Physical edition available in Bandcamp and Codax Music
Booklet
Avant-garde Organ (2022)
This album is the culmination of my restless curiosity of exploring the creation of interconnections and intertextualities in music. It was a journey of six years of academic research and thirty years of intimate experience with this particular organ. The goal was to recreate some of the most unusual organ repertoire of the 60s to 80s.
There is a deeper relationship between these works, besides their novelty and aesthetics. I wanted to express the extreme dichotomy of long and slow notes versus short and fast notes. Exploring the constraints with only one note, two notes to a full ten note cluster. Using non-regular rhythms that gradually accelerate and decelerate. The sum of all of this is an exercise of extreme and dichotomous nuances to achieve an end result that could please and grab the attention of any listener. The length of each work his related to Maths and Physics constants, with the appropriate rounding and margin of error. The individual movements of each cycles of works (Rrrrrrr.... by Kagel, Musica Ricercata by Ligeti and ASLSP by Cage) were chosen resorting to the I Ching, method proficiently used by John Cage.
The adaptation of each work, necessary since this repertoire was not written for a historical organ, was done meticulously using extended techniques and various materials like; fishing weights, ohashi, whistles and toys, with only one rule – no modification of the instrument. The aforementioned extended techniques are unorthodox ways of playing the organ, like the gradual opening of stops or turning off the motor that feed the bellows or using ohashi to hold the keys. These techniques are used in all the works, even if they were not necessary, bringing Ligeti's sonic expansion and way of thinking to the works of the other composers.
The improvisations were done according to La Monte Young's aesthetics and chords, the Magic chord and the Dream chord to be precise, using the same sound material and techniques mentioned before. Young's works are full of theatricality, intertwining with the humour of Kagel's works embedded in the interpretation. In Young’s verbal scores, previous preparation had to be done to interpret them on a historical organ. One need to think, literally, outside the box to perform them. The same principle was applied to the Piano Pieces for David Tudor.
My final objective is to instil in any listener a reduced listening (term used by several authors and initiated by Pierre Schaeffer's studies) to the soundscape that I created with this instrument.
There is a deeper relationship between these works, besides their novelty and aesthetics. I wanted to express the extreme dichotomy of long and slow notes versus short and fast notes. Exploring the constraints with only one note, two notes to a full ten note cluster. Using non-regular rhythms that gradually accelerate and decelerate. The sum of all of this is an exercise of extreme and dichotomous nuances to achieve an end result that could please and grab the attention of any listener. The length of each work his related to Maths and Physics constants, with the appropriate rounding and margin of error. The individual movements of each cycles of works (Rrrrrrr.... by Kagel, Musica Ricercata by Ligeti and ASLSP by Cage) were chosen resorting to the I Ching, method proficiently used by John Cage.
The adaptation of each work, necessary since this repertoire was not written for a historical organ, was done meticulously using extended techniques and various materials like; fishing weights, ohashi, whistles and toys, with only one rule – no modification of the instrument. The aforementioned extended techniques are unorthodox ways of playing the organ, like the gradual opening of stops or turning off the motor that feed the bellows or using ohashi to hold the keys. These techniques are used in all the works, even if they were not necessary, bringing Ligeti's sonic expansion and way of thinking to the works of the other composers.
The improvisations were done according to La Monte Young's aesthetics and chords, the Magic chord and the Dream chord to be precise, using the same sound material and techniques mentioned before. Young's works are full of theatricality, intertwining with the humour of Kagel's works embedded in the interpretation. In Young’s verbal scores, previous preparation had to be done to interpret them on a historical organ. One need to think, literally, outside the box to perform them. The same principle was applied to the Piano Pieces for David Tudor.
My final objective is to instil in any listener a reduced listening (term used by several authors and initiated by Pierre Schaeffer's studies) to the soundscape that I created with this instrument.
