Videography and editing by Evo Szuyuan.
This video is an overture featuring some highlights from my brand new composition for the Avatar Orchestra Metaverse called "Riesenrad" that was premiered on November 24th, 2007 at the Wien Modern Festival in Vienna in Real Life (RL). If you cannot see this embedded video, click here. Please click here for the Youtube version.If you wish to hear the full audio recording of Riesenrad, Bingo Onomatopoeia recorded the whole thing on his Transponderfish website.Hey there Classical Canon-ites,
Sirius Stock(hausen)holders and Turkish Delights,
PHEW! I have finally blogged this posting all about my second
Orchestral composition "Riesenrad" that was premiered last week at
Wien Modern (
Philiale im Gartenbaukino) in Vienna (
RL) and also at
Virtual Haidplatz on Odyssey Island (
SL).
In this posting, I have tried to compile all the relevant information about my most recent composition since
SLippery SLope (also ca. 2007) and so you might see some updates to this posting in the next few days since I want to make sure that my full intention as a composer has been expressed and articulated properly to you (yes "you", the blog reader).
Hopefully in a few days, I will have recovered enough energy to continue my blog about the
Orchestra's concert at
Wien Modern since there were three other compositions (and one other Premiere) on display at this historic event.
So for now, let me just post the official documents and some of my most candid thoughts that both inspired the composition as well as help bring it from the realm of the virtual into the real...er...back into the "virtual" again...or.... maybe it is back in the realm of the "real"? SIGH! HELP!!!!
I almost fell into a
philosophical black hole there so enough of that, lets focus on my official programme notes for Riesenrad....
OFFICIAL PROGRAMME NOTES FOR WIEN MODERN:RIESENRAD - Wirxli Flimflam (Jeremy Owen Turner - Vancouver, Canada),
2007
Subtitle: An abstract musical ferris wheel Gesamtkunstwerk for
Modernist and Classicist Avatars.
Composer/Conductor - Wirxli Flimflam.
Modernist HUD Interface Designer - Bingo Onomatopoeia (Andreas Müller
- Regensburg, Germany)
Set Designer and Architect - DeThomas Dibou (Detlef Thomas -
Regensburg, Germany)
Performers - Avatar Orchestra Metaverse (Global)
This timbrally maximalist composition is an homage to all the
composers throughout history that have either lived, worked or
premiered any of their own compositions in Vienna.
Structurally speaking, this composition can be seen as a hyper-
modernist and mechanistic "proof-of-concept" rather than a Romantic
style composition with a clearly defined programmatic narrative with a
Schenkarian tonal resolution hierarchy.
The "real" Riesenrad is actually Vienna's largest family-sized Ferris
Wheel and a familiar tourist attraction. The Riesenrad (German for
"Giant Ferris Wheel") was built with Teutonic and Turkish themes for
the amusement of the local royal family of the time. The original
wheel was erected in 1897 to celebrate Emperor Franz Josef I's Golden
Jubilee. The designer was an Englishman, Walter Bassett.
Since the composer in real life (Jeremy O. Turner) happens to be of
direct English ancestry and is one who worships the Germanic Classical
Music Tradition, the Riesenrad seems like an ideal choice for a
musical object. Although the original Riesenrad was equipped with 30
plus-sized cabins, the Riesenrad in Second Life only has 12 cabins in
order to mirror and honour Vienna's glorious dodecaphonic dynasty (ie.
Schoenberg and Webern) that will most certainly ensure the supremacy of
Germanic music for another 1,000 days.
The Orchestra repesents the (virtual) wheel's virtually moving chairs/
cabins - the ferris wheel itself never spins on its assigned axis...In
this case, the original virtualization/asbtraction of the Vienna
Riesenrad has been further virtualized/abstracted to suit the playful
whimsy of the avatar playground known as Second Life. In this sense,
the Riesenrad has been reduced to a theatrical prop without its own
mechanical autonomy.
At the wheel's maximum orchestral capacity, Riesenrad includes
aleatoric elements from the North American Kiddie game, Musical
Chairs.
