HORATIU RADULESCU

24'22
CLEPSYDRA
F[~R
16 SOUND ICONS 22'47
EUROPEAN ASTRAY
LUCERO ENSEMBLE FUR
LEITUNG 6 SAXOPHONE
HORATIU RADULESCU <SOPRANINO
SOPRAN
ALTO
TENOR
BARITON
BASS)
DANIEL KIENTZY
UND
SOUND ICON
HORATIU RADULESCU
Conservatoire National in Limo- to distinguish between the many layers specific performance technique required
ges und a m Conservatoire Natio- of sound in a stereo recording, one for each micro-music. Their colors indi-
nal Superieur in Paris, w o er Erste should listen at a higher volume and con- cate the six registers (from low to high:
Preise f u r Saxophon u n d Kam- centrate on imagining the circle of 16 red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet).
merrnusik erhielt. Er grundete ein Sound lcons around oneself. These special techniques of sound pro-
Ensemble f i i r Alte Musik, d i e duction reinforce the spectral energy
G r u p p e Musica Ficta, in d e r er (variable distribution) of each event or
1 9 7 4 - 7 8 Viola d a Gamba, Block- The four historical musical paradigms. chain of events (spectral pulse). Four
floten, K r u m m h o r n und Sackpfei- monody, polyphony, homophony, and simultaneous levels of perceptual speed
f e spielte. Seit Ende d e r 70er Jahre heterophony, are actually quite impossi- occur; MMT - macro-macro time of the
w i d m e t e er sich ganz d e m Saxo- ble to distinguish from one another with- 22'45"macro-form tension; mMT - micro-
p h o n . D a er mit d e n konventio- in this wsound plasrnacc - living sound macro time as pulse of the 3 x 81 micro-
nellen Spieltechniken n i c h t zufrie- that can only be comprehended from a music entities, each of which lasting be-
d e n war, arbeitete e r - zunachst global perspective, resembling the blue tween 5" and 34"; MmT - macro-micro
in e i n e m Privatstudio, spater im image of earth as viewed from outer time of the rhythm produced by the actual
IRCAM - a n d e r Erfindung und space. Horatiu Radulescu onsets, and mmT - micro-micro time, in-
Erweiterung neuer Spieltechniken, trinsic rhythm of the sound material up to
w o b e i er a u c h elektronische Mit- 333 timbral transformations per second.
tel einbezog. Er trug maflgeblich ASTRAY op. 50 (1983) for Double Duo contributing to the spectral enhancement
dazu bei, das Saxophon als ein was composed for the Roma Villa Medici of each event.
wichtiges Instrument d e r zeit- Musica Festival where it premiered in
genossischen Musik z u etablieren. 1984. The score consists of 81 paintings
Seine A b h a n d l u n g Les Sons Multi- using symbols from ancient languages. All sounds notated in the score are per-
ples aux Saxophones w u r d e 1 9 8 2 These 81 micro-music entities were pho- formed live and are not electronically
b e i d e r Editions Salabert, Paris, tographed and projected as slides during modulated. The cause (sound source) and
veroffentlicht. the performance. In addition to its the effect (sound parameters) are render-
ancient alphabet symbol, each image ed unrecognizable by the special tech-
contains precise indications for the two niques of sound production.
CLEPSYDRA op. 47 (1982) for 16 Sound players: the saxophone player performs
Icons. (clepsydra: intermittent fountain or on six saxophones (bass, barytone, tenor,
ebbing wells; a contrivance used in alto, soprano, sopranino) which hang In this particular studio recording, the
ancient times for measuring time by the from a frame, the other player performs two duos were recorded in playback with
flow of water; a water-clock - in contrast on a Sound Icon. Daniel Kientzy and the composer. For a
to clepsammia, whereby time is meas- concert performance, 4 to 7 players are
ured by the flow of sand in a glass). required (The Sound lcons (3 & 2) require
This duo plays simultaneously with an- 5 players); the two duos are disposed
other identical duo. Both duos perform around the audience. The score, project-
This composition describes the macro- the same score, but at different speeds. ed from slides, contributes to the visual
shape of a horizontal clepsydra which The first duo performs the score twice: nenvironrnentcc. Horatiu Radulescu
gradually filters a single pitch from a rich slowly at first, faster the succeeding time
sound spectrum. The music then ))passes the second duo performs the score once
through(( this pitch to develop into a new during the same time span very slowly. THE SOUND ICON: a grand piano laying
spectrum, becoming richer and more vertically on its side, with the strings
expansive. played by bowing.
DUO A' h A- *
2* DUO A"' h
In the 16-part score, the spectral compo- It should be noted that each (4 of the 81 The instrument is presented in a new
nents are activated as fundamentals with micro-music entities (the chain of those light; it now resembles a religious object
their own enhanced ))spectral life(( three aspects of the same score: (A', A", -Byzantine icon. At a time, when religion
(al'kmanation de I't5manationcc). by dif- A"') appears at three different moments was only possible in Romania through
ferent bowing techniques on the Sound of the macro-music and develops its own music, I called this instrument ))Sound