Critical Reviews
"Vanguards and revolutions in an 18th century organ" in Scherzo by Ismael G. Cabral:
"Last July, the Portuguese organist Cláudio de Pina gave a conference entitled Extended techniques on the pipe organ at the NOVA University in Lisbon, almost a parallel activity to the presentation of the album Avant-Garde Organ that occupies these lines. In this way, De Pina joins a generous list of organists specialized in the contemporary repertoire and which currently includes Dominik Susteck and Eckhard Manz as two of the most seasoned representatives of this practice.
Holder of the historic organ of the Parish of Ajuda, in Lisbon, the investigative practice of the Portuguese musician is twofold; He not only documents in this album a collection of pieces with a clear experimental pretense, he also does so using an old eighteenth-century instrument, linguistically more associated with past repertoires. An organ in the antipodes, for example, of the imposing instrument recently built in the Church of San Martin, in Kassel (Germany), specifically designed for the interpretation of contemporary music. Not for this reason, this one that is presented to us, less valid.
The proposal of this album has a markedly didactic vocation, De Pina associates his name with that of a handful of composers perfectly linked, in the global imaginary of the music fan, to the label of revolutionary. That going ahead of the rest that defines a term of bellicose conception is substantiated, from the beginning, with the works of La Monte Young (1935). Opening the album with the music of the North American radical is a declaration of intent and a marked defense of an unexplored repertoire, almost phonographically virgin. Composition 1960 #7 proposes the execution of two notes (B and F sharp) with a single instruction: “Hold them for a long time”. Even more conceptual is Composition 1960 #10: “Draw a line and follow it”; score that has been widely approached from the field of gestural performance and, not so much, from sound praxis. Finally, in Composition 1960 #13 , the author of The well tuned piano asks the interpreter to prepare any composition and interpret it to the best of his ability. In this case, De Pina chooses to approach a very singular timbral reading (due to the very characteristics of the instrument, close in sonority to roller or Barbary organs) of four movements from György Ligeti's Musica Ricercata (1923-2006).
Organ2/ASLSP (1987) by John Cage (1912-1992) continues to underline the luminous and provocative tone of these pieces. Considered one of the longest scores ever written, Claudio de Pina offers just a sample, just over seven minutes that portray the inventor and best musician Cage also as a precursor of what a few years later would come to be called drone music (and that musicians like Pauline Oliveros and Phill Niblock would practice with outstanding results). With the two Studies by Ligeti, Ajuda's organ is given the chance to show off how well the air flows through its ancient tubes; They are pieces that require a generous and well-solved manipulation of registers with an unusual timbre in this repertoire.
Mauricio Kagel (1931-2008) devoted stimulating attention to the organ, always swinging, as was his rule, between severity and humor. The first is documented in General Bass (1972), a cavernous curiosity, and the second in Rrrrrrr...: Orgelstücke (1980), a collection from which a piece is extracted here that uses extended techniques with the resource of various objects and that imitates the constipated (!) song of a bird. “This work consists of little eddies in the middle of the ocean,” Young writes as the only hint on the score to Composition 1960 #15 , allowing De Pina a brief, watery transition to the album's well-considered conclusion, the piece (not ) silent by John Cage, 4'33'', which the organist spins, more than with the musical history of the avant-garde, with the sacred space that Ajuda's organ occupies: “When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven”. Later, with the player off, we will have to assimilate the journey, if at some point our ears are left behind, it will only be a matter of starting over, until we manage to get ahead of these old music that shine surprisingly new."
"Last July, the Portuguese organist Cláudio de Pina gave a conference entitled Extended techniques on the pipe organ at the NOVA University in Lisbon, almost a parallel activity to the presentation of the album Avant-Garde Organ that occupies these lines. In this way, De Pina joins a generous list of organists specialized in the contemporary repertoire and which currently includes Dominik Susteck and Eckhard Manz as two of the most seasoned representatives of this practice.
