From: info@newconsonantmusic.com (Alain Van Kerckhoven)
Subject: The New Consonant Music
Followup-To: poster
Date: Thu, 29 Jul 1998 22:58:39 GMT +002
Organization: eh?
Reply-To: info@newconsonantmusic.com (ncm FAQ)
Summary: An introduction to New Consonant Music
Keywords: faq contemporary classical music
Language: English
Archive-name: new-consonant-music-faq
Version: 1.1.2
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT NEW CONSONANT MUSIC
Alain Van Kerckhoven INFO@NEWCONSONANTMUSIC.COM
Many thanks to all the readers of the previous versions of this FAQ who
have helped in the compilation and upkeep of this file. Comments,
corrections, and queries regarding this FAQ should be sent to the above
address.
[ ... ]
SUBJECT: 1. TABLE OF CONTENTS
-----------------------------
1. TABLE OF CONTENTS
2. INTRODUCTION
2.1. Why this FAQ?
2.2. How to participate to this FAQ?
2.3. Can I reproduce this article?
2.4. Did you write it alone?
3. DEFINITION
3.1. Could you give me a short and accurate definition of ncm?
3.2. Could you give me a long and fuzzy definition of ncm?
3.3. Where does it come from?
3.4. Hey, here is a cluster! Do you call that consonant?
3.5. Where and when is born ncm?
3.6. What distinguishes ncm from other contemporary music?
3.7. Why do you place Piotr Lachert in ncm. I heard such a dissonant
experimental piece by him!
4. WORKS
7.1. What CD can I listen to build an opinion about ncm?
7.2. OK, I like it. Could you give me a more consistent list to fill
my collection?
7.3. I heard a beautiful piece on the radio. Does it exists on a CD?
5. MISCELLANEOUS
5.1. Who decides "This music *is* a New Consonant Music!"?
5.2. Can I find New Consonant Music in the electroacoustic or
acousmatic fields?
5.3. Isn't it just a return to the past?
5.4. Why are unpopular composers so famous?
5.5. Where can I find a new consonant music publisher?
6. INFORMATION
6.1. Do you know good books?
6.2. Do you know good Internet resources?
[ ... ]
SUBJECT: 2. INTRODUCTION
------------------------
2.1. Why this FAQ?
The intent of this FAQ is to provide an up-to-date introduction and
basic information to the New Consonant Music. It contains frequently
asked questions with answers relating to New Consonant Music. It
originally began as a general-purpose FAQ for the New Consonant Music
web site HTTP://WWW.AVK.ORG/NCM/. It was also distributed by mail and
by fax to give quick answer to composers, performers or journalists
interested in New Consonant Music.
The format of this FAQ is a simplification of RFC1153 digest format that
is sufficient to be compatible with common newsreader digest, browsers
and text processors on any plate-form. In consequence, it is encoded
with ASCII 7-bit characters. Diacritics and East-European characters
have been replaced by their closest equivalent. I apologize about this.
It is edited and compiled by Alain Van Kerckhoven since 01 July 1998.
When the author of a paragraph is another identified person, his name
between brackets, eventually with email address and date of writing)
closes the paragraph.
In the following text, 'New Consonant Music' is sometimes abbreviated in
'ncm'.
2.2. How to participate to this FAQ?
Send you corrections, remarks or contribution to INFO@NEWCONSONANTMUSIC.COM> with the
following subject : "New Consonant Music FAQ - contribution"
2.3. Can I reproduce this article?
This article is Copyright 1998 by Alain Van Kerckhoven. It may be
freely redistributed in its entirety provided that this copyright notice
is not removed. It may not be sold for profit or incorporated in
commercial documents without the written permission of the copyright
holder. Permission is expressly granted for this document to be made
available for file transfer from installations offering unrestricted
anonymous file transfer on the Internet. Permission is further granted
for this document to be made available for file transfer in the data
libraries of associated with any Compuserve Information Services forums.
This article is provided as is without any express or implied warranty.
