Animus III/Synapse->Valentine

Jacob Druckman - Animus III/Synapse->Valentine

ANIMUS III

for clarinet and tape

Arthur Bloom - clarinet

This recording embraces three titles, two works, but one central concern. The works are involved with the actual presence of the performer theatrically as well as musically, limiting their focus to a particular area of human affections as well as a limited body of musical materials. Each work presumes that the theatrical and musical elements are inseparable; that the ideal performance of the music already embodies the performance of the drama. The music focuses reflexively on musicians and virtuosity.

The two sides of the record present the two polar possibilities of combinations of live and pre-recorded sound. On Side One they are inextricably combined. The sound sources of the tape are mainly concrete: the voice and clarinet playing of soloist Arthur Bloom in various degrees of transformation. During the performance of "Animus III" the clarinetist has at his disposal a microphone connected to a feedback device, which allows him to transform his playing so that he can move in and out of the electronic sounds. In this way the tape and the live player can approach each other, even crossing to opposite sides of the real/electronic gamut.

The genesis of "Animus III" began with my asking Arthur Bloom to record some clarinet sounds as sources from which I could build the tape part of the work. The recording session was late at night. We worked efficiently and informally as we are good friends and colleagues of many years standing. The tape of that session contained not only the brilliant clarinet sounds of this extraordinary musician, but also the vocal sounds of the session - the laughter, the banter, the irritation, the fatigue, the impatience. Over all this fluttered the ephemeral virtuosity - untouched, uncommitted, disassociated from the human dynamic. As I worked with the tape in the following months, I found myself more and more fascinated with the recorded sounds of the irrational dynamic. These sounds began to shape the image of the work as strongly as the instrumental material from which, I believe, they are eventually inseparable.

The completed work assumes a surreal, aloof, arch-virtuosity which follows its whimsy through many states leading to an eventual decay into a mindless hysteria. (Jacob Druckman)

synapse->VALENTINE

for electronic tape & contrabass

Alvin Brehm - contrabass

electronic tape realized at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center

On Side Two, the electronic and the live are juxtaposed but completely separate. The tape sounds are made entirely of electronic sources (one tiny exception - the voice of bassist Alvin Brehm for less than one second), and the instrumental "Valentine" is completely without electronics.

"Synapse" (n., the junction point of two neurons, across which a nerve impulse passes), aside from the exception mentioned above, is totally synthesized on voltage-controlled analog machinery. It assumes the stance of "Valentine". It functions as avant-propos, paraphrase, setting for "Valentine".

"Valentine" begins with the same driven intensity with which "Animus III" ends. The work is one of the most difficult ever written for the contrabass and demands that the player attack the instrument with bow, tympany stick, both hands alternating percussive tapping on the body of the instrument with pizzicato harmonics, while the voice sustains tones, sings counterpoints, and punctuates accents. All of this necessitates the player's assaulting the instrument with an almosst deSade-like concentration (hence the title). "Valentine" moves in the opposite direction from "Animus III" - from intensity to euphoria. (Jacob Druckman)

Tracklisting:

Side One

1. Animus III {15:36}

Side Two

1. Synapse->Valentine {17:59}

(1)