Holder of the historic organ of the Parish of Ajuda, in Lisbon, the investigative practice of the Portuguese musician is twofold; He not only documents in this album a collection of pieces with a clear experimental pretense, he also does so using an old eighteenth-century instrument, linguistically more associated with past repertoires. An organ in the antipodes, for example, of the imposing instrument recently built in the Church of San Martin, in Kassel (Germany), specifically designed for the interpretation of contemporary music. Not for this reason, this one that is presented to us, less valid.
The proposal of this album has a markedly didactic vocation, De Pina associates his name with that of a handful of composers perfectly linked, in the global imaginary of the music fan, to the label of revolutionary. That going ahead of the rest that defines a term of bellicose conception is substantiated, from the beginning, with the works of La Monte Young (1935). Opening the album with the music of the North American radical is a declaration of intent and a marked defense of an unexplored repertoire, almost phonographically virgin. Composition 1960 #7 proposes the execution of two notes (B and F sharp) with a single instruction: “Hold them for a long time”. Even more conceptual is Composition 1960 #10: “Draw a line and follow it”; score that has been widely approached from the field of gestural performance and, not so much, from sound praxis. Finally, in Composition 1960 #13 , the author of The well tuned piano asks the interpreter to prepare any composition and interpret it to the best of his ability. In this case, De Pina chooses to approach a very singular timbral reading (due to the very characteristics of the instrument, close in sonority to roller or Barbary organs) of four movements from György Ligeti's Musica Ricercata (1923-2006).
Organ2/ASLSP (1987) by John Cage (1912-1992) continues to underline the luminous and provocative tone of these pieces. Considered one of the longest scores ever written, Claudio de Pina offers just a sample, just over seven minutes that portray the inventor and best musician Cage also as a precursor of what a few years later would come to be called drone music (and that musicians like Pauline Oliveros and Phill Niblock would practice with outstanding results). With the two Studies by Ligeti, Ajuda's organ is given the chance to show off how well the air flows through its ancient tubes; They are pieces that require a generous and well-solved manipulation of registers with an unusual timbre in this repertoire.
Mauricio Kagel (1931-2008) devoted stimulating attention to the organ, always swinging, as was his rule, between severity and humor. The first is documented in General Bass (1972), a cavernous curiosity, and the second in Rrrrrrr...: Orgelstücke (1980), a collection from which a piece is extracted here that uses extended techniques with the resource of various objects and that imitates the constipated (!) song of a bird. “This work consists of little eddies in the middle of the ocean,” Young writes as the only hint on the score to Composition 1960 #15 , allowing De Pina a brief, watery transition to the album's well-considered conclusion, the piece (not ) silent by John Cage, 4'33'', which the organist spins, more than with the musical history of the avant-garde, with the sacred space that Ajuda's organ occupies: “When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven”. Later, with the player off, we will have to assimilate the journey, if at some point our ears are left behind, it will only be a matter of starting over, until we manage to get ahead of these old music that shine surprisingly new."
Vital Weekly by Frans de Waard:
"De Pina is a composer and organist, and on the 18th-century historical organ at Parish of Ajuda, he performed several works from modern composers. Works that aren't necessarily for organ; or, perhaps, for any instrument. Works by La Monte Young, György Ligeti, Mauricio Kagel and John Cage. Works of a more conceptual nature, such as Young's 'Composition 1960, No. 7', which is two notes and the instruction reads that these notes are 'to be held for a long time.
The church organ, with its various instruments, allows for richness, even if it's only two notes. I am not fully knowledgeable about all these works (and, while on the subject, Vital Weekly is not your go-to website for modern classical music), but with my limited know-how, I enjoyed these pieces. You can download a booklet via a QR code with some explanation, and I learned about Ligeti's pieces, which sounded great in all their quietness. The same goes for Kagel's 'General Bass'. I was less enamoured by his 'Rrrrrrr… Orgelstücke: I. Raga — VIII. Rossignols enrhumés'. I would think that even if you don't know or care too much about modern music, this release could still appeal to you, providing you love church organs and drone sounds, which goes for both in my case."