2.4. Did you write it alone?
No. The name of the other contributors are indicated between brackets after
each paragraph they wrote. I thank all of them. I'd also like to
acknowledge the following people who reviewed early drafts of this FAQ
and made valuable suggestions for modifications, or otherwise
contributed to the FAQ :
- Mireille Gleizes
- Michel Lysight
- Philippe Massart
- Goeric Timmermans
[ ... ]
SUBJECT: 3. DEFINITION
----------------------
3.1. Could you give me a short and accurate definition of ncm?
No.
3.2. Could you give me a long and fuzzy definition of ncm?
New Consonant Music has but one philosophy - that music must remain
above all else a language, a means of communication. Language evolves,
as does the expectation of continuing communication between composer,
performer and audience. The experience must be direct, but not facile or
superficial.
Thus, New Consonant Music can be listened to without the need for
extensive technical or philosophical explanation. There is no one
school, style or aesthetic - simply the conviction that music is much
more than just notes, technique or intellectual game-playing. Music must
speak for itself without the filters of explanation and classification -
which lead to prejudgement and eventually to those artistic tyrannies
which continue to result in the exclusion of some forms of contemporary
music from 'the reasonable expectation of communication'.
3.3. Where does it come from?
New consonant music is thus not a style nor an aesthetics. Many different
composers write new consonant music. The form can be minimal or not,
repetitive or not, tonal, modal or atonal. It can be a small accordion
piece or a long large opera. So, the form has nothing to see with the
definition of ncm.
So, even if some composers are reluctant to admit it, ncm can be
defined as a reaction to the modernist period. New Consonant Music can
be presented as a post-modern trend.
Modern composers - let's say between 1940 and 1980 - were willing to
innovate at first. Of course this is a generalization and many
exceptions exist (Messiaen, Ives...). The contact was broken between
composers, performers and audience. Dodecaphonism, serialism, random
music and other happenings revolutionized the music.
But, as for each language, evolution is better than revolution. Cage
gave a great wind of freedom to music. But freedom is not always synonym
of beauty. Stockhausen built intelligent concepts. But intelligence is
not always synonym of beauty.
New Consonant Music tries to revive the broken link between composers,
performers and audience, by the respect and the soft evolution of the
common music language. And, of course, it integrates some ideas of
modern composers.
3.4. Hey, here is a cluster! Do you call that consonant?
What's in a name? The term 'consonant' applies to 'music', and not to
each element. Many works contain exotic and hard-to-classify chords or
clusters. Consider them like pepper grains on a great steak! Even more,
what is a dissonant chord in 1998? This becomes to be an old
terminology.
3.5. Where and when is born ncm?
The term 'new consonant music' is born on an April day of 1989 in the
BRT office of Boudewijn Buckinx. Boudewijn Buckinx (composer), Piotr
Lachert (composer), Dominique Lawalree (composer) and Alain Van
Kerckhoven (music publisher) were looking for the title of a score. This
was one of the proposals. Who proposed it? Our remembrances diverge on
this point. Finally, the score was named "Poetic Piano of the 80ies",
but the name "New Consonant Music" remained.
The origin of the music itself is much more fuzzy. As a reaction to
modernism, it is certainly born with the modernism. Some piano pieces by
John Cage may be considered as ncm works.
3.6. What distinguishes ncm from other kinds of music?
Here again, I cannot give scientific criterions. At least, a ncm work
has to be new, consonant and music.
New : Mozart is not ncm, Richard Clayderman is not ncm (and Richard
Clayderman is of course not Mozart)
Consonant : Large audience with a general culture is able to appreciate
this music. No need to be musicologist, physician, or to receive a
verbose introduction to the thoughts of the composer. "Le marteau sans
maitre" by Boulez is not ncm ; "2**-13" by Pousseur is not ncm.
Music : Don't expect to find here a good definition of this term.
3.7. Why do you place Piotr Lachert in ncm? I heard such a dissonant
experimental piece by him!
Hum, well, you know, hum...
At first, read point 3.4. You really talk about the music and not about
a particular element. OK, OK. I still have 2 convincing replies.
