Electric Tuba
Tony BLOMDAHL HiLoFi [4:32]
Benjamin STAERN Endast luft och brus (Only air and noise) [8:24]
Ida LUNDÉN Trubba [6:38]
Mattias HANSSON Enter the Tuba [7:19]
Daniel HJORTH Prim [10:56]
Stefan KLAVERDAL I heard before me a loud voice (Revelation 1:10) [7:44]
(The CD also includes electronic interludes by Stefan Klaverdal)
Kjetil Myklebust (tuba)
rec. Soundlife Studio, Malmö 2009
C-Y CONTEMPORARY CY0904 [46:59]
Is electronica an underground culture in Sweden? The diversity of music on
this disc suggests it isn’t a ‘school’ in the traditional
sense. However, the project has been funded, or at least underwritten, by
the Swedish National Council for Cultural Affairs, suggesting some institutional
support for experimental music in Northern climes.
The disc is the brainchild of tubist Kjetil Myklebust, who made contact with
the composers while studying in Malmö. The configuration of tuba and
electronics is different in each piece, ranging from the instrument as concerto
soloist in Benjamin Staern’s Endast luft och brus to absent
provider of samples for Mattias Hansson’s Enter the Tuba. But
the use of extended performance techniques - singing into the instrument,
tongue clicks and the like - in every work suggests a close collaboration
between player and composers.
It’s an interesting instrument for electronic manipulation. You’ve
got some deep pedal notes, from which you can derive spectral effects, as
in the Benjamin Staern, or percussive interference beat patterns, as in Stefan
Klaverdal’s I heard behind me a loud voice. The mid-range of
the instrument - the range it would use in the orchestra - is almost entirely
absent from these works. Then you’ve got the very highest notes which
on the evidence of these recordings are neither lyrical nor focused. HiLoFi by
Tony Blomdahl uses the high register extensively, as does Trubba by
Ida Lundén. The sound in both cases is strained and wheezy, exactly
the effect both composers are after I suspect, and one that complements their
various electronic manipulations. It is difficult to tell what tuba Myklebust
plays, but from a corner of it that is shown in one of the liner photos.
It seems to be a rotary valve B flat instrument - a very big tuba indeed,
and not the sort you would expect to hear pleasant high notes from.
All of the works are of the short, experimental type. So there is a lot of
timbral exploration, usually only one or two musical ideas per work, and
little structural thinking beyond the gradual transformation of individual
timbres. HiLoFi by Tony Blomdahl gets the programme off to an abrasive
start, a round tuba pedal underpinning some white noise type higher register
effects. Lo-fi is treated as a virtue here, lots of dirty, industrial sounds
and grating, saw tooth textures.
Endast luft och brus (Only air and noise) by Benjamin Staern is a
more sophisticated affair. It is a study towards a concerto for tuba, live
electronics and orchestra. The high glissandos in the electronics hark back
to Darmstadt, while the gradually evolving textures demonstrate more sophisticated
technological resources. This piece works, better than any other on the disc
in my opinion, because it retains the identity and almost physical presence
of the tuba. One of the most interesting effects comes from Myklebust growling
and singing into the tuba and varying the pitch to created interference patterns.
This is then taken up by the electronics and manipulated further - an example
of ‘kontakte’ even Stockhausen would have been proud of.
Trubba by Ida Lundén is less ambitious. It is based on repeated
note patterns on the tuba multitracked to create phase differences. Enter
the tuba by Mattias Hansson is the only work on the disc to be based
purely on samples: not presenting any semblance of live performance. Perhaps
for this reason, the tuba is all but unrecognisable, which is a shame, even
if it does give the composer the freedom to create some fascinating aural
landscapes, scuttling textures and visceral effects.
Prim by Daniel Hjorth uses repeated note patterns from the tuba, manipulated
to sound almost like a didgeridoo, and populating an asymmetrical rhythmic
structure based on prime numbers. The agogic structure is articulated by
various forms and levels of attack by the tuba, while the musical interest
is maintained through gradually evolving sound-envelopes. The notion of mediated
live performance is given an interesting twist by Hjorth, who specifies that
when the work is performed live, the tuba should use a silent brass practice
mute. That is a fairly recent piece of technology in itself, and offers the
intriguing possibility of seeing the tuba being played on the stage, while
the sound it makes is completely subject to electronic manipulation.
I heard behind me a loud voice by Stefan Klaverdal crosses over into
the realm of dance music, with heavy bass, repetitive beats and trancey treble
effects. Speaking in purely ideological terms, I’m very pleased that
the worlds of art electronica and dance music are finding common ground:
it can only be of benefit to both. However, the quantity of tuba in this
work is considerably less than elsewhere on the disc. I’ve nothing
against the Lemonjelly backing effects, but why not create them from manipulated
tuba sounds?
This is certainly a varied disc, and one that approaches the idea of ‘electric
tuba’ from a satisfyingly diverse array of musical angles. It’s
more for electronica fans than tuba fans I’d say, and most of the projects
are too experimental to be considered consummate or lasting contributions
to the repertoire. But one or two works have real potential, the Daniel Hjorth
and the Benjamin Staern in particular. The latter, as I mentioned, is a preparatory
study for a concerto, and that could be the piece that really puts the electric
tuba on the map.
Gavin Dixon