"De Pina is a composer and organist, and on the 18th-century historical organ at Parish of Ajuda, he performed several works from modern composers. Works that aren't necessarily for organ; or, perhaps, for any instrument. Works by La Monte Young, György Ligeti, Mauricio Kagel and John Cage. Works of a more conceptual nature, such as Young's 'Composition 1960, No. 7', which is two notes and the instruction reads that these notes are 'to be held for a long time.
The church organ, with its various instruments, allows for richness, even if it's only two notes. I am not fully knowledgeable about all these works (and, while on the subject, Vital Weekly is not your go-to website for modern classical music), but with my limited know-how, I enjoyed these pieces. You can download a booklet via a QR code with some explanation, and I learned about Ligeti's pieces, which sounded great in all their quietness. The same goes for Kagel's 'General Bass'. I was less enamoured by his 'Rrrrrrr… Orgelstücke: I. Raga — VIII. Rossignols enrhumés'. I would think that even if you don't know or care too much about modern music, this release could still appeal to you, providing you love church organs and drone sounds, which goes for both in my case."
Relatório Minoritário, in Sábado magazine by Nuno Rogeiro:
"Cláudio de Pina, at the controls of the superb XVIII century Ajuda's organ (by António Machado and Cerveira), invests in the most difficult: 20th-century avant-garde composers, such as La Monte Young, György Ligeti, Mauricio Kagel and John Cage. Beautiful, intense and intriguing. I missed Messiaen and Krenek."
"Cláudio de Pina, at the controls of the superb XVIII century Ajuda's organ (by António Machado and Cerveira), invests in the most difficult: 20th-century avant-garde composers, such as La Monte Young, György Ligeti, Mauricio Kagel and John Cage. Beautiful, intense and intriguing. I missed Messiaen and Krenek."
Trybuna-Muzyki-Spontaniczna by Andrzej Nowak:
"At the end of the Lisbon mini-collection, the works of the above-mentioned classics of minimalism performed on the organ and equipped with a whole lot of sounds that accompanied the playing of a large pipe instrument. So, there are the sounds of the chair creaking, the closing and opening of the door, also the movement of the musician, and maybe not only him. These additional sound effects are especially noticeable during the performance of Cage's 4'33'', the score of which, as we all know, is a blank page. This passage of post-sacred field recordings is crowned by the whole concert, which seems to be one sequence of cause and effect, successive sounds of the instrument and the environment.
At the beginning, the musician offers us La Monte Young's compositions. A dull, dreamy atmosphere, but also a lot of action in a unit of time, at least for the canons of the master of minimalism. Long phrases flow here both bottom and top, they seem to be sublime, but also a bit slapstick. The artist also offers us a lot of games with silence, which he saturates with the sounds of the environment. However, if we are looking for the true face of minimalism at a concert, it is provided by a fragment using Ligeti's compositions. The sounds seem to stand still here and wait for certain death. Here is a narrative that encourages deep listening and extreme focus. In Kagel's part, we get a whole galaxy of short, almost abrupt phrases. Here, too, the fauna and flora of the organ's surroundings contribute more phonic events to the narrative than the instrument itself. In Cage's part there is more life, but also dark, even gloomy climates. Also filigree phrases and a surprising ethno flavor. Before the concert enters the final phase of Cage's soundlessness, the artist serves us a slight return to Young. Here, in turn, we have a rush that the organ sings passionately."
"At the end of the Lisbon mini-collection, the works of the above-mentioned classics of minimalism performed on the organ and equipped with a whole lot of sounds that accompanied the playing of a large pipe instrument. So, there are the sounds of the chair creaking, the closing and opening of the door, also the movement of the musician, and maybe not only him. These additional sound effects are especially noticeable during the performance of Cage's 4'33'', the score of which, as we all know, is a blank page. This passage of post-sacred field recordings is crowned by the whole concert, which seems to be one sequence of cause and effect, successive sounds of the instrument and the environment.
