opera.
2. Why do you choose pocket opera as the style of the opera?
The idea of "pocket" opera is an opera which can be carried easily, toured easily (like a "pocket book"). So, since I will write it only for one soprano and nobody else, I am thinking it to be accompanied by a very small group of musicians. In fact, only 2 : piano (myself) and a flute doubling piccolo. I am thinking of its practicality and low budget of its repeated production, and luckily I proved my point in this. In 3 years, this is the 3rd time this opera is produced.
3. Did you revised the opera since its premiere in 2009 for this performance now? Musically no, only Chendra Panatan (the stage, acting and lighting director) changed (I should say "improved") some things.
4. How do you describe the music in this opera? Do use some Indonesian sound in this opera?
People has been describing my music as having "Indonesian sounds written by a composer from another planet" and I think it can be applied here. You can't blame me, in spite of my Indonesian-ness, I've been living in Europe for 23 years! Now with facebook & twitter I am of course much more Indonesian than, say, 10 years ago since I am much more connected (I even know new Indonesian slangs through twitter which some Indonesians themselves don't know!), but the ghosts of European music still hangs around me.
5. Your opera is considered to have a contemporary sound and style to some. What do you think on that comment?
Well it better be. I am trying to express a theme which is very contemporary, and I am aware and do admit that musicians who perform my music were always baffled when they see the music for the first time, since many things in my music are quite new and are not to be found in earlier music, although my music is deeply rooted in those of Mozart, Puccini or Britten -- and Javanese traditional music I absorbed in my first 17 years living in Indonesia.
6. Is there any new opera that you plan to compose?
Oh yes! I love opera, and in fact, like Mozart, the only thing I want to compose in my life are operas. But I know its problems of productions, financially and artistically, so I compose other things in between. Even Mozart, who had a generous patron, couldn't do only operas (thank God for his beautiful piano concertos and sonatas!). But my real passion in music is opera, and my absolute favorite instrument is the human voice. I am working on a prequel of the opera we are talking, this time about the mother 10 years before when her husband was still alive, and it will be about the dialogue between them about their kidnapped son, Satria. It is, naturally enough, called "Satria" and commissioned by the Indonesian Opera Society, and is again based on a play by the same inspirational author, Seno Gumira Ajidarma. His genius lies in writing a play where the real protagonist, Satria, is totally absent on stage. In my opera Satria will be represented by a dancer who doesn't talk nor sing, and will be directed again by Chendra Panatan.
1. What's the background story of this opera? What inspired you to start composing it?
Many things: first & foremost of course the monologue of Seno Gumira Ajidarma itself which I read in a newspaper back in 2008. After I was commissioned to do an opera of any theme of my choice by the Jakarta Opera (which is a small but significant opera company here in Jakarta) I immediately thought of this. But the idea of writing for just 1 female singer was too crazy at that time, both because it was something quite new not only for me but for the world of music, and second because I didn't really believe that a single singer would be able to do that: singing & acting for 40 minutes non stop.
But as you have seen, Aning Katamsi proved it to be possible. And then there was another example of an opera as such already in the history of music: La Voix Humaine by the French composer Francis Poulenc, which I luckily could witness live at Teatro Real, Madrid, where it was about a lady who was talking on the phone all the time. But even that opera with its similar rich themes of loss, fear & death lasts shorter than my opera.
2. Why do you choose pocket opera as the style of the opera?
The idea of "pocket" opera is an opera which can be carried easily, toured easily (like a "pocket book"). So, since I will write it only for one soprano and nobody else, I am thinking it to be accompanied by a very small group of musicians. In fact, only 2 : piano (myself) and a flute doubling piccolo. I am thinking of its practicality and low budget of its repeated production, and luckily I proved my point in this. In 3 years, this is the 3rd time this opera is produced.
3. Did you revised the opera since its premiere in 2009 for this performance now? Musically no, only Chendra Panatan (the stage, acting and lighting director) changed (I should say "improved") some things.
4. How do you describe the music in this opera? Do use some Indonesian sound in this opera?
People has been describing my music as having "Indonesian sounds written by a composer from another planet" and I think it can be applied here. You can't blame me, in spite of my Indonesian-ness, I've been living in Europe for 23 years! Now with facebook & twitter I am of course much more Indonesian than, say, 10 years ago since I am much more connected (I even know new Indonesian slangs through twitter which some Indonesians themselves don't know!), but the ghosts of European music still hangs around me.
5. Your opera is considered to have a contemporary sound and style to some. What do you think on that comment?
Well it better be. I am trying to express a theme which is very contemporary, and I am aware and do admit that musicians who perform my music were always baffled when they see the music for the first time, since many things in my music are quite new and are not to be found in earlier music, although my music is deeply rooted in those of Mozart, Puccini or Britten -- and Javanese traditional music I absorbed in my first 17 years living in Indonesia.
6. Is there any new opera that you plan to compose?
Oh yes! I love opera, and in fact, like Mozart, the only thing I want to compose in my life are operas. But I know its problems of productions, financially and artistically, so I compose other things in between. Even Mozart, who had a generous patron, couldn't do only operas (thank God for his beautiful piano concertos and sonatas!). But my real passion in music is opera, and my absolute favorite instrument is the human voice. I am working on a prequel of the opera we are talking, this time about the mother 10 years before when her husband was still alive, and it will be about the dialogue between them about their kidnapped son, Satria. It is, naturally enough, called "Satria" and commissioned by the Indonesian Opera Society, and is again based on a play by the same inspirational author, Seno Gumira Ajidarma. His genius lies in writing a play where the real protagonist, Satria, is totally absent on stage. In my opera Satria will be represented by a dancer who doesn't talk nor sing, and will be directed again by Chendra Panatan.
sábado, 23 de abril de 2011
Surabaya Singing
A few days ago this article was published in The Jakarta Globe newspaper, edited as usual. Therefore I post here my original writing, unedited and uncut.
