The Rise of Exotic Computing

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The Rise of Exotic Computing is a composition for sinfonietta and electronica by the American composer Mason Bates. The work was commissioned by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and was premiered by the orchestra April 5, 2013. [1] [2] [3]

A sinfonietta is a musical group that is larger than a chamber ensemble but smaller than a full-size or symphony orchestra.

Electronica encompasses a broad group of electronic-based styles such as techno, house, ambient, jungle and other electronic music styles intended not just for dancing.

Mason W. Bates is a Grammy award-winning American composer of symphonic music and DJ of electronic dance music. Distinguished by his innovations in orchestration and large-scale form, Bates is best known for his expansion of the orchestra to include electronics. The second-most performed living composer in the United States, he has worked closely with the San Francisco Symphony, as well as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra where he worked as composer-in-residence. In 2015 he was named composer-in-residence of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and recently had his contract renewed for another two years though 2019-20.

Contents

Composition

The Rise of Exotic Computing is composed in a single movement and has a duration of roughly 12 minutes. [1] The music critic Mark Kanny wrote, "The piece was inspired by the idea of synthetic computing – computers generating their own ideas." [2]

A movement is a self-contained part of a musical composition or musical form. While individual or selected movements from a composition are sometimes performed separately, a performance of the complete work requires all the movements to be performed in succession. A movement is a section, "a major structural unit perceived as the result of the coincidence of relatively large numbers of structural phenomena".

A unit of a larger work that may stand by itself as a complete composition. Such divisions are usually self-contained. Most often the sequence of movements is arranged fast-slow-fast or in some other order that provides contrast.

Instrumentation

The work is scored for electronica and a sinfonietta comprising flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, French horn, trumpet, percussion, harp, piano, two violins, viola, cello, and double bass. [1]

Western concert flute transverse woodwind instrument made of metal or wood

The Western concert flute is a transverse (side-blown) woodwind instrument made of metal or wood. It is the most common variant of the flute. A musician who plays the flute is called a flautist, flutist, flute player, or (rarely) fluter.

Oboe musical instrument of the woodwind family

Oboes are a family of double reed woodwind instruments. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. Oboes are usually made of wood, but there are also oboes made of synthetic materials. A soprano oboe measures roughly 65 cm long, with metal keys, a conical bore and a flared bell. Sound is produced by blowing into the reed at a sufficient air pressure, causing it to vibrate with the air column. The distinctive tone is versatile and has been described as "bright". When oboe is used alone, it is generally taken to mean the treble instrument rather than other instruments of the family, such as the bass oboe, the cor anglais, or oboe d'amore

Clarinet type of woodwind instrument

The clarinet is a musical-instrument family belonging to the group known as the woodwind instruments. It has a single-reed mouthpiece, a straight, cylindrical tube with an almost cylindrical bore, and a flared bell. A person who plays a clarinet is called a clarinetist.

Reception

Mark Kanny of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review lauded the piece, writing, "Bates runs with it by using short motifs, which jump from instrument to instrument. Some ideas bring minimalism to mind, but Bates' musical thinking is far more playful and engaging." [2] John von Rhein of the Chicago Tribune wrote:

<i>Pittsburgh Tribune-Review</i> newspaper in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, also known as "the Trib," is the second largest daily newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the United States. Although it transitioned to an all-digital format on December 1, 2016, it remains the second largest daily in the state, amassing nearly one million unique page views a month. Founded on August 22, 1811, as the Greensburg Gazette and in 1889 consolidated with several papers into the Greensburg Tribune-Review, the paper circulated only in the eastern suburban counties of Westmoreland and parts of Indiana and Fayette until May 1992, when it began serving all of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area after a strike at the two Pittsburgh dailies, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Pittsburgh Press, deprived the city of a newspaper for several months.

Minimal music is a form of art music that employs limited or minimal musical materials. In the Western art music tradition the American composers La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass are credited with being among the first to develop compositional techniques that exploit a minimal approach. It originated in the New York Downtown scene of the 1960s and was initially viewed as a form of experimental music called the New York Hypnotic School. As an aesthetic, it is marked by a non-narrative, non-teleological, and non-representational conception of a work in progress, and represents a new approach to the activity of listening to music by focusing on the internal processes of the music, which lack goals or motion toward those goals. Prominent features of the technique include consonant harmony, steady pulse, stasis or gradual transformation, and often reiteration of musical phrases or smaller units such as figures, motifs, and cells. It may include features such as additive process and phase shifting. Phase shifting leads to what has been termed phase music. Minimal compositions that rely heavily on process techniques that follow strict rules are usually described as process music.

<i>Chicago Tribune</i> major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States

The Chicago Tribune is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", it remains the most-read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region. It is the eighth-largest newspaper in the United States by circulation.

[The Rise of Exotic Computing] is self-replicating computer code translated into the composer's familiar musical grammar – funky, techno-laced rhythmic energy jumping from instrument to instrument like an unstoppable force with an impish streak. There isn't much here that the composer hasn't given us before, but that's not to say the work isn't a joyous, thoroughly enjoyable blast to experience, which it is. [4]

Conversely, Elizabeth Bloom of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was more critical of the work, calling it a "repetitive, thin piece" that "did not translate well in the concert hall." [3] Lawrence A. Johnson of the Chicago Classical Review similarly admonished, "Overscored and overamped, I found Exotic Computing empty, noisy, and something of a scam." [5]

<i>Pittsburgh Post-Gazette</i> newspaper in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, also known simply as the PG, is the largest newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It has won six Pulitzer Prizes since 1938.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Bates, Mason (2013). The Rise of Exotic Computing: Program Note. Retrieved July 27, 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 Kanny, Mark (March 28, 2015). "Energetic guest conductor inspires fresh performances". Pittsburgh Tribune-Review . Retrieved July 27, 2015.
  3. 1 2 Bloom, Elizabeth (March 28, 2015). "Concert review: PSO horn players give concert some needed oomph". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette . Retrieved July 27, 2015.
  4. ↑ Rhein, John von (September 30, 2014). "Concert review: More delights than duds in MusicNOW series opener". Chicago Tribune . Retrieved July 27, 2015.
  5. ↑ Johnson, Lawrence A. (September 30, 2014). "Plugged-in opener gets MusicNOW season off on mixed note". Chicago Classical Review. Retrieved July 27, 2015.
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