At the beginning, the musician offers us La Monte Young's compositions. A dull, dreamy atmosphere, but also a lot of action in a unit of time, at least for the canons of the master of minimalism. Long phrases flow here both bottom and top, they seem to be sublime, but also a bit slapstick. The artist also offers us a lot of games with silence, which he saturates with the sounds of the environment. However, if we are looking for the true face of minimalism at a concert, it is provided by a fragment using Ligeti's compositions. The sounds seem to stand still here and wait for certain death. Here is a narrative that encourages deep listening and extreme focus. In Kagel's part, we get a whole galaxy of short, almost abrupt phrases. Here, too, the fauna and flora of the organ's surroundings contribute more phonic events to the narrative than the instrument itself. In Cage's part there is more life, but also dark, even gloomy climates. Also filigree phrases and a surprising ethno flavor. Before the concert enters the final phase of Cage's soundlessness, the artist serves us a slight return to Young. Here, in turn, we have a rush that the organ sings passionately."
Maciej Lewenstein: "There are very few organ players specialising in contemporary music and avant-garde. In fact, most of the organist I know focus on ancient music, Johann Sebastian Bach, maybe play something César Franck, Franz Liszt, Johannes Brahms, or Felix Mendelssohn, but hardly go to XXth and XXIst century. As pointed out by Derek Bailey, XXth century marks revival of improvised organ music, especially associated with Marcel Dupré and the Paris Consevatoire. But, several leading composer of the century have written pieces for organ; György Ligeti, John Cage, Olivier Messiaen, Iannis Xenakis or Arvo Pärt. In Poland, a great work both in composing for organ and interpreting contemporary organ music is done by Dariusz Przybylski: I review at least 14 albums with his compositions or performances in this book.
Cláudio's album is really magnificent, as it concentrates exclusively on the XXth century repertory. Cláudio plays a 18th century historical organ of the Ajuda Parish, Lisbon, build by Antonio Xavier Machado e Cerveira. The album starts with three pieces by La Monte Young: "Composition 1960 #7", "Composition 1960 #10", and the most amazing, 10 minutes long "Composition 1960 #13 / Musica ricercata: I, II, VII, VIII". This is avant-garde minimal music at its best. After La Monte Young, come two pieces of György Ligeti: "Two Études for Organ: No. 1, Harmonies" and "Two Études for Organ: No. 2, Coulée", both are breathtakingly beautiful and beautifully performed. The music has a kind of pre-minimal spirit. I found also particularly interesting to composition of rarely recorded Mauricio Kagel: the monumental "General Bass", and the expressive "Rrrrrrr. . . Orgelstücke: I. Raga, VIII. Rossignols enrhumés". Finally, the principal part of the album is taken by the compositions of John Cage. I dig in particular "Organ2/ASLSP" and organ transcription of "Piano Piece for David Tudor No. 3", but all others: "ASLSP", "Composition 1960: No. 15", "Piano Piece for David Tudor No.2" are stunning. The album closes with a very original reading of the famous "4'33". Ingenious record!!!"
Cláudio's album is really magnificent, as it concentrates exclusively on the XXth century repertory. Cláudio plays a 18th century historical organ of the Ajuda Parish, Lisbon, build by Antonio Xavier Machado e Cerveira. The album starts with three pieces by La Monte Young: "Composition 1960 #7", "Composition 1960 #10", and the most amazing, 10 minutes long "Composition 1960 #13 / Musica ricercata: I, II, VII, VIII". This is avant-garde minimal music at its best. After La Monte Young, come two pieces of György Ligeti: "Two Études for Organ: No. 1, Harmonies" and "Two Études for Organ: No. 2, Coulée", both are breathtakingly beautiful and beautifully performed. The music has a kind of pre-minimal spirit. I found also particularly interesting to composition of rarely recorded Mauricio Kagel: the monumental "General Bass", and the expressive "Rrrrrrr. . . Orgelstücke: I. Raga, VIII. Rossignols enrhumés". Finally, the principal part of the album is taken by the compositions of John Cage. I dig in particular "Organ2/ASLSP" and organ transcription of "Piano Piece for David Tudor No. 3", but all others: "ASLSP", "Composition 1960: No. 15", "Piano Piece for David Tudor No.2" are stunning. The album closes with a very original reading of the famous "4'33". Ingenious record!!!"
