reviews for conSPIracy cantata |
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| PRESS REVIEWS: WIRE magazine 214, December 2001. Philip Clark Kyriakides has been resident in the UK since 1975 and his Conspiracy Cantata won the prestigious Gaudeamus Prize in 2000. It's a wonderful piece that makes connections between the cloak and dagger world of the CIA's encrypted spy transmissions and the espionage of ancient Greece. Scored for voices, piano, radio and electronics, Kyrikides derives much of his material from clandestine bleeps of Morse code. The voices intone a phonetic language while the piano relates to ancient Greece. The music sustains an intense and unsettling atmosphere over 35 minutes, with an alienated quality that perhaps derives from Kyriakides's observation that no government officialy recognises that these codes exist. Conspiracy cantata is surely a classic in the making. ------------------------------------------------------ FLUXEUROPA The eagerly anticipated first CD from the British/Cypriot Dutch based composer and electronic improviser Yannis Kyriakides combines elements of Schoenberg and Andriessen with strains of LaMonte Young, Trevor Wishart and Kirk Nurock. Exquisitely produced, and expertly played by Kyriakides himself on electronics, pianist Marion von Tilzer and vocalists Ayelet Harpaz and Stephie Buttrich, the three long pieces here form an intriguing document, in which Kyriakides expertly explores concepts of space, speed and volume. The forty five minute long title track immerses the listener in a whispering, staccato world of espionage transmissions and muttered oracles, which put me in mind of Stockhausen's recent ‘Friday from Light’ performance at the Barbican. Following from this hYDAtorizon is a spooky, unearthly piece for piano and sine waves, sort of Paul Schutze's Second Site with additions by Koji Asano. The final track, ‘tetTIX"’pitches furious insect buzzing alongside a drum machine and Diamanda Galas style howling and wailing. A fascinating, atmospheric listen throughout, a challenge to anybody who dares label electronic music faceless or boring. STEWART GOTT - 9 March 2002 ------------------------------------------------------ www.incursion.org Richard di Santo This marks the debut release for composer and electronic improviser Yannis Kyriakides. The title piece won a price at the Gaudeamus International Composition Competition in 2000. Joining Kyriakides (who, besides composing the pieces, performs on electronics) are Ayelet Harpaz and Stephie Büttrick (voices) and Marion von Tilzer (piano). The disc is packaged with detailed and insightful liner notes about the compositions. The first composition is divided into six parts: "a conSPIracy cantata" is a 45 minute piece for 2 alto voices, piano, radio and electronics. Its theme is cryptic messaging, intelligence and espionage. It approaches both modern and ancient themes, alternating between the ancient oracle at Delphi, cold war and post cold war transmissions. It begins with a voice pronouncing a series of numbers, and repeating them in a measured and cold tone of voice. Electronic textures, made up of layers of radio transmissions and static, waver unevenly around sampled and live piano. The piece goes through a series of movements, where the voices might figure more prominantly (pronouncing verses of an ancient oracle, isolated words in a playful back and forth) or where the tones and electronic textures take the more dominant roles. It's a thoroughly creative and well executed piece, complex and clever, with a strong and suggestive mood, recorded and mixed with admirable clarity. The second piece, for piano and sine waves, is titled "hYDAtorizon", after a term coined by the pre-Socratic philosopher Parmenides to describe his world view. The piece was created by placing four loudspeakers transmitting a constant signal of sine waves inside a piano. The waves coax complimentary harmonics from the piano's interior, while Marion von Tilzer performs additional notes using the keys. The piece consists of stunning harmonic textures; the interplay of piano and sine waves inspire a solemn and hypnotic sensation. The final piece, titled "tetTIX" (which means "cicada" in Homeric Greek), is a piece for voice, insect sounds and drum machine. The piece has developed in various stages since its initial incarnation as music for a dance piece for Karl Jay-Lewin. Complex and broken rhythms from the drum machine (thumps, deep bass tones, taps, blips and bleeps) are mixed with a wordless moaning from the voice of Ayelet Harpaz and the buzzing of insect sounds. The insect sounds are varied and are subjected to a series of treatments; sometimes they sound "pure", like the ... of cicadas, and at others they sound like a motor, or an electronically generated buzzing. Compared with the other two, this final piece is surprisingly rhythmic, and really rounds the disc off well, moving from spoken text and radio waves to complex harmonics and then to more rhythm-based electronic music. An excellent debut, inventive, accomplished, intense and highly recommended. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Volkskrant 29.11.2001. Frits van der Waa De op Cyprus geboren, maar inmiddels nogal Amsterdamse componist Iannis Kyriakides won in 2000 de Gaudeamusprijs met zijn werk SPI - afkorting voor "A conSPIracy cantata" voor twee stemen, piano an elektronica. Het stuk is nu verschenen op zijn eigen label Unsounds. Helaas is het de vormgever van de lichtblauwe priegellettertjes even ontgaan dat tekst doorgaans bedoeld is om te lezen. Maar Kyriakides' muziek mag er wezen. Het prijswerk - een stuk van drie kwartier - biedt een fantastisch amalgaam van live gespeeld an gemanipuleerd geluid. De klank is Louis Andriessen -achtig, maar de steeds wisselende timbres doen eerder denken aan de prepared piano- muziek van John Cage. Zeer curieus zijn de vreemde stemmen die cijfers reciteren, ontleend aan de zogenoemde "number sations" waarmee diversen geheime diensten codeberichten versturen. De twee extra stukken hYDAtorizon an tetTIX, zijn minder sterk, maar nog altijd apart. ---------------------------------------- Philippe / janvier 2002 BRDF [be] http://www.brdf.net A peine trois ou quatre jours après les attentats du 11 septembre 2001, on pouvait lire dans quelques journaux des informations sur les techniques cryptographiques utilisées au sein du réseau El Quaeda : les kamikazes infiltrés dans les écoles d'aviation américaines seraient restés connectés à la tête du mouvement via des messages cryptés cachés sur des sites pornographiques ! La diffusion de cette information assez drôle et surprenante touche autant à la cryptographie qu'à ce que Noam Chomsky appelle "la manufacture du consensus" (dans ce cas-ci, préparer l'opinion à accepter les bombardements massifs, approximatifs et vengeurs de l'Afghanistan). Sur a conSPIracy cantata, pièce maîtresse de son premier album éponyme, Yannis Kyriakides évoque, en musique et dans des contextes historiques très différents, ces deux questions. La composition aborde le monde trouble de la conspiration politique à travers deux facettes : d'une part, les psalmodies numériques ou sémantiques radiodiffusées en ondes courtes par les principaux services secrets (américains, israéliens, tchèques, cubains… ) à destination de leurs agents secrets et, d'autre part, la manipulation partisane des révélations de l'oracle de Delphes dans la Grèce antique. Le jeune compositeur d'origine grecque vivant à Amsterdam était bien placé pour fouiller ce passé, éloigné dans le temps mais proche de nous dans certaines de ses pratiques, où Delphes était à la fois un sanctuaire religieux et une institution officielle de divination et de (dés-)information, le babil inintelligible de la pythie étant manipulé à souhait lors de sa traduction en hexamètres par les prophètes. Musicalement, la pièce marie le piano, les interventions électroniques à la Ryoji Ikeda, les enregistrements de radio espionnes (provenant de la fameuse compilation "The Conet Project" [1]) et les voix féminines déclamant de fascinantes litanies codées ("I / You / We / Flesh / Blood / Skin / Poem / Man / Child / Bird / Dog / ..."). L'œuvre, qui propose enfin une piste contemporaine pour une musique électronique non déconnectée de l'histoire - histoire politique et histoire de la musique -, offre de splendides moments d'intrication des sons et des textures sonores, des matières organiques et technologiques, du vivant et de la machine, du minéral et de l'éther radiophonique. Un peu inquiétante, la composition arrive à maintenir son mystère, sa nature clandestine et hermétique tout en suggérant aussi le glissement de l'idée de conspiration du politico-stratégique vers un champ plus intime : le corps, la voix, les sentiments. Le premier disque du label Unsounds, structure amstellodamoise mise en place par Isabelle Vigier - qui signe la très belle pochette -, Andy Moor (The Ex, Kletka Red… ) et Yannis Kyriakides lui-même, comporte encore deux autres pièces plus courtes. hYDAtorizon est une expérimentation plus méditative et atemporelle sur les harmoniques produites par quatre hauts parleurs diffusant des ondes sinusoïdales à l'intérieur d'un piano. tetTiX (cigale en grec) propose un dialogue pas toujours convaincant entre une boite à rythmes et quelques insectes : les sons de boite à rythmes sont assez étonnants mais les enregistrements d'insectes