It's just unbelievable that in this country of 200 million people there is yet a classical music voice competition of a national scale, while there is an abundance of great vocal soloists and choirs all over the country. There is even the erroneous term "lagu seriosa" (serious songs) for the genre of classical music songs (and sometimes even opera arias), which automatically condemns the other genres (such as jazz, folk music etc) as "not serious". Sometimes it's not even applied to the genre but to a manner of singing, so that one can sing a pop song in a "seriosa" way, i.e. you should wear a Maria Callas (or even Bianca Castafiore?)-like gown and sing in an incomprehensive and loud voice that will break all the glasses around you. It was a myth in this country until very recently that classical music singers should sing words that were not meant to be understood. Just sing high notes, higher than the seventh heaven but still audible to (break the) human ears, and you'd be accepted in the "seriosa" exclusive club of high art.
Therefore it is highly admirable that Surabaya's Amadeus Performing Arts with its director & founder, that hyperactive lady Patrisna May Widuri would organize a competition of a national scale for classical vocalists. They even use the term which I and a handful of Indonesian classical musicians agreed on for this genre, "Tembang Puitik" (Poetic Songs), since most of the songs of Schubert, Mahler, Britten up to yours truly are based on existing poems and not just inventing and repeating texts as happens in pop music, such as "You're beautiful" (repeated to death) and just ends with "it's true". Let's just use this term "Tembang Puitik" for art-songs (I don't even like this English term, as if, hey, that Spanish flamenco passionate singing is not art or what?) of both Indonesian and international for the future, shall we?
In spite of the name, "Ananda Sukarlan Art-song National Competition" (Kompetisi Nasional Tembang Puitik Ananda Sukarlan), this event was neither my idea nor organized by me. It was 100% Amadeus' iniciative. I was there to serve as the head of the judge, and am honoured to sit with the other jury members Aning Katamsi (should she need an introduction, I could only say that she is Indonesia's most prominent soprano of today) and choir conductor-voice expert-former dean of the Music Faculty of the Satya Wacana University of Salatiga, Agastya Rama Listya.
Although joined by 34 highly talented vocalists from all over Indonesia, 2 cities still stood out for the quantity and quality of their singers: Jakarta & Surabaya. Medan follows behind, but it has its shortcomings: they don't have classically trained teachers to polish the singing techniques. The competition's high artistic & musical demands were the reason why it wasn't a target for beginners or "Indonesian Idol" type of singers.
Tembang Puitik Ananda Sukarlan (TPAS) is planned to be a biennal date for vocalists to meet in Surabaya, so the next one will be held in 2013. My name is used, I guess because quantity-wise I am currently the Indonesian composer who has written the most artsongs; more than 100 until now (no, no, this is by no means an achievement at all. Franz Schubert wrote more than 600 before he died at the early age of 31. And they were waaaay better). About 50 of them were sung by the participants during that weekend.
The competition was split into 2 categories : Professional and Non Professional, and the non-pro one was again split into 4 categories : Junior, Senior Male, Senior Female and Senior 2 (which meant to accomodate singers above 40 but turned out to be not so effective, since there were only 2 participants in this category. We, above 40, have lost the spirit of competitivity, I guess! The organizer, with the consent of the artistic board decided to keep this category to maintain the spirit of tirelessly learning and perfecting the techniques even at this age).
One groundbreaking thing I would like to mention is the way TPAS was introduced, socialized and managed by Amadeus. It was done almost exclusively by the social media, Facebook and Twitter. Since this does not involve a highly lucrative genre of music, most conventional media such as the newspaper, let alone TV stations turned their back on this event. The results of the competition were also announced in real time through twitter while I was announcing the results (both semifinal and final) to a live audience of just a few hundreds at the Petra University Auditorium. This time I let my twitter account @anandasukarlan being "hacked" by them, since among all of us involved I have the dubious honour of having the most followers. But I can assure you that only those few crucial minutes in my tweeting career that "my" tweets were typed by someone else since it would be annoying to the public listening to me reading the results on stage and tweeting at the same time. Apart from those moments my tweets are like my music, typed by my very own 10 fingers. Those tweets of "mine" during the announcement were then numerously retweeted all over the country, and that made me believe that twitter, not a dog, is man's best friend if he loves classical music and arts in this country.
This event, followed minute by minute by literally thousands of classical music lovers throughout the country through social media hopefully demonstrated how badly needed a concert hall is in Surabaya, even a small, decent and simple one. My heart broke when the tenor Ivan Jonathan who turned out to perform excellently had to stop and waited for more than half an hour due to the noise of the heavy rain .. and the electricity failure that "naturally" followed it. One should remember that during that period of waiting he should be always prepared to perform any minute just when the rain stopped and the lights went on, and maintaining that kind of artistic awareness in a tough competition like this is a thing which is not at all to be taken lightly.
As there are 5 categories, so there are 5 first winners in this competition, but for me personally 3 vocalists stood out -- the tenor Adi Nugroho, soprano Indah Pristanti and the coloratura soprano Evelyn Merrelita, each won first prizes in their respective categories. However, since Adi Nugroho won the best interpretation of all my works, he receives the honour (if one calls it so) of giving concerts singing my works organized by my management , accompanied --unfortunately stressful for him, I believe-- by myself.
This has been a big classical music landmark, not only in Surabaya but also nationally. It has certainly put Surabaya on the map. And in our hearts.