If the wheel is not filled to capacity during the performance, the
conductor (who produces their own sound drones that emanating from the
magical laser baton and the conductor's sidepack) can determine how the
piece ends based on his/her personal aesthetic judgement.
In the case of the composition's World Premiere at Wien Modern, the
Composer/Conductor will discretely end the composition at the 15
minute mark. For this abridged composition, the Composer will allow
the Modernists (who by nature, prefer immediacy to reflection) to play
first in order to illustrate the speed and dexterity of the virtual
wheel's clockwise and counter-clockwise axis.... These Modernists play 2
custom in-world performance interfaces that allow them to trigger at
will 24 recycled samples from various composers affiliated with
Vienna. The Modernists have two HUDs to suit their mood(s). One is
Germanic and the other is Turkish in order to suit the closeted
cosmopolitan character of the historical and contemporary Vienna.
After awhile (well, 5 minutes actually), the Composer and will then
gradually introduce the more contemplative Classicist performers
(flute and cello players) who are assigned specially composed mini-
mantras from which they must perform gruelling circular transposition
cycles that have been directly appropriated from the Romantic Genius
of Beethoven's later String Quartets.
Riesenrad in essence, is the ultimate abstration of a perpetual Slow-
Motion machine built for the hyper-post-modern age.PERFORMANCE SNAPSHOTS FROM THE PREMIERE OF RIESENRAD AT WIEN MODERN...
Here is a visual overture of the ferris wheel designed by the Orchestra's in-house set-architect, DeThomas Dibou. This snapshot was likely taken on the very first downstroke (bat) of my conductor's baton. This baton, by the way not only produced duo-tone lasers but also produced its own sound loops via a HUD (Heads Up Display) that you can see at the top of the screen. This is probably only of those instances where the conductor actually directly contributes to the sonic palette of the orchestra in addition to merely cueing the ensemble's sounds in the conventional manner.
At the top of this pic, there are 3 buttons:
1) A purple rewind button for counter-clockwise wheel movements
2) A blue stop button which stops both the conducting cues for the orchestra as well as the sound and....
3) The pink forward button which allows the orchestra to move foreward.
Each conducting motion has it own drone-loop sound that I composed as it represents the conducted motion (engine) of the ferris wheel. These loops were embedded into this playable HUD by Bingo Onomatopoeia.
In this view, we can see in more detail the nametags of the Orchestra performers as well as some distinguished members of the audience (well, at least those who managed to peer into my eye-cam at the time).
Here is a good close-up of the conductor (me) in action.
Here I am at the end of the performance of Riesenrad. Instead of giving the crowd an encore, I displayed the back of my t-shirt to the audience. Viva Mozart! Rock me Amadeus!INSPIRATION BEHIND RIESENRAD:
Well, it should be pretty obvious by now that I would be influenced by what Vienna is most famous for, their Genius-Level Classical Composers! Of course being inspired by pure Germanic genius kinda sorta means that the standard for achievement is somewhat higher than usual, eh? I mean if it is anything slightly aesthetically less than what the Viennese-based composers have produced, then the audience simply will not take notice, correct? No wonder composing my Riesenrad exhausted me! SIGH! Only history will judge whether or not my efforts have merited even a nod from my divine ancestors!
Speaking of Germanic genius level composers, I guess I should also retroactively acknowledge one of the last living composers from this immortal pantheon, Karlheinz Stockhausen. I had no idea about his ferris-esque spiral piece shown here until my dress rehearsal but maybe it was in my subconscious somewhere and for sure, Stockhausen would certainly inspire anything produced in a virtual world because his own compositions in the "real" world were probably only really meant to have been played in an environment such as Second Life or some astral parallel dimension or something. Maybe Stockhausen is channeling an avatar alt or some extraterrestrial being from elsewhere because I heard this story from my orchestral colleague Hars Hefferman. Hefferman studied with Stockhausen in RL and apparently, Stockhausen insisted that his performers truly learn to fly as he had outlined this in his score - he was NOT being symbolic when he said this and I am guessing his mind may have briefly been lurking in SL during his own rehearsal! Geez, I think maybe Stockhausen might genuinely become interested in composing for the AOM since at least we know how to make his score come literally (well, virtually) to life!Another influence which I absolutely need to mention before I (conveniently)forget is the
Maximalist (formerly
Minimalist) work of the Dutch composer,
Diderik Wagenaar (not to be confused with the German composer,
Richard Wagner). He composed this piece called
Metrum (ca, 1981-84) which I heard and subconsciously absorbed via aesthetic osmosis when
studying music composition at Uvic in
RL a decade ago...
