Helmut Lachenmann

Helmut Lachenmann is relatively unknown outside of Germany. Nevertheless, he is a figure who is growing in significance in modern music circles. Despite his wide experience, his lack of broad appeal is, in my opinion, largely due to the individuality of his music. He is not easy to categorise in an era which is dominated by trends and cliches.

A simple way of describing his music is... *"musique concrète instrumentale". The notion is the creation of a subtlety of transformation of timbre, a manipulation of a continuum from sound to noise, from pitched notes to pitchless textural exploration, and all that in the sphere of (mostly) purely instrumental music. That means that in Lachenmann's music, there's a world of sound that rivals and even surpasses what electronic and electro-acoustic composers can achieve. -Guardian.

Essentially, he is a acoustic composer writing electronic sounding music. He is somewhere in-between the timbralist composers like Iannis Xenakis/James Dillon and the spectralist like Gerard Grisey/Trsitan Murail. But his compositional 'reason d'etre' is often hidden. He is an individual, creating new sounds that amaze audiences. Also, his scores are untouched by the 'new complexity' which means that his scores can be relatively simple.

His desire to separate himself from any categorisation is both a blessing and a stumbling block. Although he is completely unique, he hasn't had the same recognition that the figures who are more relatable have acquired. His understanding of instrumentation is incredible. It is something that, for the uninitiated, is thoroughly recommended.

*The phrase, "musique concrète", comes from Pierre Schaeffer, one of the pioneers of electro-acoustic music in the 1940s.

Once Upon a Time - by James Dillon

Once Upon a Time James Dillon Once Upon a Time...Ircam When the premiere of a work called ‘Once Upon a Time’ at the Huddersfield Festival of 1980, James Dillon was immediately thrust centre stage. Hitherto, James Dillon's success had been variable. Mainly learning his craft in libraries rather than formal institutions and without the prospect of a performance at the end, many of his early pieces were left incomplete. The first substantial work Babble (1974-6) was a brief glimpse of things to come. Although now James Dillon disregards the rigorous architectural design in which everything 'is mapped out despite the material'. After the first section was rehearsed by the newly formed Charles Ives Choir who were perplexed by some of the graphic notation, the work was abandoned. His momentary interest in serialism in ‘Dillug-Kefitsah’ (1976) encouraged James Dillon to examine the seemingly paradoxical notion of a 'parametrical discipline' wo

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