-----
The complete list of winners of Tembang Puitik Ananda Sukarlan National Voice Competition are :
Professional : 1. Evelyn Merrelita 2. Eriyani Tenga Lunga 3. Pharel Silaban
Non professional, cat. JUNIOR : 1. Theodora A. Beatrice 2. Vallerie Chr. Gunawan 3. A. James Sofyan
SENIOR 1 Female: 1. Indah Pristanti 2. Christine M. Tambunan 3. tied between Agatha Stella & Mariska Setiawan
SENIOR 1 Male: 1. Adi Nugroho 2. Ivan Jonathan 3. Anggana Bunawan
SENIOR 2 (over 40 years): 1. Linda Hartono 2. Natalis Sidhanta
Best interpretation & understanding of the music of Ananda Sukarlan : Adi Nugroho
It's just unbelievable that in this country of 200 million people there is yet a classical music voice competition of a national scale, while there is an abundance of great vocal soloists and choirs all over the country. There is even the erroneous term "lagu seriosa" (serious songs) for the genre of classical music songs (and sometimes even opera arias), which automatically condemns the other genres (such as jazz, folk music etc) as "not serious". Sometimes it's not even applied to the genre but to a manner of singing, so that one can sing a pop song in a "seriosa" way, i.e. you should wear a Maria Callas (or even Bianca Castafiore?)-like gown and sing in an incomprehensive and loud voice that will break all the glasses around you. It was a myth in this country until very recently that classical music singers should sing words that were not meant to be understood. Just sing high notes, higher than the seventh heaven but still audible to (break the) human ears, and you'd be accepted in the "seriosa" exclusive club of high art.
Therefore it is highly admirable that Surabaya's Amadeus Performing Arts with its director & founder, that hyperactive lady Patrisna May Widuri would organize a competition of a national scale for classical vocalists. They even use the term which I and a handful of Indonesian classical musicians agreed on for this genre, "Tembang Puitik" (Poetic Songs), since most of the songs of Schubert, Mahler, Britten up to yours truly are based on existing poems and not just inventing and repeating texts as happens in pop music, such as "You're beautiful" (repeated to death) and just ends with "it's true". Let's just use this term "Tembang Puitik" for art-songs (I don't even like this English term, as if, hey, that Spanish flamenco passionate singing is not art or what?) of both Indonesian and international for the future, shall we?
In spite of the name, "Ananda Sukarlan Art-song National Competition" (Kompetisi Nasional Tembang Puitik Ananda Sukarlan), this event was neither my idea nor organized by me. It was 100% Amadeus' iniciative. I was there to serve as the head of the judge, and am honoured to sit with the other jury members Aning Katamsi (should she need an introduction, I could only say that she is Indonesia's most prominent soprano of today) and choir conductor-voice expert-former dean of the Music Faculty of the Satya Wacana University of Salatiga, Agastya Rama Listya.
Although joined by 34 highly talented vocalists from all over Indonesia, 2 cities still stood out for the quantity and quality of their singers: Jakarta & Surabaya. Medan follows behind, but it has its shortcomings: they don't have classically trained teachers to polish the singing techniques. The competition's high artistic & musical demands were the reason why it wasn't a target for beginners or "Indonesian Idol" type of singers.
Tembang Puitik Ananda Sukarlan (TPAS) is planned to be a biennal date for vocalists to meet in Surabaya, so the next one will be held in 2013. My name is used, I guess because quantity-wise I am currently the Indonesian composer who has written the most artsongs; more than 100 until now (no, no, this is by no means an achievement at all. Franz Schubert wrote more than 600 before he died at the early age of 31. And they were waaaay better). About 50 of them were sung by the participants during that weekend.
The competition was split into 2 categories : Professional and Non Professional, and the non-pro one was again split into 4 categories : Junior, Senior Male, Senior Female and Senior 2 (which meant to accomodate singers above 40 but turned out to be not so effective, since there were only 2 participants in this category. We, above 40, have lost the spirit of competitivity, I guess! The organizer, with the consent of the artistic board decided to keep this category to maintain the spirit of tirelessly learning and perfecting the techniques even at this age).
One groundbreaking thing I would like to mention is the way TPAS was introduced, socialized and managed by Amadeus. It was done almost exclusively by the social media, Facebook and Twitter. Since this does not involve a highly lucrative genre of music, most conventional media such as the newspaper, let alone TV stations turned their back on this event. The results of the competition were also announced in real time through twitter while I was announcing the results (both semifinal and final) to a live audience of just a few hundreds at the Petra University Auditorium. This time I let my twitter account @anandasukarlan being "hacked" by them, since among all of us involved I have the dubious honour of having the most followers. But I can assure you that only those few crucial minutes in my tweeting career that "my" tweets were typed by someone else since it would be annoying to the public listening to me reading the results on stage and tweeting at the same time. Apart from those moments my tweets are like my music, typed by my very own 10 fingers. Those tweets of "mine" during the announcement were then numerously retweeted all over the country, and that made me believe that twitter, not a dog, is man's best friend if he loves classical music and arts in this country.
This event, followed minute by minute by literally thousands of classical music lovers throughout the country through social media hopefully demonstrated how badly needed a concert hall is in Surabaya, even a small, decent and simple one. My heart broke when the tenor Ivan Jonathan who turned out to perform excellently had to stop and waited for more than half an hour due to the noise of the heavy rain .. and the electricity failure that "naturally" followed it. One should remember that during that period of waiting he should be always prepared to perform any minute just when the rain stopped and the lights went on, and maintaining that kind of artistic awareness in a tough competition like this is a thing which is not at all to be taken lightly.
As there are 5 categories, so there are 5 first winners in this competition, but for me personally 3 vocalists stood out -- the tenor Adi Nugroho, soprano Indah Pristanti and the coloratura soprano Evelyn Merrelita, each won first prizes in their respective categories. However, since Adi Nugroho won the best interpretation of all my works, he receives the honour (if one calls it so) of giving concerts singing my works organized by my management , accompanied --unfortunately stressful for him, I believe-- by myself.
This has been a big classical music landmark, not only in Surabaya but also nationally. It has certainly put Surabaya on the map. And in our hearts.