Icons. These processes of dynamicltim- rinner lifecc within three different times. Iconcc. Because I played violin myself, I
bra1 evolution oscillate between hetero- The rgolden number(( (0.618034 11.00) was obsessed with the idea of reversing
geneous and homogenous techniques of - sectio aurea - determines all of these the proportion of the roles between bows
sound production - a kind of sspectral time proportions. and strings. The problem was solved by
heterophonycc of sound sources. reducing the bow to a single hair - in
most instances, a very fine thread (di-
This macro-formal process affects our ameter 1/10 mm). By describing a sVe
The dynamics of the 16 parts are differ- subconscious, often creating a sensation around the piano string, this rosined
entiated, with a deep or faraway rppp(( of remembrance or premonition merging thread brings the string into vibration and
occuring more or less simultaneously into a magic trance. The ancient symbols causes all other open strings of the piano
with a very near sfffa. Since it is difficult are mnemotechnical indications for the to resonate in sympathetic vibration
resulting in a fabulous resonance; rhythm Publications describing his compositional
is transformed into timbre, etc.. theory include: Sound Plasma - Music of
The first public performance with Sound the Future Sign, Edition Modern, Munich
lcons took place in 1974 at the Festival 1973 and Musique des mes Univers,
de Provence in France, where 17 players Revue Silences NQ 1, Editions de la Dif-
premiered A DOINI op. 24. In A DOINI, fkrence, Paris 1985.
CLEPSYDRA and ASTRAY as well as in
other works, the bowing technique used
on the Sound lcons takes many variable His ceuvre includes over 70 pieces for
parameters into account: speed, angle, solo instruments, voice, chamber ensem-
diameter, pressure point along the string ble, orchestra and tape which have been
(a minimum of six: sul ponte, verso il performed in Europe, North and South
ponte, normal, un poco sul tasto, molto America. Israel, Japan and Australia.
sul tasto, moltissimo sul tasto), double
and triple ponticello, multiphonics on a
single string, etc.. The tuning of the DANIEL KIENTZY was born on June 13,
strings (scordatura) of the Sound Icon is 1951 in Pbrigueux. France. From 1966-72,
specific to each score and strictly corre- he played in various jazz and rock groups.
sponds to the intervals determined by the He studied double bass at the Versailles
spectral components (i.e. harmonic scales Conservatory and played in the orchestra
of logarithmic and thus unequal inter- of the Grand The8tre, Limoges, from
vals). Horatiu Radulescu 1972-74. Kientzy went on to study saxo-
phone at the Conservatoire National,
Limoges and at the Conservatoire Natio-
HORATIU RADULESCU was born on nal Superieur, Paris, where he was a-
January 7, 1942 in Bucharest, Romania. warded first prizes for saxophone and
He studied violin privately under Nina chamber music. Interested in early music,
Alexandrescu, herself a disciple of Geor- he founded the Musica Ficta group, in
ge Enescu and Jacques Thibaud. In 1969 which he played viola da gamba, record-
he was awarded the Master of Arts in ers, crum horn and bagpipe from 1974-78.
Composition from the Bucharest Aca- Since the late 1970's. Kientzy has devot-
demy of Music, where he studied compo- ed himself entirely to the saxophone. Not
sition, orchestration, analysis, and for- content with stereotyped playing tech-
malized music under Tiberiu Olah, Stefan niques, he undertook a comprehensive
Niculescu and Aurel Strob. He has been research program, first in a private studio
living in Paris since 1969. and then at IRCAM, and has succeeded in
making the saxophone a major solo
instrument for contemporary music. He
From 1970-72 he attended courses for has become internationally well known
new music given by Mauricio Kagel and through his inventions and extensions of
Luc Ferrari in Cologne, and John Cage, new playing techniques of the saxo-
lannis Xenakis and Karlheinz Stockhau- phone, including the introduction of elec-
sen in Darmstadt. He later worked with tronics into the instrument's range. His
computer assisted composition and psy- treatise Les Sons Multiples aux Saxo-
cho-acoustics in Paris at IRCAM from phoneswas published with Editions Sala-
1979-81. In 1988 he was guest of the bert, Paris in 1982.
Artists-in-Berlin Programme of the Ger-
man Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
in Berlin. In 1989 and 1990 he was awar- This recording was made possible by the
ded the French Villa Medicis hors les Artists-in-Berlin Programme of the Ger-
Mursgrant for the USA and Italy. man Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
and Noch Musik

In 1969 he began to develop the spectral

technique of composition: variable distri- Edition RZ
bution of spectral energy (sspectrum LeibnizstraCe 33
pulse((), synthesis of global sound sour- D-1000 Berlin 12
ces, processual micro-and macro-form, ED.RZ 1007
four simultaneous layers of perceptual 01990
speed, spectral scordatura (scales of une-
qual intervals corresponding to harmonic
scales). Printed in Germany