Jodlowski, Pierre - Mixtion
Commissioned by l’IRCAM, Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris, SELMER - Paris
First performance : 11/04/2002 / Paris / Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique
This unusual piece for tenor saxophone and electronics is constructed in sections which are cued by the performer using a pedal on stage. This may be the fatal flaw in this piece, it really could very nearly have been a piece for saxophone and tape, but there is some limited manipulation of the sax through Max/MSP later in the piece which requires a much more complicated setup. It does look rather silly having the pedal onstage with the performer hovering their foot over it for dozens of cues. If one misses the cue then the whole piece stalls and if you press it twice by mistake then you lose a whole section! The sonic manipulation that Max/MSP isn't so grand that it really needed to be a live electronics piece, it could simply have been a tape piece, which would have given it far wider exposure and makes it much easier for performers to include in programmes. There are often compatibility and software problems that cause further difficulties.
The music itself is utterly piecemeal and darts around in a schizophrenic and disorganised jumble for the entire work. The effect of the piece is very strong in headphones or with strong surround sound speaker support, with plenty of fascinating special effects. The piece certainly has IRCAM stamped all over it, and comes from a particularly style of composition that feels very European.
Here are Jodlowski's own words about the piece, he seems to suggest a cohesion between sections, but this has never been apparent to me after multiple listens (I'm assuming the original description was in French):
The word "mixtion" is an old word which means mixture: "Heterogeneous elements are mixed and give birth to a new substance."
This composition has been imagined like a dialogue between the instrument and the sounds which surround it. It respectively investigates connections between pre-recorded sounds and sounds reacting in real time to the musician's playing. Here the saxophone reveals its numerous possibilities : sometimes in an expressive solo, somewhere else as a part of a jazzy polyphony, transformed sonorities which burst out in a quadriphonic space...
Listening to MIXTION is like discovering a many-sided town. Alchemy works here like the celebration of a possible difference : different elements might be linked together by often repeated touches of colour.
First performance : 11/04/2002 / Paris / Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique
This unusual piece for tenor saxophone and electronics is constructed in sections which are cued by the performer using a pedal on stage. This may be the fatal flaw in this piece, it really could very nearly have been a piece for saxophone and tape, but there is some limited manipulation of the sax through Max/MSP later in the piece which requires a much more complicated setup. It does look rather silly having the pedal onstage with the performer hovering their foot over it for dozens of cues. If one misses the cue then the whole piece stalls and if you press it twice by mistake then you lose a whole section! The sonic manipulation that Max/MSP isn't so grand that it really needed to be a live electronics piece, it could simply have been a tape piece, which would have given it far wider exposure and makes it much easier for performers to include in programmes. There are often compatibility and software problems that cause further difficulties.
The music itself is utterly piecemeal and darts around in a schizophrenic and disorganised jumble for the entire work. The effect of the piece is very strong in headphones or with strong surround sound speaker support, with plenty of fascinating special effects. The piece certainly has IRCAM stamped all over it, and comes from a particularly style of composition that feels very European.
Here are Jodlowski's own words about the piece, he seems to suggest a cohesion between sections, but this has never been apparent to me after multiple listens (I'm assuming the original description was in French):
The word "mixtion" is an old word which means mixture: "Heterogeneous elements are mixed and give birth to a new substance."
This composition has been imagined like a dialogue between the instrument and the sounds which surround it. It respectively investigates connections between pre-recorded sounds and sounds reacting in real time to the musician's playing. Here the saxophone reveals its numerous possibilities : sometimes in an expressive solo, somewhere else as a part of a jazzy polyphony, transformed sonorities which burst out in a quadriphonic space...
Listening to MIXTION is like discovering a many-sided town. Alchemy works here like the celebration of a possible difference : different elements might be linked together by often repeated touches of colour.