-----
The complete list of winners of Tembang Puitik Ananda Sukarlan National Voice Competition are :
Professional : 1. Evelyn Merrelita 2. Eriyani Tenga Lunga 3. Pharel Silaban
Non professional, cat. JUNIOR : 1. Theodora A. Beatrice 2. Vallerie Chr. Gunawan 3. A. James Sofyan
SENIOR 1 Female: 1. Indah Pristanti 2. Christine M. Tambunan 3. tied between Agatha Stella & Mariska Setiawan
SENIOR 1 Male: 1. Adi Nugroho 2. Ivan Jonathan 3. Anggana Bunawan
SENIOR 2 (over 40 years): 1. Linda Hartono 2. Natalis Sidhanta
Best interpretation & understanding of the music of Ananda Sukarlan : Adi Nugroho
sábado, 26 de marzo de 2011
Eternal-Liz yours
As a huge admirer of the late Michael Jackson, inevitably I also admire Elizabeth “Liz” Taylor too, who remained as an idol for MJ until his death. Now that Liz died last week, and here I am alone in my hotel room in Madrid for a concert of Santiago Lanchares’ piano music on Sunday, March 27th, I feel like blogging on my thoughts on the American diva, though this is through the ideas of the absolute, irreplaceable idol of mine, Andy Warhol.
Liz Taylor, Marilyn Monroe & Jacqueline Onassis/Kennedy were the 3 icons of the 20th century, and Warhol had immortalized them in his creations. There are no royalties in the USA, but if there were, those 3 would be bestowed with those royal titles. The 3 divas achieved their aim to acclaim independence & equality of the female sex in a world of male domination. We all, with great intensity, love and hate those 3 divas, and they were the prelude of what Warhol called “the 15 minutes of fame”. Their struggle can best described in that catchy Pet Shop Boys song: “We’re shameless, we would do anything to get our 15 minutes of fame”. In case of the 3 divas, those 15 minutes were repeated constantly until the moment of their death. It was more difficult for them then, since there were no facebook and twitter as instruments to achieve popularity. Without them there would be no such madnesses of today’s Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan and now it’s Justin Bieber. The iconic (if not fakely ridiculous) couples of today such as the Beckhams, Brangelina and Penelope/Javier (and even Cruise/Kidman tried, but failed) would not have existed if not modeled on Richard Burton-Liz Taylor, perhaps the most fascinating couple of the last century. Liz defied everything, from gossips to gravity with her numerous plastic surgeries, both on her face and on the story of her life.
Nothing went incalculated in the life of Liz Taylor; she planned every minute detail except her death. What will stay in our memories will be her natural ability to survive and flourish as a woman in a world of men, and as a celebrity unlike Beethoven, Van Gogh or Shakespeare we will remember her as who she was instead of what she had done. Shakespeare created great works of art, Liz Taylor was and will remain the work of art herself. Requiescat in Pace, Liz.
Liz Taylor, Marilyn Monroe & Jacqueline Onassis/Kennedy were the 3 icons of the 20th century, and Warhol had immortalized them in his creations. There are no royalties in the USA, but if there were, those 3 would be bestowed with those royal titles. The 3 divas achieved their aim to acclaim independence & equality of the female sex in a world of male domination. We all, with great intensity, love and hate those 3 divas, and they were the prelude of what Warhol called “the 15 minutes of fame”. Their struggle can best described in that catchy Pet Shop Boys song: “We’re shameless, we would do anything to get our 15 minutes of fame”. In case of the 3 divas, those 15 minutes were repeated constantly until the moment of their death. It was more difficult for them then, since there were no facebook and twitter as instruments to achieve popularity. Without them there would be no such madnesses of today’s Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan and now it’s Justin Bieber. The iconic (if not fakely ridiculous) couples of today such as the Beckhams, Brangelina and Penelope/Javier (and even Cruise/Kidman tried, but failed) would not have existed if not modeled on Richard Burton-Liz Taylor, perhaps the most fascinating couple of the last century. Liz defied everything, from gossips to gravity with her numerous plastic surgeries, both on her face and on the story of her life.
Nothing went incalculated in the life of Liz Taylor; she planned every minute detail except her death. What will stay in our memories will be her natural ability to survive and flourish as a woman in a world of men, and as a celebrity unlike Beethoven, Van Gogh or Shakespeare we will remember her as who she was instead of what she had done. Shakespeare created great works of art, Liz Taylor was and will remain the work of art herself. Requiescat in Pace, Liz.
viernes, 25 de marzo de 2011
Satu satu, Aku sayang Ibu, yang anaknya diculik itu
I am writing this entry in Indonesian, since you will have to know (a bit of) Indonesian anyway if you wanna see my opera, "Ibu, yang anaknya diculik itu". But as google translator is getting more sophisticated nowadays, I kindly ask you to use that device if you wanna read this anyway (and am thankful for it).
Tanggal 16 & 17 April ini opera saya "Ibu, yang anaknya diculik itu" akan dipagelarkan lagi dengan soprano yang memperdanakannya 2 tahun yg lalu, Aning Katamsi yang dengan spektakulernya menggali segala macam emosi selama 40 menit durasinya. Sigmund Freud akan dengan antusias menganalisa keadaan Aning setelah dia selesai pagelaran!
Opera ini saya berani tulis setelah saya menonton operanya Francis Poulenc, "La Voix Humaine" yang juga ditulis hanya untuk 1 soprano saja. Voix Humaine ditulis juga berdasarkan sebuah monolog dari Jean Cocteau, tapi Poulenc dan Cocteau ada satu "advantage" yang saya tidak miliki: monolog mereka adalah seorang wanita yang "berbicara lewat telpon". Sedangkan opera saya adalah benar2 monolog seorang ibu, menceritakan banyak hal (termasuk juga menerima & berbicara lewat telpon selama beberapa menit). Jadi benar-benar monolog, bukan dialog (walaupun imajiner, lewat telpon).
