A world of infinitives.
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Music by Radu Malfatti |
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Order Reference: |
EWR 9801 |
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Medium: |
CD |
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Composer: |
Radu Malfatti |
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Performers: |
Radu
Malfatti, Trombone; Wandelweiser String Quartet |
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What happens? Some thoughts on Radu Malfatti's music |
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In Radu Malfatti's music nothing special happens.That is a distinct
quality. |
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Very simple things happen which can easily be named as bowing or
blowing; bowing on the tailpiece, bowing on the tuning peg for the third
string, blowing at a specified angle into the trombone, blowing with a
specified shape of the mouth cavity. These activities become perceptible
because of the sounds: one hears the noise of bowing, that is, thus-bowing or
thus-blowing. |
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In these works no sound goes beyond this perceptible activity. The
sound of bowing or of blowing can he distinguished from the corresponding
activities, but cannot, however, be detached. Not once is an independent
object created, such as a motive or a figur, a rhythm or a pulse - or even a
particular sound. Only sounding: "a-sounding-of-some-length"; for
instance, "a-bowing-of-some-length". Radu Malfatti's music is a
music of the infinitive: "blowing-sounding",
"bowing-sounding". |
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The world of the infinitive, produced in this way, is the world of
events. "Bowing-sounding" does not represent anything, nor does it
play a role as an element of structure. It just happens, taking place as an
indissoluble multiplicity of perceptual or sensory possibilities. Listening
itself can now take on the form of the infinitive. lt can become a listening
without limits, by engaging itself in this multiplicity of possibilities. In
this sounding-taking-place, (which, especially in the case of white noise,
contains an endless number of components that remain inconspicuous by
themselves), suddenly this or that is noticed as remarkable: colors happen to
be perceived, irregularities, accents, and indeed pitches, harmonies or
melodies. |
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These "special" experiences are not the result of any kind
of compositional emphasis. They occur completely informally, in the act of
listening. OnIy "‚routines" are composed: now and again blowing or
bowing in a certain way. |
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Just as there are no prominent sounds in this music, there are no
prominent moments. When something happens, or how long, is meaningless. Things
simply happen at some time. And when there is a special moment, for example
when a long sound suddenly stops, it is only because it is within an entirely
routine process ("something begins and then stops") that the
perception appears as remarkable, not because it would embody a meaning lying
outside of the process. |
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Silence also has its own sound with Radu Malfatti: the sound of
allowing or "allowing-sounding". These sounds pervade his music. |
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Antoine Beuger |
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