RE: [microsound] new autechre

[Paulo Mouat <microsound@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

From: andrew benson
> I don't think you can use 
> mathematicality to "ensure validity" in a work of music, as 
> you say, but it can provide a layer of information that the 
> interested observer may find intriguing.

The mathematics as propounded by Xenakis was used to provide consistency and
coherence, at a time that tonality was felt to be exhausted and the
desperate search for alternatives wasn't creating a solid grounding.

> I know the math was there because he wrote a rather dubious
> book about it.

As dubious as any other book that expounds an all-encompassing system of
organization.  Some may find it pretentious, others an interesting
perspective and influence in their own approach towards composition.

> Cage was also a prolific writer, and I would argue that a
> good number of Cage fans are in love with his ideas, not
> his music.

True.  But that does not detract from the value of either when taken
separately, much to the contrary in fact.

> They provide a structure for atonal music, so that the 
> composer isn't accused of "randomness".

Randomness is not the word.  Subjectivity, rather.  But whereas with Cage
the primary objective was the removal of the composer from interfering with
the sounds themselves when composing, with Xenakis the intent was to create
a less artificial and arbitrary formalization.

> The reason that the music of Cage and Xenakis turned out
> sounding interesting was because they were able to devise
> aestheticized algorithms for generating probabilistic
> composition.

This is an overgeneralization.  Not everything is algorithmic or
probabilistic in their works.  And of course it is all aestheticized--what
isn't? 
 
> You can't avoid making some decisions somewhere.

That's why they were, after all, composers.

//p
http://www.interdisciplina.org/00.0/


---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: microsound-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
For additional commands, e-mail: microsound-help@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
website: http://www.microsound.org