Waktu itu saya kira saya akan membuat kesalahan, baik dalam proses komposisi maupun secara konseptual, karena ini sangat "experimental" buat saya : membuat musik untuk 1 soprano saja yang terus bernyanyi dan menguras tenaga selama 40 menit (hanya dengan 4 menit intermezzo di tengah, dimana sang soprano bisa keluar sebentar sementara saya dan pemain flute bermain intermezzonya). Tapi Aning Katamsi benar2 berkomitmen tinggi, dan walaupun saya tetap merasa bersalah membuat musik yang kadang-kadang ritme dan interval-intervalnya cukup ... ehm ... tidak begitu konvensional, saya tidak merevisi apa-apa lagi dari partiturnya. Kalaupun ada hal-hal yang saya tidak puas, biarkanlah ini menjadi dokumen dari "kebodohan" saya di tahun 2009. Apalagi untuk mengubah beberapa hal berarti meminta Aning untuk mempelajari hal-hal baru, dan dia sudah "rela" (oh ya?) untuk mempelajari hal-hal yang mungkin bisa disederhanakan atau diperbaiki. Jika saya harus menulis sebuah pocket opera berdasarkan monolog lagi, saya akan membuatnya dengan cara lain. Bagaimanapun, penulisan setiap karya adalah suatu proses pembelajaran buat saya, dan walaupun itu tidak menjamin bahwa karya berikutnya akan lebih baik, paling tidak saya belajar apa yang TIDAK akan saya lakukan di karya berikut. Mozart atau Britten pun tetap merelakan karya-karya awal mereka (yang juga penuh dengan hal-hal yang tidak memuaskan mereka sendiri) untuk diterbitkan. "A poem is never finished; it is just abandoned", kata penulis Paul Valery. Ganti saja kata "poem" dengan "piece of music" dan anda mengerti apa yang saya maksud. Kalau tidak begitu, setiap seniman hanya akan berkutat dengan satu karya saja seumur hidup!
Saya telah banyak bercerita tentang proses penulisan opera ini di blog ini, dalam bahasa Inggris (maaf saya kok lebih merasa mudah menulis dalam bahasa Inggris, walaupun grammarnya mungkin ada yang jeblok). Silakan cek di bulan Maret & April 2009 saja, atau silakan klik kata-kata yang menjadi "tag" dari artikel ini (IBU atau Aning Katamsi).
Ibu, yang anaknya diculik itu, akan dipagelarkan lagi tgl 16 & 17 April di Auditorium Bank Indonesia, Jakarta dengan para pemain yang sama. Selain Aning, Liz Ashford juga akan mendampingi saya dengan flute dan piccolo-nya, serta kami bersama-sama bermain beberapa instrumen perkusi juga. Silakan cek www.musik-sastra.com untuk info lengkapnya.
Tanggal 16 & 17 April ini opera saya "Ibu, yang anaknya diculik itu" akan dipagelarkan lagi dengan soprano yang memperdanakannya 2 tahun yg lalu, Aning Katamsi yang dengan spektakulernya menggali segala macam emosi selama 40 menit durasinya. Sigmund Freud akan dengan antusias menganalisa keadaan Aning setelah dia selesai pagelaran!
Opera ini saya berani tulis setelah saya menonton operanya Francis Poulenc, "La Voix Humaine" yang juga ditulis hanya untuk 1 soprano saja. Voix Humaine ditulis juga berdasarkan sebuah monolog dari Jean Cocteau, tapi Poulenc dan Cocteau ada satu "advantage" yang saya tidak miliki: monolog mereka adalah seorang wanita yang "berbicara lewat telpon". Sedangkan opera saya adalah benar2 monolog seorang ibu, menceritakan banyak hal (termasuk juga menerima & berbicara lewat telpon selama beberapa menit). Jadi benar-benar monolog, bukan dialog (walaupun imajiner, lewat telpon).
Waktu itu saya kira saya akan membuat kesalahan, baik dalam proses komposisi maupun secara konseptual, karena ini sangat "experimental" buat saya : membuat musik untuk 1 soprano saja yang terus bernyanyi dan menguras tenaga selama 40 menit (hanya dengan 4 menit intermezzo di tengah, dimana sang soprano bisa keluar sebentar sementara saya dan pemain flute bermain intermezzonya). Tapi Aning Katamsi benar2 berkomitmen tinggi, dan walaupun saya tetap merasa bersalah membuat musik yang kadang-kadang ritme dan interval-intervalnya cukup ... ehm ... tidak begitu konvensional, saya tidak merevisi apa-apa lagi dari partiturnya. Kalaupun ada hal-hal yang saya tidak puas, biarkanlah ini menjadi dokumen dari "kebodohan" saya di tahun 2009. Apalagi untuk mengubah beberapa hal berarti meminta Aning untuk mempelajari hal-hal baru, dan dia sudah "rela" (oh ya?) untuk mempelajari hal-hal yang mungkin bisa disederhanakan atau diperbaiki. Jika saya harus menulis sebuah pocket opera berdasarkan monolog lagi, saya akan membuatnya dengan cara lain. Bagaimanapun, penulisan setiap karya adalah suatu proses pembelajaran buat saya, dan walaupun itu tidak menjamin bahwa karya berikutnya akan lebih baik, paling tidak saya belajar apa yang TIDAK akan saya lakukan di karya berikut. Mozart atau Britten pun tetap merelakan karya-karya awal mereka (yang juga penuh dengan hal-hal yang tidak memuaskan mereka sendiri) untuk diterbitkan. "A poem is never finished; it is just abandoned", kata penulis Paul Valery. Ganti saja kata "poem" dengan "piece of music" dan anda mengerti apa yang saya maksud. Kalau tidak begitu, setiap seniman hanya akan berkutat dengan satu karya saja seumur hidup!
Saya telah banyak bercerita tentang proses penulisan opera ini di blog ini, dalam bahasa Inggris (maaf saya kok lebih merasa mudah menulis dalam bahasa Inggris, walaupun grammarnya mungkin ada yang jeblok). Silakan cek di bulan Maret & April 2009 saja, atau silakan klik kata-kata yang menjadi "tag" dari artikel ini (IBU atau Aning Katamsi).
