Sunday, September 3, 2023

When Music Disappears... {La musique d'un certain terme}


'intuniv" for String Quartet and Chimes.  Recording on LNM (CD).  Formerly found on SoundCloud.  Recorded at Oktaven Recording Studios, NYC.

When music disappears... because the composer insists.  

Four works, Four recordings.


"Telephasio: Upside The Fandom" for Mezzo-Soprano, Bass Recorder, Valve Trombone, Viola I, Viola II, and Piano.  RECORDING on LNM (CD).  Formerly on SoundCloud.  Recorded at 25th Street Recording Studios, Oakland, CA.  DESTROYED.

This project was uniquely personal and I elected to photograph those people closest to me to exhibit.

I placed certain constraints and requirements as to precisely how each recording was to be presented  and how long each work should be available.

"Impact Tilting - Clumps of Dried Air Weed Spinning Against Its Terminal Pier and Covered with Gnomic Meaningless Graffiti" Bil Smith Composer; Recorded at The Parlor, NY, NY.  Recording on LNM Label (CD).

At first, it's there...on SoundCloud, on iTunes, on Amazon, on physical CD's and then it leaves us.

Some hear it...   Most never will.

In the case of these first four musical recordings, a total of 17 people heard them.  They were from Denton, TX, USA;  Nyasvizh, Belarus;  Antsirabe, Madagascar;  Hoboken, NJ, USA;   Kopenick, Germany....etc.

Yes, there are scores.  But no one will hear them again.  (Hear...not see:  that decision has not been made as of this writing)

It is a privilege as a composer, we control.  

"Contingent Archipelago" for Woodwind Quintet and Piano.  Recorded at Evolution Recording Studios, Oxford, England. Recording released on LNM Music.  Formerly found on SoundCloud.

In composition class, of which I foster confrontational views, this action was coined as "narcissistic, vain, self contained and crazed."

Students, then in an attempt to brand the concept of 'musical elimination' cited the general disdain of composers to be lumped into any group and with that consensus, moved to create a nomenclature; a moniker.  And a representative selection...

Destructural Narratology

Decontextualized Sonification

Eliminationalism

Blocked Discourse: (a polysyllogism)

Socratic Fallacy

Utopian Gestalt

Hypo-Atomism

Maybe I should find careers for them in the name development business.

- Bil Smith Composer







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