| Snatches of a Conversation also features a 'noise-maker', a speaker whispering a collection of words, chosen specifically for their plethora of consonants into a mike which then is transformed electronically into what Eötvös describes as a "part eavesdropping, part percussion instrument". The words themselves are nonsensical or have no meaning and were chosen for their specific syllabic and consonant qualities imitating percussion, sounding like a brush on a hi-hat in the jazz style."[/quote]
This is very interesting, because Eotvos (sorry for no umlauts!) just produced an absolutely stellar recording of Berio's Sinfonia last year. Actually, all three versions that are in print (+Berio's himself, which is only on LP) are great. Famously, the voices chant slogans that comment on the music, and they tell stories in broken French here and there. But the voice is used also percussively. Some vocal lines will have pitches, others words, others words in time, etc. But Berio won't say "mumble," he'll write out, in time, something like "tkpqptcxv" but the letters are never the same. I think I'd have had a blast writing those syllables.
Eotvos's Berio disc came out in 2005, so it's anybody's guess as to when it was precisely recorded. "Sketches of a Conversation," however, was written in 2001. It seems that, trying to get his head around Sinfonia, Eotvos took the same idea of the Sinfonia--the idea that no matter how hard we try, we can't hear or experience everything at once, but that there is nobility in trying--and explored it through his own composition. Perhaps composing Sketches led him to Berio. I don't know, I'm just fascinated by little influences here and there. I get carried away. |