A. Subjectivity. What you find dissonant will maybe receive a different
judgement from somebody else. The limits of ncm are fuzzy and it is
possible that this piece is walking on this wild area.
B. For historical reasons or for experiment, many ncm composers - in
their young ages - have composed some works in a serialist process, or
with ping-pong balls in a piano. That's why it is best to apply ncm to
works than to composers.
[ ... ]
SUBJECT: 4. WORKS
-----------------
4.1. What CD can I listen to build an opinion about ncm?
Here is a subjective top 15 list of CD featuring new consonant
music pieces. [Michel Lysight, November 1997 - Edited by Alain
Van Kerckhoven, July 1998]
* Abii ne viderem, Morning Prayers, Evening Prayers (Giya Kancheli)
1 CD ECM 1510 445 941-2
* After the Requiem (Gavin Bryars)
1 CD ECM 1424 847 537-2
* Concerto grosso no4, Concerto grosso no3 (Alfred Schnittke)
1 CD Decca 430 698-2
* De Staat (Louis Andriessen)
1 CD Nonesuch 7559-79251-2
* Desert of Roses (Robert Moran)
1 CD Argo 436 128-2
* Drowning by Numbers (Michael Nyman)
1 CD Virgin E23
* Grand Pianola Music (John Adams + Steve Reich)
1 CD EMI 7 47331 2
* In C (Terry Riley)
1 CD CBS 7464-07178-2
* La Koro Sutro, Varied Trio, Suite for Violin and American Gamelan
(Lou Harrison)
1 CD New Albion 015
* Proverb, Nagoya Marimbas, City Life (Steve Reich)
1 CD Nonesuch 7559-79430-2
* Septet (Chick Corea)
1 CD ECM 1297 827 258-2
* Sit Down and Listen (Boudewijn Buckinx, Krysztof Knittel, Piotr Lachert,
Michel Lysight, Gilberto Mendes, Henrique Morozowicz, Georgs Pelecis)
1 CD AVK001
* Tabula Rasa (Arvo Part)
1 CD ECM 1275 817 764-2
* Three Pieces in Olden Style, Symphonie no3 and Amen (Henryk Mikolaj
Gorecki)
1 CD Olympia 313
* Turtle Dream (Meredith Monk)
1 CD ECM 1240 811 547-2
4.2. Ok, I like it. Could you give me a more consistent list to fill
my collection?
This is a most extended list, ordered by composers. It includes the 10
CDs above. Please, note that some CD also mixes new consonant music
pieces with other works. [Michel Lysight, July 1998]
* John Adams: Grand Pianola Music (+ S. Reich. 1 CD EMI 7 47331 2). El
Dorado (+ Busoni et Liszt dans des orchestrations de J. Adams. 1 CD
Nonesuch 7559-79359-2).
* Louis Andriessen: De Staat (1 CD Nonesuch 7559-79251-2). De Stijl,
Trepidus, Dances (1 CD Attacca Babel 9375). De Materie (2 CD's
Nonesuch 7559-79367-2). Zilver (1 CD New Albion Records 094).
* Gavin Bryars: After the Requiem (1 CD ECM 1424 847 537-2). The Last
Days (1 CD Argo 448 175-2). A man in a room, gambling (1 CD Point
Music 456 514-2).
* Boudewijn Buckinx: Adagio, the famous one, of course (+ Knittel,
Morozowicz, Pelecis, Lysight, Mendes, Lachert. 1 CD Alain Van
Kerckhoven Productions 001). Opera: Karoena (1 CD Vox Temporis 92 028).
* Chick Corea: Septet (1 CD ECM 1297 827 258-2).
* Henri Cowell: Set of Five (+ Cage, Hovhaness, Satoh, Lou Harrison. 1
CD New Albion 036). Set of Five, Trio, Hymn & Fuguing Tune no9, Trio
in nine short movements (1 CD Koch 3-7205-2H1).
* George Crumb: Black Angels (+ Tallis, Marta, Ives, Shostakovich. 1
CD Nonesuch 7559-79242-2). Ancient Voices of Children, Music for a
Summer Evening (1 CD Nonesuch 7559-79149-2).