Metrum actually reminds me alot of my own
Riesenrad composition and it probably does not help my
novelty credibility to recall that his
album cover also featured a ferris wheel...sigh! I guess I am enhancing the myth that creativity in
Second Life is only about
remediation of something more "original" in
Real Life...sigh!
In terms of other European influences, I guess I will have to concede that there was at least one (gasp!) French influence.
Olivier Messiaen's Modes of Limited Transposition definitely had an influence on my (here is my new title) "Modes of Relatively Frustrating and Still Somewhat Limited Circular-Virtuo-Spatial-Aleatoric-Romantic Transposition(s)". Ok, my permutation might not be as catchy sounding but at least the result is nowhere near as
bird-brained! Heheheheheheh. ;-)
Hmmmmmm... Any other influences? Oh yes, I have one American one and several Canadian ones. The
Orchestra's Founder
Maximillian Nakamura wisely pointed out that I am influenced by the polytonality of
Charles Ives. Even in my
music composition days at University in
RL, my Professors compared my early work and sensibility to (probably a second-rate)
Charles Ives. I have actually been revisiting Ives lately but not for his aesthetic innovations.... On the contrary, the next lesson that I need to learn from my continentally tuned guru is how to enact a get-rich-quick scheme ASAP so I can focus all my future efforts on my art :-D Some of you might know that Ives is one of the few independently wealthy maverick composers to have ever existed and this was because he channeled some of his genius towards the creation and development of the then-radical concept of
life insurance.
As for my most local Canadian influences, I am a big fan of the
Electacoustic scene championed by Montreal's
Empreintes DIGITALes Label:
Paul Dolden (
whom I interviewed in RL for
Musicworks Magazine) and
Robert Normandeau (whom I had some drinks with in
RL at the
Bengal Lounge in the
Empress Hotel in Victoria) are a couple examples of the composers I am deeply influenced by. Another extremely local influence is
Barry Truax who (along with people like
Curtis Roads), invented
granular synthesis.
Outside of the music world, I was also directly inspired by a musical lecture that the Dutch artist
John Körmeling gave a few years ago in
Vancouver (
RL) about his
drive-in ferris wheel called,
Mobile Fun.
Ok, enough about my
musical muses and other assorted immortal idols, lets focus now on more practical matters...
MY COMPOSITIONAL PROCESSES:THE CLASSICALLY NOTATED SCORES FOR THE "CLASSICIST" PERFORMERS:Before I show you the notated scores, here are the official Performance Instructions for Classicist Performers (which applied to both flute and cello players):
1) NAVIGATING FROM START TO FINISH ON THE FERRIS WHEEL (RIESENRAD)
a- At the composition's beginning, all performers pick their own seat on the ferris wheel and wait for Wirxli to begin conducting (or through a group IM from Wirxli).
b- All seats will seat one avatar except for the very top and very bottom chair, which will seat two.
c- Sitting is done by right-clicking on the chair. To move to the next chair, just right-click on it and "sit here".
d- To begin the piece, Wirxli will conduct (using a sound and corresponding animation) the Orchestra to begin moving in clockwise motion but this will reverse over time.
d- Please only move your avatar from chair-to-chair when Wirxli is conducting. If Wirxli has stopped waving the baton, you must also remain in your chair.
e- If there are no places on the wheel either directly in front or behind you to sit down when Wirxli stops conducting. You join the audience and stop playing.