un peu banals (Chris Watson nous ayant habitué à des enregistrements d'insectes autrement plus mystérieux). Cela ne suffit évidemment pas à nous faire bouder notre plaisir : cet album offre au moins soixante minutes réellement singulières et intensément inspirantes. [1] quadruple CD "The Conet Project" (Irdial Disks, 1997) / Toujours sur les radios espionnes, consultez le site de Simon Mason BRDF [be] http://www.brdf.net --------------------------------------- -KYRIAKIDES WINS GAUDEAMUS MUSIC PRIZE Algemeen Dagblaad 11.9.2000 ...”The jury has chosen for originality, controversy and craftsmanship: the winner is Yannis Kyriakides... “... In SPI for two female voices, piano and electronics Kyriakides made the most out of a minimum of material. The voices form a good combination with the electronics, and the 45 minute piece keeps the tension from beginning till the very end.” --------------------------------------- THE GAUDEAMUS PRIZE GOES TO AN ORIGINAL CANTATA The Telegraph 12.9.2000 “Yannis Kyriakides (1969), who was born in Cyprus, grew up in England and later studied with Louis Andriessen in The Royal Conservatory in The Hague and now lives in Amsterdam, is the winner of the Gaudeamus composers competition. “Kyriakides’ SPI - a conspiracy cantata - was chosen out of 300 entries... ... Spi was the longest and one of the most ambitious pieces that made it to the finals this year and was surely one of the best things to be heard... ...This cantata has an interesting musical and dramatic context, and even though the piece might seem long, Kyriakides gives it an original and strict form, that is the mark of a true composer. “...The strength of the piece is its air of dissasotiation and its inexpressiveness, which reveal themselves precisely and beautifully in mellow and long ongoing lines. The triadic harmony is used with widely spaced tones, giving a strange alienating sensation, and the subtle changes of rhythmic perspective also contribute to this impressive effect... --------------------------------------- CRICKETS AND DRAGONFLIES Trouw, April 2000 “... After SLAM BAM we hear the refreshing and original composition tetTIX by Kyriakides for female voice, drum machine and insect sounds. It is an enchanted world of sounds. As if you where lying on a bed somewhere in Italy, and a dragonfly was about to enter your ear, but then just flew away. The call of crickets is heard, and with it the sound of a machine further up the street. A siren (the woman) sings her plaintive seduction, nearby and then further away. Simply Beautiful.” --------------------------------------- KYRIAKIDES CREATES WORLDS OF SOUNDS “Eindhoven Dagblad” by René van Peer A concert with music by Yannis Kyriakides; Ayelet harpaz and Stephie Buttrich - voice, Marion von Tilzer - piano. Plaza Futura, Eindhoven, wednesday, 29th of October. “There are concerts when from the very first sound you know you are in good hands.The concert with music of the composer Yannis Kyriakides....was a perfect example. The concert began with the angry buzz of an insect trapped inside a jar. The smile that spreads on our face with the sudden recognition is replaced by curiosity when the sharp sound of the insect is taken over by the voice of the singer Ayelet Harpaz. A seamless interchange of this kind between artificial and human sounds is rare. The concert of Kyriakides came in good timing, earlier in the year this ex-pupil of Louis Andriessen won the prestigious Gaudeamus prize for his composition SPI, which was heard in the second half of the concert. The combination of conventional with unconventional sounds sources is one of the main features of his work which was performed in the concert. Next to the piano and voice he combines insect sounds , irregular drum machine sounds, piercing sine tones, and recordings of coded messages from the shortwave radio .These astonishing sounds together with the balanced way in which he combines them with the play of the musicians reveals a very distinct and personal soundworld. “... The piece “SPI - a conspiracy cantata” was the central work of the evening. It’s basic material are number series transmitted on short wave radio, probably for espionage use, codes which nobody as yet has been able to crack. Through these recordings, the hypnotizing voice of Stephie Buttrich and Ayelet Harpaz and wide separate notes of piano and electronics Kyriakides feeds the audience with a message that is both intruiging and disturbing. Although the singers’ voices were recognizable, the meaning of their words was unintelligible. Mystery and sounds were made captive, but not unveiled.” --------------------------------------- |
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