The Wire magazine by Julian Cowel:
"More than 50 years, ago, German composer and scholar Gerd Zacher recorded albums of pipe organ music for Deutsche Grammophon that included recent works by Kagel, Ligeti and Cage. Now Portuguese composer, scholar and organist Cláudio De Pina celebrates the same avant garde, adapting for good measure a selection of early compositions by La Monte Young. Today, this music brings with it a historical perspective, while the term avant garde implies a modernist commitment to progressive cultural development that now seems outmoded. The fascination remains, however, of hearing an instrument so deeply freighted with the weight of a still more distant past being steered along unfamiliar byways, and the passion and dedication De Pina brings to this project are as evident as his knowledge and skill."
"More than 50 years, ago, German composer and scholar Gerd Zacher recorded albums of pipe organ music for Deutsche Grammophon that included recent works by Kagel, Ligeti and Cage. Now Portuguese composer, scholar and organist Cláudio De Pina celebrates the same avant garde, adapting for good measure a selection of early compositions by La Monte Young. Today, this music brings with it a historical perspective, while the term avant garde implies a modernist commitment to progressive cultural development that now seems outmoded. The fascination remains, however, of hearing an instrument so deeply freighted with the weight of a still more distant past being steered along unfamiliar byways, and the passion and dedication De Pina brings to this project are as evident as his knowledge and skill."
"Music is made from the air" in Ípsilon magazine (Público) by Diana Ferreira (4.5/5):
"Avant-garde Organ is neither the first nor the last album by composer, sound artist and organist Cláudio de Pina, who in May released Aether Ventus (Blumlein Records) with Andrew Levine, in which he celebrates the avant-garde legacy and innovative spirit of György Ligeti (1923-2006), in a work inspired by his use of clusters - a record that crosses the Iberian organ of the Parish of N.ª Sra. da Ajuda, in Lisbon, where Pina is titular organist, and which he performs with his own expanded techniques, with Levine's theremin and modular synthesisers.
Still on the subject of the Austro-Hungarian composer's centenary, we've recovered the disc that the organist published last year on the Portuguese label 9Musas, an interesting project in which he offers us an alternative way of listening, presenting a set of avant-garde pieces interpreted using an Iberian organ. Closely associated with Pina's doctoral thesis on the expansion of sound in the historical organ, which he is working on at the Nova University of Lisbon, in a form of research based on instrumental practice, Avant-garde Organ instead includes "repertoire" works. Among his interpretations of John Cage (1912-1992), Mauricio Kagel (1931-2008) and La Monte Young (1935) - but with a lot of Pina mixed in - we find the two studies Ligeti composed for organ: Harmonies (1967) and Coulée (1969). Left out was the better known Volumina (1962), which, as the performer explained to Ípsilon, "requires a pedalboard and a 61-key compass" - more than the 53 keys available on the Ajuda’s organ. The first study, lasting around nine minutes, consists of a score with ten notes "that slowly fade away, (...) as if the instrument had run out of air to breathe". Pina always begins his recitals with this piece (the fourth on the disc), which is conducive to introducing the public to this world of new sounds. "At first, people don't know what they're going to, where the sound around them is coming from, they don't see the instrumentalist... After a while, they start to close their eyes, relax and focus on the sound and what's happening."
The definition of the album's programme, with fairly open works by well-known composers, was a clever defensive move. If he approached his subject matter with music "that people don't recognise at an auditory level", it would all be new. "It's preferable to start with the seminal works that used these sonorities in the beginning. Avant-garde Organ is a kind of summary." In general, the disc is organised by era and sonority, demonstrating what can be done on any organ, live and without assistants. It is not accompanied by notes and the 9Musas website consists of a static page with no useful information; but there is a bilingual booklet, downloadable from the organist's website (claudiodepina.com), with succinct and very pertinent information about the project, the instrument, each of the pieces and the expanded techniques used by the performer. Consider listening to it as a whole, with a good pair of headphones.
