Monday, November 30, 2020

"Everlest" for Pocket Flugelhorn. A Circos Tablature System.

"Everlest" for Pocket Flugelhorn

Beginning in 2012, composers at Laboratorie New Music have been working on modifications of the Circos program to create a systematic, fluid tablature system to facilitate compositional structure.  

The notion to explore this powerful visualization tool came about from a separate study we were conducting on the implications of 'Big Data' on outcomes relating to visualization and experimental musical tablatures.


The potential of big data is immense.  Eliminate constraints on the size, type, source and complexity of relevant data, and composers can ask bolder questions. Technology limitations that once required sampling or relied on assumptions to simplify high-density data sets have fallen to the march of technology. 



Tuesday, November 24, 2020

WET Scores: Carnegie Hall Premiere of "Delinquent Spirit...". January 9, 2015. Nicolas Horvath, Piano. Bil Smith Composer:









Nicolas Horvath, Pianist with the score to “Delinquent Spirit of a Drowned City” 

Early this year, I was honored to be part of this amazing event which saw my composition, "Delinquent Spirit of a Drowned City", first performed in Paris by Nicolas Horvath, have it's US Debut at Carnegie Hall on January 9, 2015.

The program was unique : the world premiere by a single pianist of all the 20 Philip Glass Etudes, alongside with world premieres from composers such as Alvin Curran, Jaan Rääts, Régis Campo, Tom Sora, Michael Black, Eve Beglarian, and Lawrence Ball.

Nicolas is a brilliant pianist with a vision for programming that is rarely found.  His innovative performance on New Years Eve (December 31, 2014) in Kiev lasted for 22 hours and included all of the Glass Homages.  

“Delinquent Spirit of a Drowned City” for Solo Piano



Jhenna Marche
“Delinquent Spirit of a Drowned City” for Solo Piano

U.S. Premiere by Nicolas Horvath

January 9, 2015
Carnegie Hall
New York, NY

Produced by New York Artists Management
Jasna Popovic

Bil Smith Composer
Co-Conspirators:  Jhenna Marche, Siyang Gong



 
Carnegie Hall Concert Announcement



From The New Yorker...


"In December of 2012, a prodigious Monacan pianist named Nicolas Horvath gave a performance in Tokyo that lasted thirty-five hours. It was his eighth solo presentation of “Vexations.” “No food or drink for three days before the Vexations,” he explained to his fans in the comments section of his YouTube channel, where he posts six- and nine-hour segments of his marathon performances. Responding to a newcomer, he said, “28 hours is pretty nice indeed but alone it is very hard. Pain starts past 6 hours; Madness starts past 12 hours; Hell starts past 20 hours!”

_______________________________________________________________________

The score: Four (4) independent pages, 27.5” X 17.5” on boards; three (3) transparencies, 17.5” X 3.35”, Performance Notes book, portfolio enclosure and oil on canvas 46” X 31” (integument).

This work is inspired by Philip Glass’ “The Light.”  Glass composed this work in 1987 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Michelson-Morley experiment, whose data, failed to demonstrate their hypothesis, but led to discoveries about special relativity and the speed of light; and ultimately, the impact on light and color.
Enclosure for Score

_______________________________________________________________________


The compositional structure is based on W.V.O. Quine’s theories of holophrastic indeterminacy, or “…indeterminacy of musical performance translation.”  This is one of two kinds of indeterminacy of performance interpretation to appear in his writings. 

Colophon and Performance Notes


According to Quine, “There is more than one correct method of interpreting (translating) notations where the two interpreters differ not merely in the meanings attributed to the sub-sentential parts of sounds but also in the net import of the whole composition.”


It is holophrastic indeterminacy that underlies Quine’s argument against synonymy, the basis of his objections to Rudolf Carnap’s analytic/synthetic distinction.
 
The pianist is empowered, yet restricted by the presence of textual references and neologisms, inferred tablature (transparencies) and direct tablature (found on the far right side of the four (4) large pages of the score). 

The focus on combinatorial tablatures and tactical notational systems represent my interest in the efforts my musical allegory makes to affect change while grappling with the notion of radical—whether as a self-identification or a prescribed moniker, or both—and the mutations of disruption, authority, activism, and ethos that take place.  I am curious about the actuality of innate constructions determining one’s aesthetic and sociopsychic passion and sense of agency.

“Delinquent Spirit” is a platform for investigating intentionality and the rapport I have to documentary or archival forms—a fragile and volatile place for both the object and subject.  Authenticating experiences through new musical representations quickly impresses a contemporary psychological form of recognition. Within these mediated forms of cognition, music establishes a further expanded dimensional presence. Ultimately, it is challenging to understand this work as a completed form or even as a record—it is something that is permeable and flexible.



Biography:  Bil Smith, Composer


Bil Smith is a composer, instrumentalist and neologist.  His work has been programmed by leading contemporary music ensembles and his scores have been published and exhibited in art galleries throughout the world.

