Interpreting Ligeti's Volumina
Author Identifier (ORCID)
Research Statement
Research Background
Working with a set of possibilities allowed by Decibel’s digital Score Player software and taking advantage of the recently installed MIDI interface of the Melbourne Town Hall organ, Stewart Smith offered a new reading of Ligeti’s rarely-performed masterpiece for organ, Volumina.
Research Contribution
Ligeti conceived Volumina for a mechanical-action organ performed by an organist and two registrants (human stop pullers). Whilst standard performances of Volumina unfold as a three-way free dialogue between the performers, the Decibel digital Score Player (prepared by Cat Hope) and the Midi capabilities of the Melbourne Town Hall (prepared by Smith) allowed specifically aligned events in Ligeti’s graphic score to be synchronised with the midi capabilities of the Town Hall organ. Smith therefore created a performing version that not only fixed key temporal parameters to the work’s various sections (imposed by the Score Player) but also allowed for the work to be conceived and performed by a single performer. Evidence from the two submitted recordings (one from the concert and another from the dress rehearsal) show that Ligeti’s graphic score still maintains its ability to generate noticeably different interpretations each time the work comes into existence.
Research Significance
Major Australian venue. Invited by the curator of the concert series to play. 5* review from Limelight: “Played brilliantly by WA-based organist Stewart Smith. Smith’s performance was a tour-de-force of colour and sound mass”. X-Press Magazine described the playing as “mesmerising to watch and stupendous to hear”. The live concert is being considered for release on the Heavy Machinery record label. Heavy Machinery is a Melbourne based label, established in 2017, which premieres new and experimental electronic musics, art noise, and related forms.
Non-Traditional Research Output
Live Performance
Document Type
Non-Traditional Research Output
Date of Publication
2023
Location of the Work
Melbourne
Publication Title
Voluminum
School
Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts
RAS ID
70312
Event Dates
November 30, 2023
Event Venue
Melbourne Town Hall
Comments
Smith, S., Hope, C. (2023). Interpreting Ligeti's Volumina. [Musical Performance]. Melbourne Town Hall.