2) PAY ATTENTION TO WIRXLI's CONDUCTING ANIMS AND CORRESPONDING SOUNDS
a- When instructed by Wirxli (in conducting mode), the players will perform either in a clockwise or counter-clockwise motion.
b- Wirxli is the conductor and will be playing two samples while conducting.
c- One sound to cue the performers to gradually move from chair to chair (right-clicking on the next chair) in a clockwise motion.
d- ...and the other in a counter-clockwise motion. The counter-clockwise sample sounds slightly "backwards" and is also lower in pitch.
3) CLASSICAL PERFORMANCE INSTRUCTIONS
a- The Cello and flute players have their own "mantra" available as an uploaded image showing a few measures of conventional notation composed by Wirxli.
b- Each performer will transpose their personal mantra depending on the chair they are sitting on.
c- The rhythm is merely suggested for playing under ideal conditions.
d- If one cannot play their instrument reliably in realtime due to lag or other factors, one can treat the notated score as a basic TONE-ROW.
e- Transposing the pitch-set (tone row) in ascending or descending order will be determined by the direction each Classcist is traveling on the wheel.
f- The classcist can move after playing one repetition of the mantra (or Tone Row) in its correct transposition and direction (see below).
g- The transposition is as follows: Starting chair = notated mantra...
Pink chair = transposed up/down one semitone,
blue chair = transposed up/down one minor third ,
purple chair = transposed up/down an additional semitone
h- After going through 3 seat transpositions, one may return to the tonic position (as seen in notated score) and begin transposing again.
i- When moving clockwise, please play the entire mantra from beginning to end once unless Wirxli stops conducting.
j- when moving counter-clockwise, please play the mantra in RETROGRADE unless Wirxli stops conducting but the colour-coded transpositions still apply.
4) STRUCTURAL CONSIDERATIONS
a- The composition formally ends when enough orchestra players cannot find a place to sit in their immediate vicinity when Wirxli's conducting has paused.
b- You are not encouraged to listen to the Modernists as they might distract you from your realtime sight-reading pitch transpositions and focus on the conductor.
c- most importantly, focus on the conductor and the avatar(s) one seat next to you (front and behind).
NOTE: IF THERE IS ANY QUESTION ABOUT THE CLACISSISTS'S PERFORMANCE ROLE IN "RIESENRAD", PLEASE CONTACT WIRXLI DIRECTLY ON THE GOOGLE LIST OR IN-WORLD.
This is the c-score for the hypercello's mantra. The rhythm is subjective and also based on the bandwidth speed ("lag") at the time. So, if the bandwidth lag is really slow, the performer can ignore the tempo and rhythmic intervals and treat the score more like a tone-row.
This is the c-score for the hyperflute's mantra. The fact that the notation seems "faster" than the cello's score does not mean the flute may actually play faster in realtime. Again, the speed of this can vary according to the performer's confidence in the piece and the bandwidth "lag" that may slow down the instrument's response to the performer. The rhythmic notation is only meant to be performed under ideal conditions and can also be played as a tone-row if the instrument is barely responsive due to bandwidth "lag" issues.THE MODERNIST HUDs DESIGNED BY BINGO ONOMATOPOEIA FOR THE MODERNIST PERFORMERS:Before I show the picture, here is an excerpt from the official Performance Instructions for the Modernist Performers (and I quote):
1) NAVIGATING FROM START TO FINISH ON THE FERRIS WHEEL (RIESENRAD)
a- At the composition's beginning, all performers pick their own seat on the ferris wheel and wait for Wirxli to begin conducting (or through a group IM from Wirxli).
b- All seats will seat one avatar except for the very top and very bottom chair, which will seat two.
c- Sitting is done by right-clicking on the chair. To move to the next chair, just right-click on it and "sit here".
d- To begin the piece, Wirxli will conduct (using a sound and corresponding animation) the Orchestra to begin moving in clockwise motion but this will reverse over time.
d- Please only move your avatar from chair-to-chair when Wirxli is conducting. If Wirxli has stopped waving the baton, you must also remain in your chair.
e- If there are no places on the wheel either directly in front or behind you to sit down when Wirxli stops conducting. You join the audience and stop playing.
