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
Kjetil Myklebust (tuba) 