* Thierry De Mey: Undo (1 CD Sub Rosa 016-39)
* Graham Fitkin: Hook, Mesh, Stub, Cud (1 CD Argo 440 216-2).
* Philip Glass: Songs from the Trilogy (1 CD CBS 45580). String
Quartets nos 5, 4, 2, 3 (1 CD Nonesuch 7559-79356-2). Opera: La Belle
et la Bete (2 CD's Nonesuch 7559-79347-2).
* Henryk Mikolaj Gorecki: Three Pieces in Olden Style, Symphonie no3 and
Amen (1 CD Olympia 313). Lerchenmusik (+ Lutoslawski et Prokofiev. 1
CD Olympia 343). Old Polish Music, Totus Tuus, Beatus Vir (1 CD Argo
436 835-2).
* John Harle: Terror and Magnificence (1 CD Argo 452 605-2).
* Lou Harrison: Piano Concerto, Suite For Violin, Piano and Small
Orchestra (1 CD New World Records 366-2). First Concerto for Flute
and Percussion (+ Jolivet, Cage, Sandstrom. 1 CD BIS 272). La Koro
Sutro, Varied Trio, Suite for Violin and American Gamelan (1 CD New
Albion 015).
* Giya Kancheli: Abii ne viderem, Morning Prayers, Evening Prayers (1
CD ECM 1510 445 941-2). Exil (1 CD ECM 1535 447 808-2).
* Aaron Jay Kernis: String Quartet, Symphony in Waves (1 CD Argo 436
287-2).
* Michel Lysight: Oreades, Palimpsestes, Trois Instantanes, Samarkand,
Monochrone, Soleil Bleu, Trois Croquis, Reflexion, Prelude et Toccata
(1 CD Rene Gailly 87 111).
Threne, Chronographie I, Trois Croquis, Epode, Chronographie III,
Trois Instantanes, Labyrinthes (1 CD Cypres).
Chronographie II (+ Mendelssohn, Gade, Grabowicz. 1 CD Rene Gailly 99
006).
Sextuor (+ Jongen, Jadin. 1 CD Rene Gailly 87 147).
Monochrone (+ Knittel, Morozowicz, Pelecis, Buckinx, Mendes, Lachert. 1
CD Alain Van Kerckhoven Productions 001).
* Istvan Marta: Works (1 CD Hungaroton 31580).
* Wim Mertens: Motives for writing (1 CD Les Disques du Crepuscule TWI
862-2). Maximizing the Audience (1 CD Les Disques du Crepuscule TWI
480). Shot and Echo (1 CD Les Disques du CrÈpuscule TWI 950-2).
* Meredith Monk: Turtle Dream (1 CD ECM 1240 811 547-2).
* Robert Moran: Desert of Roses (1 CD Argo 436 128-2).
* Michael Nyman: Noises, Sounds and Sweet Airs (1 CD Argo 440 842-2).
Where the Bee Dances (+ Bryars, Westbrook. 1 CD Argo 433 847-2). The
Draughtsman's Contract (1 CD Charisma Records 1158). Drowning by
Numbers (1 CD Virgin E23). The essential Michael Nyman Band (1 CD Argo
436 820-2).
* Arvo Part: Tabula Rasa (1 CD ECM 1275 817 764-2). Arbos (1 CD ECM
1325 831 959-2). De Profundis (1 CD Harmonia Mundi 907 182).
* Georgs Pelecis: Concertino bianco (1 CD Erato 0630-12709-2).
QuatriËme Suite (+ Knittel, Morozowicz, Lachert, Lysight, Mendes,
Buckinx. 1 CD Alain Van Kerckhoven Productions 001).
* Steve Reich: Sextet, Six Marimbas (1 CD Nonesuch 7559-79138-2).
Tehillim, Three Movements (1 CD Nonesuch 7559-79295-2). Proverb,
Nagoya Marimbas, City Life (1 CD Nonesuch 7559-79430-2).
* Terry Riley: In C (1 CD CBS 7464-07178-2).
