AUSTIN EYE + EAR MUSIC SERIES:
THE ARDITTI QUARTET/GERARD PAPE
GERARD PAPE PROGRAM, PERFORMED BY THE ARDITTI QUARTET
Sept. 20 | 8:00 pm | Scottish Rite Theatre
THE PROGRAM:
String Quartet #1: Fire and Ice (1983-84)
Le fleuve du désir II for 8 channel upic tape (U.S. premiere)
String Quartet #2: Vortex (1988-89)
Intermission
Le fleuve du désir IV for violin and 8 channel tape (1994-2002) (WORLD PREMIERE) *
La naissance du son (2002) (WORLD PREMIERE) *
String Quartet #3: Le fleuve du désir (U.S. PREMIERE)
* Commissioned by Cinematexas
This concert is dedicated to the memory of Iannis Xenakis.
GERARD PAPE
Gerard Pape was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1955. He has a BA in psychology from Columbia University and a PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Michigan. He studied composition privately with David Winkler and then with University of Michigan faculty members George Cacioppo and William Albright. Pape also studied electronic music with George Wilson in the analog and digital studios of the University of Michigan. Besides being a composer and studio director, Pape is a practicing Lacanian psychoanalyst.
With more than 50 works to his name, Pape has composed for orchestra, chamber music, and electronic works for instruments, voice and/or tape. His music has been performed in festivals around the world and was presented in the International Computer Music Conference (ICMC) in 1993 and 1996. He has been granted ASCAP standard awards each year from 1992 through 2002. A book of his literary works, including short stories, plays and poetry, was published in 1984. Pape has written numerous psychoanalytic articles, and most recently has published articles on Iannis Xenakis, the music of Luigi Nono, and complexity in music. He has written and lectured extensively on the subject of "Composing in the Continuum" and is currently editing a book on this subject called Le Continuum. His discography consists of a monographic disc released in 1992 by Mode, including works played by the Arditti Quartet, the Prism Orchestra of New York, and William Albright. In September 1998, Mode released a second disc of Pape's work, performed by Arditti Quartet, Ensemble 2E2M, Ensemble Voxnova, saxophonist Daniel Kientzy, singer Nicholas Isherwood, Janet Pape and flutist Cécile Daroux. Mode recently released a double compact disk anthology called "CCMIX Paris: Xenakis/UPIC/Continuum" that includes Pape's "Le Fleuve du Desir III" for string quartet and tape, as played by the Arditti Quartet. Among his most important compositions is the work "Feu Toujours Vivant," commissioned by the electronic ensemble Art Zoyd and the National Orchestra of Lille, conducted by Jean-Claude Casadesus.
Currently, Pape is collaborating with actor-director Michel de Maulne and his theater, Maison de la Poésie, on an operatic project based on Antonin Artaud's play The Cenci. Since 1991, Pape has directed Les Ateliers UPIC, recently renamed CCMIX (Center for the Composition of Music Iannis Xenakis), a computer music center located in Paris.
Pape’s work "The Ecstasy of St. Theresa" for nine singers and live electronics, commissioned by the Donaueschingen Festival, will premiere in October 2002.
THE ARDITTI QUARTET
The Arditti Quartet enjoys a world-wide reputation for its spirited and technically refined interpretations of contemporary and 20th-century music. Several hundred string quartets have been written for the ensemble since its foundation by violinist Irvine Arditti in 1974, and the Quartet has premiered works by composers such as Birtwistle, Cage, Carter, Dillon, Ferneyhough, Gubaidulina, Kagel, Kurtag, Ligeti, Nancarrow, Rihm, Stockhausen and Xenakis. Numerous composers have written music specifically for the Quartet, including Gerard Pape, whose work the ensemble first recorded for a Mode disc released in September 1998. On a more recently released Mode anthology called “CCMIX Paris: Xenakis/UPIC/CONTINUUM, the Quartet performs Pape’s “Le Fleuve du Desir III” for string quartet and tape. In its first visit to Austin, the ensemble will play a monographic concert of Pape’s three-string quartets as well as the world premieres of his “Le Fleuve du Désir IV” for violin and tape and “La Naissance du Son” for solo cello.
The ensemble believes that close collaboration with composers is vital to the process of interpreting modern music and therefore attempts to work with every composer whose music it plays. The players’ commitment to educational work is demonstrated in their masterclasses and workshops for young performers and composers all over the world.
The Arditti Quartet’s extensive discography features over 100 CDs. To this date, 38 discs have been released as part of the ensemble’s continuing series on the French label Montaigne Auvidis. The series presents numerous contemporary composer features as well as the first digital recording of the complete Second Viennese School’s string quartet music. One of the most recent discs presents a recording of Stockhausen’s infamous Helicopter Quartet.
The ensemble has received many prizes for its work, including the prestigious Ernst von Siemens Music Prize for lifetime achievement and—for their CD of Elliot Carter’s music—the Gramophone Award for the best recording of contemporary chamber music. The Arditti Quartet players are Irvine Arditti, Graeme Jennings (vlns), Don Scheindlin (vla) and Rohan de Saran (vc).
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