Bil’s compositions have been performed by specialist ensembles and soloists including members of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Moderne, The Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, St. Petersberg Philharmonic Orchestra, Kyushu Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. Schoenberg Ensemble Amsterdam, Ensemble Gelade, Qingdao Symphony Orchestra, Dresden Philharmonic, and Oslo Sinfonietta.


Early in his career as a jazz trumpeter, he performed with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, Anthony Braxton, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Gary Burton, Steve Lacy, Lester Bowie, Kevin Eubanks, Quincy Jones, Max Roach and Michael Gibbs. 

As a Neologist, Smith founded Addison Whitney, a consultancy dedicated to creating brand identities for global companies and organizations.  Deeply rooted in the etymology and linguistic foundations of words, Smith created a dynamic new system of word generation, which led to the creation of the brands Viagra (Pfizer), Outlook (Microsoft), Escalade (Cadillac), Xbox (Microsoft), Lexapro (Forest Labs), Element (Honda), Advair (GSK) and Access (Microsoft).  He has been responsible for the creation of more than 1100 brand names globally since 1991.

He identifies himself as an inter-disciplinarian composer, incorporating combinatorial techniques including neologisms, prose, painting, sculpture, drawing and combustion, as well as traditional elements of music composition to his work.



Nicolas Horvath, Piano.  Carnegie Hall.  January 9, 2015



Complete program : 

Philip GLASS : Etudes 1 to 10 

Jeroen van VEEN (hol) : Hommage for Philip Glass (USA premiere) Frédérick MARTIN (fr) : Glass in Mirror (USA premiere) Konstastin YASKOV (by) : Moonlight Sonata for Philip Glass (WP)Stéphane DELPLACE (fr) :Hommage à Glass (USA premiere) William SUSMAN (usa) : 1937 (USA premiere) Andre Vindu BANGAMBULA (cd) : Homage to P. Glass (WP)Eve BEGLARIAN (usa) : Enough Holes (WP)Tom SORA (de) : Glassplitter (WP)Tom CHIU (tw): laborets version 2.0 (USA premiere) Sergio CERVETTI (uy) : Intergalactic Tango (WP)Régis CAMPO (fr) : Smiley !(WP)Jaan RÄÄTS (ee) : (WP)

Intermission 

Bil SMITH (usa): Delinquent Spirit of a Drowned City (USA premiere) Paul WEHAGE (usa) : Early Morning:New York Skyline (USA premiere) Michael Vincent WALLER (usa) : Pasticcio per meno è più (WP)Alp DURMAZ (tr) : Bustling (WP)Gilad HOCHMAN (il) : Broken Glass (USA premiere) Ehsan SABOOHI (ira) : Where is the friend’s house? (USA premiere) Lawrence BALL (uk) : Glass Ball Game (WP)Paul A. EPSTEIN (usa) : Changes 6.1 (WP) Alvin CURRAN (usa) : The Glass Octave (WP)Michael BLAKE (za) : Shard (WP)Victoria Vita POLEVA (ukr) : NULL (USA premiere) Mamoru FUJIEDA (jp) : Gamelan Cherry (USA premiere) 

Philip GLASS : Etudes 11 to 20 

Sunday, November 22, 2020

"Visible in the Hair Were Six Blue Numerals" for Viola and Cello







"Modulus That Could Be Multiplied By A Lump Sum"



"Modulus That Could Be Multiplied By A Lump Sum" 
Bil Smith Composer
Zirnbauer Piccolo Trumpet, Cello, Truncated C Flute, Alto Flute, Roman Tuba, Lelo INA 2, Slide Trumpet, Small Chamber Orchestra with Tendency Masks, Stochastic Masking and Dense Trainlet Clouds.
Recorded at MSR Studios, New York, NY on April 9, 2013.
On SoundCloud:






Saturday, November 21, 2020

Snitch for Piano


 

Recording: "The Assumptions of the Propulsion Phase" (Compaction Music)




"The Assumptions of the Propulsion Phase" (Compaction Music) - Bil Smith Composer
for Paramorphic Vibraphone, Rectocele Pocket Trumpet, Inderbinen Basstrompete Basso, LP Cajon Castanets, High Pitch; Chromium Gravitic Wood Flute and Dewanatron Swarmatron.

Listen on SoundCloud:

Monday, November 2, 2020

"Heavy Sedans and Empty Stockades". For Solo Piano. Score Download Available - 4,378 Pages




Score Download Here:


Due to the size of the PDF file, it is not available for preview on the Google drive, however the download option is available. 


"Heavy Sedans and Empty Stockades"

For Solo Piano.  

Bil Smith Composer

2009-2015

The Score:  4,378 Pages

Printed in an Edition of Five (5) with One (1) Composer's Proof

Printed on Hahnehumle German Bright Paper
Tribeca Printworks, Printer

Recording on Laboratorie New Music Editions February, 2017.

A commission from Total, S.A.



Select excerpts from the score.