* Frederic Rzewski: Coming together - Attica (+ Szemzo, Reich, Melis.
1 CD Hungaroton 12545).
* Laszlo Sary: The Voice of Time (1 CD Hungaroton 31643).
* Alfred Schnittke: Concerto grosso no4, Concerto grosso no3 (1 CD
Decca 430 698-2).
* Michael Torke: Chamber Works (1 CD Argo 430 209-2). Music on the
Floor (1 CD Argo 443 528-2).
* Kevin Volans: White Man Sleeps (1 CD Nonesuch 7559-79275-2). String
Quartets no2 & no3 (1 CD Argo 440 687-2).
* Harald Weiss: Arche (1 CD Wergo SM 1060-50). Ade (1 CD Wergo SM
1077-50).
4.3. I heard a beautiful piece on the radio. Does it exist on a CD?
At first, call the radio station and just ask.
If they picked the music from a CD, ask :
- the title of the CD
- the producer
- the reference
- other data (composers, performers, date)
If they picked the music from another support, ask the phone of the
producer of the support. It is often a produced attached to the radio
station. Try to talk to him to know if a CD exists
By the way, you may consider subscribing to the program guide of this
station, if published.
If you receive no answer from the radio station, try some research on
the net, with the name of the composer and "CD" as keywords, or go to
on-line CD shops like CD-now.
[ ... ]
5. MISCELLANEOUS
----------------
5.1. Who decides "This music *is* a New Consonant Music!"?
There is no Official New Consonant Music Label International Committee.
It would be too expensive. So, use this term like 'expressionist' or
'intelligent' or 'kind', when you think you can use it...
5.2. Can I find New Consonant Music in the electroacoustic or acousmatic
fields?
Of course, why not?
5.3. Isn't it just a return to the past?
No, ncm is not just a nostalgic and whining glimpse to the past. New
consonant music is written in the continuance of the history. The
absence of rupture involves that it uses all the musical resources, from
ancient and from contemporary times. But anyone can't pretend writing
ncm whilst he just imitates the earlier composers without any personal
and contemporary contribution. [Michel Lysight, July 1998]
5.4. Why are unpopular composers so famous?
Landru also was famous. The point is that music costs money. For a
concert you have to pay the performers, the hall, the insurances, the
advertising, the personnel etc. For the Spice Girls, no problem for a
quick return. For contemporary music concert, the return are of course
more hazardous. So, you need often subsides.
This means that you have to ask them to some politician. And it is much
more easy for a politician (or an executive) to renew old subsidies than
to hardly examine each project objectively. More you receive subsidies,
more concerts you can do. And more concerts you do, more impressive will
be your personal folder and easier will be the renewal of your
subsidies.
Of course, sometimes a politician, an executive change or an influent
composer die. Then the hunt is open, and this is a great show!
These are the rules of the game in Belgium, in France, in Italy, in
Germany, maybe also in some other countries.
5.5. Where can I find a new consonant music publisher?
Hum... I am such a publisher.
[ ... ]
SUBJECT: 6. INFORMATION
-----------------------
In general, you can use many terms in your requests, on Internet but
also in the shops or libraries. "New Consonant Music" is used in Europe.
In French, we talk about "Nouvelle Musique Consonante" and in Dutch
about "Nieuwe Consonante Muziek". In Canada, we talk also about
"Nouvelle consonance"
6.1. Do you know good books?
No, except biographies of new consonant music composers.
6.2. Do you know good Internet resources?
The web site of ncm offers a large information about composers and
performers, MIDI files and a nearly-up-to-date commented collection of
links : HTTP://WWW.NEWCONSONANTMUSIC.COM.
[ ... ]
Copyright (c) 1998 by Alain Van Kerckhoven. All rights reserved.
This document is copyrighted. Permission is hereby granted for
electronic integral distribution by non-commercial services provided
that this copyright notice is not removed. Any other use, or any
commercial use of this document without permission is prohibited by law,
and my lawyer is a very uncompromising woman!
[ ... ]
Alain Van Kerckhoven Editeur