Ibu, yang anaknya diculik itu, akan dipagelarkan lagi tgl 16 & 17 April di Auditorium Bank Indonesia, Jakarta dengan para pemain yang sama. Selain Aning, Liz Ashford juga akan mendampingi saya dengan flute dan piccolo-nya, serta kami bersama-sama bermain beberapa instrumen perkusi juga. Silakan cek www.musik-sastra.com untuk info lengkapnya.
jueves, 17 de marzo de 2011
1 minute for Japan
One minute can last a lifetime. And life can change completely in one minute, whether it's love at first sight ... or death. As I did with my previous piece which last for even less than a minute, the Theme for Eric & Ananda Classical Eve, I now write again for my newest one, 1 minute for Japan.
Just as Spain was commemorating the March 11 terrorist attack (and I tweeted about it in the morning of that date still in bed of my hotel room in Zaragoza; you can check my twitter timeline on that date), a huge earthquake (which turned out to be the 5th most powerful since earthquakes could be measured) and the tsunami as its consequence happened in northern Japan. I first learned about it from several tweets just after I finished tweeting about the Madrid bombing commemoration, but as the tweets got more intense, so I turned on the television. And what I saw was (an unfortunate) history.
Those days I was rehearsing with the orchestra of Cadaques; we were preparing the weird but attractive Concertino for piano & ensemble by Czech composer Leos Janacek, as well as "Bitacora", a fascinating piece for piano & strings by Spanish composer Jesus Rueda. After we performed them in Zaragoza we all travelled together by train to Madrid (Zaragoza is 1,5 hours by fast train from Madrid). On the train, 2 days after the tsunami happened, I watched on TV the terrible impact it did to the Japanese people, land and most scaringly to the nuclear reactors. Not as usual travellings with companeros musicians full of laughs & jokes, this time was a somber one; we all watched TV and talked about it. All those sufferings triggered a melancholic feeling, so I took off my earphones and isolated myself to an empty seat at the back since something in my head started to sound. It turned out to be a simple melody, and even its instrumentation isn't so exact. So I wrote it down, and "1 minute for Japan" became a tune with an accompaniment of just long notes underneath it. The first version of it is for piano left hand alone, and I might use it as a material for a bigger piece in the future.
At home several days later I copied it neatly and played it on the piano. It sounded like a strange Japanese not-so-Dorian mode. I guess the very Spanish landscape of grassy plain savannas outside the train window did influence something on the piece. There is a kind of Copland-esque open-air-ness in it. Again, as in my observation with my other pieces, this one scarily reflected candidly what I felt at that time, which couldn't be expressed by words.
Although not written in the score, I had in mind while writing "1 minute for Japan" my Japanese musician friends who have worked with me in the past, such as pianist Kazuha Nakagara who premiered 2 of my Etudes (and yes, I will keep my promise to write a 6th etude for her) and Midori Goto, the world famous violinist who commissioned and performed many times my 5-minute string quartet "Lontano", as well as many other dear Japanese friends. The real dedicatees of my piece are obviously the numerous victims out there in Japan. I would like to ask the listeners of "1 minute for Japan" to pray during the duration of the piece (which turned out to be just a bit more than 1 minute) for the souls of the victims. That's the least we can do to them. So they can Rest in Peace.
I think the score of 1 minute for Japan will be included in "Alicia's Second Piano Book", but I am giving it for free to anyone who wants to play it. Just tweet me at @anandasukarlan .
Just as Spain was commemorating the March 11 terrorist attack (and I tweeted about it in the morning of that date still in bed of my hotel room in Zaragoza; you can check my twitter timeline on that date), a huge earthquake (which turned out to be the 5th most powerful since earthquakes could be measured) and the tsunami as its consequence happened in northern Japan. I first learned about it from several tweets just after I finished tweeting about the Madrid bombing commemoration, but as the tweets got more intense, so I turned on the television. And what I saw was (an unfortunate) history.
Those days I was rehearsing with the orchestra of Cadaques; we were preparing the weird but attractive Concertino for piano & ensemble by Czech composer Leos Janacek, as well as "Bitacora", a fascinating piece for piano & strings by Spanish composer Jesus Rueda. After we performed them in Zaragoza we all travelled together by train to Madrid (Zaragoza is 1,5 hours by fast train from Madrid). On the train, 2 days after the tsunami happened, I watched on TV the terrible impact it did to the Japanese people, land and most scaringly to the nuclear reactors. Not as usual travellings with companeros musicians full of laughs & jokes, this time was a somber one; we all watched TV and talked about it. All those sufferings triggered a melancholic feeling, so I took off my earphones and isolated myself to an empty seat at the back since something in my head started to sound. It turned out to be a simple melody, and even its instrumentation isn't so exact. So I wrote it down, and "1 minute for Japan" became a tune with an accompaniment of just long notes underneath it. The first version of it is for piano left hand alone, and I might use it as a material for a bigger piece in the future.
At home several days later I copied it neatly and played it on the piano. It sounded like a strange Japanese not-so-Dorian mode. I guess the very Spanish landscape of grassy plain savannas outside the train window did influence something on the piece. There is a kind of Copland-esque open-air-ness in it. Again, as in my observation with my other pieces, this one scarily reflected candidly what I felt at that time, which couldn't be expressed by words.
Although not written in the score, I had in mind while writing "1 minute for Japan" my Japanese musician friends who have worked with me in the past, such as pianist Kazuha Nakagara who premiered 2 of my Etudes (and yes, I will keep my promise to write a 6th etude for her) and Midori Goto, the world famous violinist who commissioned and performed many times my 5-minute string quartet "Lontano", as well as many other dear Japanese friends. The real dedicatees of my piece are obviously the numerous victims out there in Japan. I would like to ask the listeners of "1 minute for Japan" to pray during the duration of the piece (which turned out to be just a bit more than 1 minute) for the souls of the victims. That's the least we can do to them. So they can Rest in Peace.
I think the score of 1 minute for Japan will be included in "Alicia's Second Piano Book", but I am giving it for free to anyone who wants to play it. Just tweet me at @anandasukarlan .
jueves, 10 de marzo de 2011
Defining, defying, divine?