2) PAY ATTENTION TO WIRXLI's CONDUCTING ANIMS AND CORRESPONDING SOUNDS
a- When instructed by Wirxli (in conducting mode), the players will perform either in a clockwise or counter-clockwise motion.
b- Wirxli is the conductor and will be playing two samples while conducting.
c- One sound to cue the performers to gradually move from chair to chair (right-clicking on the next chair) in a clockwise motion.
d- ...and the other in a counter-clockwise motion. The counter-clockwise sample sounds slightly "backwards" and is also lower in pitch.
3) ABOUT THE HUDs DESIGNED BY AND DISTRIBUTED BY BINGO ONOMATOPOEIA
a- Each Modernist is given two circular performance HUDs: Germanic and Turkish (the latter with crescent shaped buttons).
b- For both HUDs, you may play any of the buttons with any rhythm in any sequence as long as it corresponds to the colour of the chair that you are seated in.
c- When moving to a different coloured seat, you must select only the buttons that match the corresponding seat colour... Blue, Pink and Purple.
d- For the most part, you are encouraged to play the Germanic HUD far more often than the Turkish one.
e- It is only with restraint and in the height of passion do you resort to playing a colour-coded button from your Turkish HUD wheel.
f- When you press any button from your HUD, your avatar's body will automaticaly animate as it if were a ferris wheel chair.
3) STRUCTURAL CONSIDERATIONS
a- The composition formally ends when enough orchestra players cannot find a place to sit in their immediate vicinity when Wirxli's conducting has paused.
b- Even though you are allowed to improvise with the HUDs and are only limited to interface colour coordination, listening to other Modernists is encouraged.
c- You are also encouraged to listen to the Classicists while improvising with the Modernist HUDs but most importantly, focus on the conductor and the avatar(s) one seat next to you (front and behind).
NOTE: IF THERE IS ANY QUESTION ABOUT THE MODERNIST'S PERFORMANCE ROLE IN "RIESENRAD", PLEASE CONTACT WIRXLI DIRECTLY ON THE GOOGLE LIST OR IN-WORLD.Ok! Phew! You must almost be feeling the same stress each Modernist performer felt during the Dress Rehearsal, right? Heheheheheheh... Ok, as a reward for your virtual sweat and tears, here is the pic to illustrate the 2 interfaces:
Here is the aforementioned pic I took of myself at the Music Academy shortly before this blog posting was published simply for the purpose of showing you (the blog reader) these 2 Modernist Performance HUDs that Bingo Onomatopoeia helped me bring to fruition. As you can see, each HUD is mirrored after the design of the ferris wheel (that the Orchestra's Set-Architect Dethomas Dibou actually built using the HUD interface design themselves as 2-dimensional schematic diagrams). So in this case, each of the 12 buttons (12 per HUD, that is) represent the 12 ferris wheel chairs. The HUD on the left is the plainer Germanic one while the funkier and less restrained Turkish HUD on the right was originally supposed to have crescent-shaped buttons but instead, wound up looking like the marshmallow moons that one can find in Lucky Charms brand cereal boxes for kiddies in North America...sigh! ;-) And in no way, am I making a direct correlation between these 2 illusrated HUDs and the 2 photographed DUD(e)s from the Second Viennese School shown boldly in the background... although, now that I think about it, I think Berg was slightly more "Turkish" than Webern....hmmmm...if only those two composers switched spaces or the Academy could have inverted their pose in photoshop somehow? Maybe then, everything would fall into place and we could accept the Received Canon ;-)SELECTED PHOTOS FROM THE RIESENRAD REHEARSALS:
Photo by Maxxo Klaar.
