5 RECORDED MATERIAL
5.4 Conclusions 1 Found material
The works presented in this chapter have been an occasion for me to investigate the question of found material and its appropriation. The difficulties of authorship encountered when making use of materials that I had not generated myself have led me to conclude that such methods would not be viable in the long term, in spite of the great variety of sound worlds which they may give access to. Also, such ways of working are more suited to presenting a plethora of different materials rather than developing one single idea, which is why it could be argued than in a piece like Etude de Synchronisation, in spite of the variety of materials presented, the rate of change comes across as too regular after a while. These two self-criticisms, therefore, guided me towards more self-contained forms of composition in subsequent works. This singular approach has, nevertheless, been fundamental for my understanding of the process of composition. This experience, together with my former écriture studies, taught me a great deal about the difference between writing in a given style, using referenced material, and writing ‘your own’ music. This use of samples, as found material, also made me realise that com-posing (putting together) rarely means generating material
ex nihilo, since the methods of generation themselves, the instruments, or the
conventions within which concert pieces are presented are all culturally inherited. Finally composing with/from referenced materials touches on the paradoxes that composers always oscillate between: the necessity to refer to a tradition and
authority in the act of composing.
5.4.2 Authorship
The notion of authorship, as we conceive it now, did not exist in the Middle Ages. For example Vincent de Beauvais writes in the prologue – Libellus Apologeticus – of his encyclopaedia Speculum Majus (the most comprehensive encyclopaedia
ordinatione’30 (Zimmermann, 2001, p. 159). Thus, the encyclopaedist insists on the fact that his task was merely to compile and authenticate. Similarly Chaucer closes The Canterbury Tales with its retraction: ‘(...) namely of my translacions and enditynges of worldly vanitees, the whiche I revoke in my retracciouns’ (Fisher, Allen & Chaucer, [ca. 1389] 2011).
Retractions, or palinodes, were very common in the Middle Ages, probably because to be an author (auctor: who increases), or the creator of a work, could be subject to censorship or inquisition. This is because authorship (or authority) properly belonged to God, and because most writings were collective.
The medieval notion of collective authorship is closer today to scientific research than artistic practice. The function of a scientific publication is to contribute to the knowledge of a given research field, which requires contextualisation and
acknowledgment of works published in the field. Art, on the other hand, is
concerned with aesthetics and taste, which cultivate implicit values – such as, for instance, self-expression, the uniqueness of the artist’s craft, or the structural unity of the work – and incline us to judge autonomous works with greater respect in art than in science.
5.4.3 Postmodernism
While such direct or unmediated expression of the self was associated with heresy in the Middle Ages, the sceptical attitude that postmodern composers adopted towards their material gave rise to a similar distance towards what might be called direct speech31 (in favour of reported speech). Postmodernism, for Jonathan Kramer (1996), Umberto Eco (1989), or Jean-François Lyotard (1979), is less a style or a historical period rather than an attitude. Kramer explains that postmodern music ‘shows disdain for the often unquestioned value of structural unity’ and ‘includes quotations of or references to music of many traditions and cultures’ (Kramer, 1996, p. 1). Indeed, the third movement of Berio’s Sinfonia quotes, references, reports, or documents external sources. In that regard such work resembles medieval motets or encyclopaedias, and contrasts with the idea of the artist’s self-expression and of his own, unique, inner vision. Although this
30 ‘They are the authors, I am only the compilor’ (my translation). 31
Brian Ferneyhough, during a private lesson at IRCAM, while discussing a harmonically consonant passage in my piece De Joye Interdict, made an observation expressing this distance explicitly: ‘As long as it is not tonal, but “tonal”’ (mimicking scare quotes with his fingers).
belief in self-reflection or introspection – which is not without suggesting a form of narcissism – is inherited from German Romanticism, it is still very influential in the artistic research of many composers today. Thus, discussing composers of the Second Modernity, Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf writes:
They are interested in the development of their personal style, their poetics and their life's work (…). As today’s culture continues to be postmodern (…), the art of second modernity stands in opposition to this in its emphasis on seriousness and artistic truth. (Mahnkopf, 2008, p. 10)
Amongst the works presented in this chapter, the Etude de Synchronisation – which could also have been called Etude de Transcription – has been one of the most instructive. The initial project was not to compose a postmodern work, and yet reflecting on the piece afterwards revealed that it is quite characteristic of this style or attitude. Using such heterogeneous sources of material made me aware of fundamental concepts and problems such as authorship, found material, and transcription, which are of central importance for a composer today. Transcribing/notating fragments of borrowed material, in particular, showed me how the choices made during the notational process necessarily reflect the way I perceive them. These fragments became mine essentially by the act of transcribing. The function of notation in this particular work was therefore to transform and assimilate external ideas, thus contributing to the development of my personal style.