Davidovsky +

Mario Davidovsky's «Synchronisms» are masterpieces of instrumental music with a playback tape that the Ensemble Phoenix Basel had already planned to perform in 2020, but which could not be realised due to the pandemic. Instead, a double-LP was created. For the new edition of the idea of playing Davidovsky's music in concert, the ensemble was able to win the ZHdK Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology (ICST) as a co-production partner. In this collaboration, seven new compositions by students for the same line-up are being created.
Mario Davidovsky is one of the great figures of American New Music – but has hardly been played in Europe so far. He was a pioneer of electronic music, working at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center as early as 1960. However, his work includes much more than electronic music. His most famous works, the «Synchronisms», a series of over a dozen works created over a period of more than 40 years, have influenced generations of composers. In combining «classical» instruments with pre-produced electronic sounds, Davidovsky, unlike many other composers in this genre, is not at all interested in particular «sound effects», but seeks to fuse the instrumental sound with the electronic, creating both continuity and intrinsic musical expression. The earliest «Synchronisms» date from a time when today's «sound technology» was still in its infancy, but they are nonetheless masterpieces that are second to none; the long period during which the «Synchronisms» were created also documents the technical progress in this field over time. Mario Davidovsky has received an unusually large number of awards for his work, including the Pulitzer Prize, which he was awarded explicitly for his work «Synchronisms No. 6» in 1971.

With

Christoph Bösch (flute), Toshiko Sakakibara (clarinet/bass clarinet), Maurizio Grandinetti (guitar/e-guitar), Ludovic Van Hellemont (piano), Friedemann Treiber (violin), Stéphanie Meyer (violoncello), Aleksander Gabryś (double bass), Jürg Henneberger (artistic director)

Program

Mario Davidovsky (1934-2019): "Synchronisms" Nos. 1, 3, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12 (1963-2006)

"Synchronisms No. 1" for flute and tape (1963)
"Synchronisms No. 3" for violoncello and tape (1964)
"Synchronisms No. 6" for piano and tape (1970)
"Synchronisms No. 9" for violin and tape (1988)
"Synchronisms No. 10" for guitar and tape (1992)
"Synchronisms No. 11" for double bass and tape (2005)
"Synchronisms No. 12" for clarinet and tape (2006)

Young composers, students of the ZHdK (class for electroacoustic composition Germán Toro Pérez)

Nuño Fernández Ezquerra (1992): New work for electric guitar and electronics (première, commissioned by EPhB)
Felix Friedrich (2003): New work for violoncello and electronics (première, commissioned by EPhB)
Seçil Metin (1994): New work for piano and electronics (UA, commission EPhB)
Johann Schmitz: New work for clarinet and electronics (UA, commission EPhB)
Franziska Wilhelm (2003:): New work for violin and electronics (première, commissioned by EPhB)
Andrzej Ojczenasz (1992): New work for flute and electronics (UA, commission EPhB)
Joan Jordi Oliver Arcos (1994): New work for double bass and electronics (première, commissioned by EPhB)

Info

19:00 Concert introduction with Jürg Henneberger

Duration

120 minutes, with break

Prices

CHF 35.-/25.-/15.- (free choice at the box office or in advance)
Free admission applies to persons with residence permit N, F or S. / CHF 5.- students of the Hochschule für Musik FHNW and the Musicology Seminar of the University of Basel / CHF 10.- members Colourkey and children under 12 years.

Links

→ ensemble-phoenix.ch