Word: soundness
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...author's irrepressible gusto: in New York, a woman's eyes turn "a green that was so fierce, Isaac had to grab the wall." In Ireland, the sky is so dark, "the elves must have put a roof on Cashel Hill." Shouts of murderers and comedians sound across the Hudson and Liffey rivers. Episodes in Nighttown and the underworld consciously echo the rhythms of James Joyce and Saul Bellow, but Charyn manages to sustain his own peculiar tone, a unique amalgam of psychological insight and scatological farce. It is one of the most unlikely and compeling literary combinations...
...Coordination Acoustique/Musique. IRCAM is a hushed place that fairly radiates energy and cerebration. Here the ordinateur, as the French call a computer, reigns. In one lab, a group is seeking its aid in constructing a new, futuristic flute. In another, a composer is using it to produce a sound heard so far only in his own head...
...various operations at IRCAM have started up over the past four years. There are always several composers working with computer scientists on expanding the horizons of sound. An ensemble of musicians who play conventional instruments is now complete. The final step was taken this month when Espace de Projection, the hall for public concerts, was opened with the works of two young composers. There were earnest speeches about exploring the limits of limitlessness, some exhilarating sounds as well The as menacing booms from the void, "You but it was the hall that stole the show...
...Espace, which seats only about 400. The ceiling can be raised or lowered drastically. But the most riveting feature is the walls, which consist entirely of accoustical panels grouped in blocks of three. A whole wall can be flat, or any triad of panels can jut out, changing the sound. In fact they can all move at once. This phenomenon clearly had more impact than Boulez intended. The room seemed to sway, and a wail like a sea storm turned the Espace briefly into a heaving ship. Annoyed, Boulez turned quickly to four more practical demonstrations. By altering the configuration...
Composers Balz Trümpy and York Holler, whose works followed, were in roughly the position of the actors in that children's play. Trümpy's Wellen-spiele made the first use ever of a digital sound processor. This is a new device that modifies sound as it is performed by an ensemble by the use of mikes onstage. Much of the composition was too bland to show off the new processor, but its climax was a long, breaking roll of waves accompanied by pulsing gongs. The Holler Arcus used the more conventional method of taping...