The first three tracks correspond to works by La Monte Young from 1960. Composition 1960 n.º 7 has only two notes with the indication "keep for a long time"; beyond that, what you hear is Cláudio de Pina (emphasising the importance of the performer in the process of realising the work). Shorter than the six and a half minutes of the previous one, in Composition 1960 n.º 10, Young urges the performer to draw a straight line and follow it - Pina offers us the sound of pages turning, footsteps and a door slamming, a quote from Ligeti's Trois bagatelles (1961). In the third, Composition 1960 n.º 13, La Monte Young challenges the performer to prepare any composition and interpret it in the best possible way -- Pina responds once again with Ligeti, with pieces from Musica Ricercata (1951/53). This is followed by the aforementioned two studies by Ligeti, who occupies a central place in the project. The sixth and seventh pieces on the disc are works by Kagel, performed for the first time on the Iberian organ: General bass (1972), (a piece for bass instruments capable of producing long sounds) and Rrrrrrr...: Orgelstücke (1980/81). Tracks 8 and 9 are forays into Cage's universe -- Organ2/ASLSP (1987) and ASLSP (as slowly as possible) - returning to La Monte Young in three other pieces. The score of the enigmatic Piano piece for David Tudor n.º 3 (1960) consists of a single phrase: "Most of them were very old grasshoppers." The interpreter considered that, "since the grasshoppers were old, using little air in the tubes would be as if they were old", but resorted to the "harmonic context that Young used to use for his improvisations (the magic chord, the dream chord) to create a soundscape". "I thought like a composer of acousmatic music."
Resulting in shorter durations, also with verbal scores, are Composition 1960 n.º 15 (in which the organist allows us to listen to the instrument taking and losing breath) and Piano piece for David Tudor n.º 2 (1960), in which the composer urges the performer to lift the keyboard lid, without emitting a sound, as many times as he wants -- it's understood that the organ is not given to silence, but rather holds, in potency, an infinity of rich sonorities. Returning to Cage, the disc closes, ironically, with a 4'33'' (1952) that actually lasts 4'59'' - a soundscape worthy of a multifaceted musician.
"Avant-garde Organ is neither the first nor the last album by composer, sound artist and organist Cláudio de Pina, who in May released Aether Ventus (Blumlein Records) with Andrew Levine, in which he celebrates the avant-garde legacy and innovative spirit of György Ligeti (1923-2006), in a work inspired by his use of clusters - a record that crosses the Iberian organ of the Parish of N.ª Sra. da Ajuda, in Lisbon, where Pina is titular organist, and which he performs with his own expanded techniques, with Levine's theremin and modular synthesisers.
Still on the subject of the Austro-Hungarian composer's centenary, we've recovered the disc that the organist published last year on the Portuguese label 9Musas, an interesting project in which he offers us an alternative way of listening, presenting a set of avant-garde pieces interpreted using an Iberian organ. Closely associated with Pina's doctoral thesis on the expansion of sound in the historical organ, which he is working on at the Nova University of Lisbon, in a form of research based on instrumental practice, Avant-garde Organ instead includes "repertoire" works. Among his interpretations of John Cage (1912-1992), Mauricio Kagel (1931-2008) and La Monte Young (1935) - but with a lot of Pina mixed in - we find the two studies Ligeti composed for organ: Harmonies (1967) and Coulée (1969). Left out was the better known Volumina (1962), which, as the performer explained to Ípsilon, "requires a pedalboard and a 61-key compass" - more than the 53 keys available on the Ajuda’s organ. The first study, lasting around nine minutes, consists of a score with ten notes "that slowly fade away, (...) as if the instrument had run out of air to breathe". Pina always begins his recitals with this piece (the fourth on the disc), which is conducive to introducing the public to this world of new sounds. "At first, people don't know what they're going to, where the sound around them is coming from, they don't see the instrumentalist... After a while, they start to close their eyes, relax and focus on the sound and what's happening."