I am, honestly, deeply thankful for all your interest with our radio program at Delta FM, and really am very sorry for not being able to answer each one your questions and respond your comments to my twitter account @anandasukarlan . Please don't think that I answer only the questions that I like to, or worth answering, or other reasons. Well, there is one reason that I answer some questions at twitter, and that is because it can be answered in less than 140 characters. Some of your questions need really elaborate answers and I'll try to answer them in the radio program. And please, don't give up tweeting me and listening to our program because you thought I am ignoring you. When you went to the toilet during the program, it was when most probably I was responding your question!
One quite common "misunderstanding" among some new listeners (hopefully turn out to be future fans) of classical music is to think that composers wrote only a few works. Very wrong, folks. Usually a composer produces hundreds of works (and in case of Johann Sebastian Bach or Franz Liszt, thousands!), but it's true that his reputation lies in a handful of pieces of music. Ravel didn't only write Bolero, and neither you can say that it is his best work. It is his most popular, yes, and of course as any works of his, it's incredibly of high artistic quality. But note this: many times, a composer's best works are those which are not the most popular.
Composers cannot be pigeonholed with their "genre" of works either. Tschaikovsky wrote not only ballet music (such as The Nutcracker or Swan Lake) but many many songs, piano pieces and 6 symphonies among others. John Williams doesn't write only film music, he wrote great concertos (for violin, harp etc) and other orchestral works. Verdi and Puccini didn't write only operas. And in my case, some singers think I only write works for voice (which indeed take a big portion of my production: I wrote some 100 songs and 2 cantatas and 2 and a half operas) and some pianists think I write only Rapsodia Nusantara pieces (it's 8 and a half at the moment, only). Aaand, I wrote many many chamber music, for violin, viola, cello, flute, oboe, bassoon, string quartets, as well as choir works.
So, I don't think one has the right to call himself a composer by writing a handful of pieces. Not even with the case of Ignace Jan Paderewski who was the Prime Minister of Poland. He was, first and foremost a pianist and composer. OK, ok, his production went down drastically after he was elected Prime Minister, but before that he was extremely productive.
The same case with an instrumentalist, a pianist for example. One can't claim to be a professional pianist by having a repertory of, say, the same program for recitals and 2 (or even one!) piano concertos. In my case, I have played at least 20 piano concertos, and that's the least quantity of concertos a pianist should have in his hands. My colleagues usually have more than that in their hands. I have a good excuse: I compose too, so half of my time is dedicated to composition! Hehe .. good excuse eh? A composer, a pianist or whatever is like an architect, a medical doctor. It is a PROFESSION, and like in any profession, we do it almost on a daily basis, and therefore we inevitably produce a lot. It can be a lot of rubbish (as in my case!), but that's what you call luck. It's not a thing we do "in our spare time".The best works are struck with luck which we like to call inspiration. And luck or inspiration or whatever you call it doesn't come everyday. But we have to fulfill the needs of those commissioners, whether they are institutions, musicians or whoever who need our music and so we just gotta put our asses to work. No excuses.
Therefore usually composers bring a notebook with us everywhere. That flash of luck can come anywhere anytime, and that's when we write it down, whether in the middle of our sleep, in a dream, in the toilet, on an airplane etc. That thing we scribble down will be used in our works. And I always spare some "boring" tasks such as filling up orchestrations or making a neat score for my "unlucky" days.
Oh dear, I am revealing all the secrets behind the glamour of being an artist, eh? It turns out that we are just simply workers, like most of the rest of the mortals. No mystery anymore in our tasks. No divine involvement. It's so very human. We are not those incurable romantics, daydreaming and doing what we like. Now, do you still think we are special? A work of art is a product of 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration, we always say. What a disappointment, eh?
One quite common "misunderstanding" among some new listeners (hopefully turn out to be future fans) of classical music is to think that composers wrote only a few works. Very wrong, folks. Usually a composer produces hundreds of works (and in case of Johann Sebastian Bach or Franz Liszt, thousands!), but it's true that his reputation lies in a handful of pieces of music. Ravel didn't only write Bolero, and neither you can say that it is his best work. It is his most popular, yes, and of course as any works of his, it's incredibly of high artistic quality. But note this: many times, a composer's best works are those which are not the most popular.
Composers cannot be pigeonholed with their "genre" of works either. Tschaikovsky wrote not only ballet music (such as The Nutcracker or Swan Lake) but many many songs, piano pieces and 6 symphonies among others. John Williams doesn't write only film music, he wrote great concertos (for violin, harp etc) and other orchestral works. Verdi and Puccini didn't write only operas. And in my case, some singers think I only write works for voice (which indeed take a big portion of my production: I wrote some 100 songs and 2 cantatas and 2 and a half operas) and some pianists think I write only Rapsodia Nusantara pieces (it's 8 and a half at the moment, only). Aaand, I wrote many many chamber music, for violin, viola, cello, flute, oboe, bassoon, string quartets, as well as choir works.
So, I don't think one has the right to call himself a composer by writing a handful of pieces. Not even with the case of Ignace Jan Paderewski who was the Prime Minister of Poland. He was, first and foremost a pianist and composer. OK, ok, his production went down drastically after he was elected Prime Minister, but before that he was extremely productive.
The same case with an instrumentalist, a pianist for example. One can't claim to be a professional pianist by having a repertory of, say, the same program for recitals and 2 (or even one!) piano concertos. In my case, I have played at least 20 piano concertos, and that's the least quantity of concertos a pianist should have in his hands. My colleagues usually have more than that in their hands. I have a good excuse: I compose too, so half of my time is dedicated to composition! Hehe .. good excuse eh? A composer, a pianist or whatever is like an architect, a medical doctor. It is a PROFESSION, and like in any profession, we do it almost on a daily basis, and therefore we inevitably produce a lot. It can be a lot of rubbish (as in my case!), but that's what you call luck. It's not a thing we do "in our spare time".The best works are struck with luck which we like to call inspiration. And luck or inspiration or whatever you call it doesn't come everyday. But we have to fulfill the needs of those commissioners, whether they are institutions, musicians or whoever who need our music and so we just gotta put our asses to work. No excuses.