Here is a nice shot of me on the old unvarnished conductor's podium which was being designed in realtime by Bingo Onomatopoeia who is also the Orchestra's Instrument Builder. In this pic, you can see Maxxo has rolled right over in anticipation of further choreographed rolling, tilting and rocking on performance day. In the video at the top of this posting, you can also see some extreme close-ups of Maxxo rolling over.
Photo by Maxxo Klaar.
Maxxo took this wonderful action-shot of me entertaining the masses while cueing the Orchestra with my divinely conducted laser light show.
Photo by Maxxo Klaar.
Here is a sublime shot of the immortal and divinely guided Conductor/Composer taken from the lowly vantage point of the music critic...heheheheheh!
Photo by Maxxo Klaar.
Here is a momentary peek back not just behind the scenes and behind the wheel but also behind the times way back into the earliest rehearsal days but let me tell you, I am hardly nostalgic for this preperatory era. During these rehearsals, 2 identical ferris wheels (one was a virtual doppelganger) were accidentally installed side by side and the floor was littered with one giant invisible trap door (more like a trap HOLE, actually!). At least this pic shows the full seating arrangement on the floor.
I actually managed to take a snapshot at the exact moment that Maxxo mentioned the infamous trap "doors".
Photo by Maxxo Klaar. Here is an additional close up of the seating arrangement and also illuminates the immortal profile of the
Orchestra's in-house videographer,
Evo Szuyuan.
Here is another look at the conductor's podium at an even earlier stage of development.
Yet another podium for you here but you will see that at the time this snapshot was taken, the podium was being sufficiently sized so I can could stand on it properly without falling (or nodding) off... 
This pic is important to pay attention to because not only is it another glorious example of me conducting close-up (all you scholars can drool in awe over my meticulous masterstrokes) but it also shows a detail of my interactive floating sidepack (yes, the thingie that looks like a miniature version of one of the pink chairs...this sidepack was also designed by Bingo) that was responsible for remotely generating and spatially transmitting my conductor drones. Acting as a kind of meterosexual traffic light, the sidepack was also colour coded so it could indicate to the Orchestra players the direction they should be moving in on the wheel (purple for counter-clockwise and pink for clockwise). For awhile, this sidepack was too small to be visible by enough players so they kept on missing their cues. During this uncertain transitional rehearsal period, Bingo temporarily enlarged this sidepack but it grew to also have an autonamous life of its own. I guess the sidepack had an insatiable appetite to grow even larger so it began to look for some local avatar pixel-flesh to consume. It was not long before my very own trusty sidepack (more like side-PacMan) knocked me off the conductor's podium and chased me all the way to the other side of Odyssey Island. I know this sounds kind of surreal to those blog readers who are only accustomed to rehearsal situations in real life but how often do you come across a scenario where the conductor gets hunted down by his own ravenous gear? I wish I had a snapshot of this sidepack chase scene but unfortunately, I was too busy engaging in the fight-or-flight survival instincts that I was unable to take a good photo of my mutated monster sidepack. Regardless, I eventually came to my senses and realized during our dress rehearsal that I had to re-shrink the sidepack as it was getting to hazardous to live the lifestyle of a populist just to feed the functional needs of my own Orchestra. Oh, on another note, that weird looking "Starship Enterprise" thingie is some sort of sculpture by another artist (maybe Dethomas Dibou?) so that was not an intentional component of my Riesenrad's set design but it sure did make the audience members contemplate the possibility that my compositation may have possessed an additional enigmatic component.
Here is a generic pic that basically is just showing you a decent side profile of one of our regular rehearsals (which occur every Tuesday) in early November.
I guess I am running out of historically meaningful pix about Riesenrad from my documentation archive but at least this one is aesthetically pleasing! Ahhhhh... How many Orchestras in Real Life get to rehearse outside with a fully forced sunset (or maybe it is sunrise)?Well, as you and your blog-reading partner in
RL walk off into the forced
Schopenhauerian sunset together to contemplate the enormity of the divine meaning behind my musical composition, I should prepare the rest of my archives from the
Orchestra's landmark show at Wien Modern....stay tuned for more Procrastination...er... prolific productivity ;-)