Therefore usually composers bring a notebook with us everywhere. That flash of luck can come anywhere anytime, and that's when we write it down, whether in the middle of our sleep, in a dream, in the toilet, on an airplane etc. That thing we scribble down will be used in our works. And I always spare some "boring" tasks such as filling up orchestrations or making a neat score for my "unlucky" days.
Oh dear, I am revealing all the secrets behind the glamour of being an artist, eh? It turns out that we are just simply workers, like most of the rest of the mortals. No mystery anymore in our tasks. No divine involvement. It's so very human. We are not those incurable romantics, daydreaming and doing what we like. Now, do you still think we are special? A work of art is a product of 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration, we always say. What a disappointment, eh?
martes, 8 de marzo de 2011
The Return of the Curse of the 9th
Yeah, intriguing eh, that curse of the 9th symphony? Since there were many questions from all of you (especially those who tweet to my @anandasukarlan account) who needed answers of (much) more than 140 characters, I've decided I'd blog (again) about this theme.
As I have answered in my radio program, the composer who broke, but not completely, the curse was Dmitri Shostakovich (oh yes, yes, I have this inextinguishable urge to say that he's the greatest composer of all time, too!). He managed to write 15 symphonies, and curiously enough, a same quantity for his string quartets, also 15. The last one is perhaps the most amazing quartet ever written in history, which consists of 6 adagios. Try to listen, if you can get hold of it.
Now Shosty, as I use to call him, wrote his 9th symphony and waited until the death of Joseph Stalin to write his 10th. Curiously enough, Stalin died at the very same day of the death of Prokofiev. It's rather disconcerting to know that when Shosty started to write his 9th he told his friends that he was writing a grand symphony, with choir etc. It turned out that his 9th is a very light, even Mozartian kind of music, and one of the (if not the) shortest of his symphonies. It's that kind of music which Stalin would be able to chew, or in a cooler term, "appreciate". So, was this a case that the curse was "transferred" to someone else?
At his lifetime, up to the death of Stalin, Shosty wasn't the "greatest" of Russian composers. Oh nooo, not at all. On the contrary, he was the biggest enemy of Russia's dictator. In fact, Shosty always kept a small suitcase in his house with some clothes and toiletries, just like any enemy of Stalin at that time. He was prepared that someone from the Secret Service would knock on his door anytime and take him to Siberia where he would "disappear". Can you imagine packing that kind of suitcase?
At that time the official composer (which means that he should be the one to be promoted so that the Russian people should know and admire) was Tikhon Khrennikov, who held high positions in the Soviet government. Needless to say, his music is that kind of "light" classic, that which entertains those who listens to it, just like any other "official" artists of any dictators (it also happened in other dictatorships. If you come from a dictatorship country, well, it's time to think and reflect about this). Everytime I came across his music, I always ask "so what?" when it's finished. It's nice, but it lacks a raison d'etre. From his music I learned that real music is not just something nice. Art, I think, should reflect the truth, and the truth, my dear friends, is not always nice.
Meanwhile the real artists, who created "honest" and profound art should be banned as much as possible, and in (not too) extreme cases, taken to "disappear". Some of them preferred to be exiles and live in another country where he could live and earn his living with dignity, and at that time the USA became the refugee camp for Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Korngold, Rachmaninov and many other great composers of the last century. A situation which is not exclusive for a dictatorship; it still happens in many countries until now. But it's always like that. A prophet is never loved in his own land.
As I have answered in my radio program, the composer who broke, but not completely, the curse was Dmitri Shostakovich (oh yes, yes, I have this inextinguishable urge to say that he's the greatest composer of all time, too!). He managed to write 15 symphonies, and curiously enough, a same quantity for his string quartets, also 15. The last one is perhaps the most amazing quartet ever written in history, which consists of 6 adagios. Try to listen, if you can get hold of it.
Now Shosty, as I use to call him, wrote his 9th symphony and waited until the death of Joseph Stalin to write his 10th. Curiously enough, Stalin died at the very same day of the death of Prokofiev. It's rather disconcerting to know that when Shosty started to write his 9th he told his friends that he was writing a grand symphony, with choir etc. It turned out that his 9th is a very light, even Mozartian kind of music, and one of the (if not the) shortest of his symphonies. It's that kind of music which Stalin would be able to chew, or in a cooler term, "appreciate". So, was this a case that the curse was "transferred" to someone else?
At his lifetime, up to the death of Stalin, Shosty wasn't the "greatest" of Russian composers. Oh nooo, not at all. On the contrary, he was the biggest enemy of Russia's dictator. In fact, Shosty always kept a small suitcase in his house with some clothes and toiletries, just like any enemy of Stalin at that time. He was prepared that someone from the Secret Service would knock on his door anytime and take him to Siberia where he would "disappear". Can you imagine packing that kind of suitcase?
At that time the official composer (which means that he should be the one to be promoted so that the Russian people should know and admire) was Tikhon Khrennikov, who held high positions in the Soviet government. Needless to say, his music is that kind of "light" classic, that which entertains those who listens to it, just like any other "official" artists of any dictators (it also happened in other dictatorships. If you come from a dictatorship country, well, it's time to think and reflect about this). Everytime I came across his music, I always ask "so what?" when it's finished. It's nice, but it lacks a raison d'etre. From his music I learned that real music is not just something nice. Art, I think, should reflect the truth, and the truth, my dear friends, is not always nice.
Meanwhile the real artists, who created "honest" and profound art should be banned as much as possible, and in (not too) extreme cases, taken to "disappear". Some of them preferred to be exiles and live in another country where he could live and earn his living with dignity, and at that time the USA became the refugee camp for Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Korngold, Rachmaninov and many other great composers of the last century. A situation which is not exclusive for a dictatorship; it still happens in many countries until now. But it's always like that. A prophet is never loved in his own land.
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