The definition of the album's programme, with fairly open works by well-known composers, was a clever defensive move. If he approached his subject matter with music "that people don't recognise at an auditory level", it would all be new. "It's preferable to start with the seminal works that used these sonorities in the beginning. Avant-garde Organ is a kind of summary." In general, the disc is organised by era and sonority, demonstrating what can be done on any organ, live and without assistants. It is not accompanied by notes and the 9Musas website consists of a static page with no useful information; but there is a bilingual booklet, downloadable from the organist's website (claudiodepina.com), with succinct and very pertinent information about the project, the instrument, each of the pieces and the expanded techniques used by the performer. Consider listening to it as a whole, with a good pair of headphones.
The first three tracks correspond to works by La Monte Young from 1960. Composition 1960 n.º 7 has only two notes with the indication "keep for a long time"; beyond that, what you hear is Cláudio de Pina (emphasising the importance of the performer in the process of realising the work). Shorter than the six and a half minutes of the previous one, in Composition 1960 n.º 10, Young urges the performer to draw a straight line and follow it - Pina offers us the sound of pages turning, footsteps and a door slamming, a quote from Ligeti's Trois bagatelles (1961). In the third, Composition 1960 n.º 13, La Monte Young challenges the performer to prepare any composition and interpret it in the best possible way -- Pina responds once again with Ligeti, with pieces from Musica Ricercata (1951/53). This is followed by the aforementioned two studies by Ligeti, who occupies a central place in the project. The sixth and seventh pieces on the disc are works by Kagel, performed for the first time on the Iberian organ: General bass (1972), (a piece for bass instruments capable of producing long sounds) and Rrrrrrr...: Orgelstücke (1980/81). Tracks 8 and 9 are forays into Cage's universe -- Organ2/ASLSP (1987) and ASLSP (as slowly as possible) - returning to La Monte Young in three other pieces. The score of the enigmatic Piano piece for David Tudor n.º 3 (1960) consists of a single phrase: "Most of them were very old grasshoppers." The interpreter considered that, "since the grasshoppers were old, using little air in the tubes would be as if they were old", but resorted to the "harmonic context that Young used to use for his improvisations (the magic chord, the dream chord) to create a soundscape". "I thought like a composer of acousmatic music."
Resulting in shorter durations, also with verbal scores, are Composition 1960 n.º 15 (in which the organist allows us to listen to the instrument taking and losing breath) and Piano piece for David Tudor n.º 2 (1960), in which the composer urges the performer to lift the keyboard lid, without emitting a sound, as many times as he wants -- it's understood that the organ is not given to silence, but rather holds, in potency, an infinity of rich sonorities. Returning to Cage, the disc closes, ironically, with a 4'33'' (1952) that actually lasts 4'59'' - a soundscape worthy of a multifaceted musician.
Radio air time
Avant-Garde Organ featured in Portuguese radio Antena 2 (88.0 – 106.8) - Música Contemporânea by Pedro Coelho.
Ep. 97 featured Composition 1960 #13 (La Monte Young) listen in RTP Play (19 July)
Ep. 96 featured Composition 1960 #7 (La Monte Young) listen in RTP Play (15 July)
Ep. 95 featured Composition 1960 #15 (La Monte Young) listen in RTP Play (14 July)
Ep. 97 featured Composition 1960 #13 (La Monte Young) listen in RTP Play (19 July)
Ep. 96 featured Composition 1960 #7 (La Monte Young) listen in RTP Play (15 July)
Ep. 95 featured Composition 1960 #15 (La Monte Young) listen in RTP Play (14 July)
Avant-Garde Organ featured in The Moderns by Kevin Press (12 Feb.)
themoderns.blog/2023/02/05/the-moderns-ep-248/
themoderns.blog/2023/02/05/the-moderns-ep-248/
Testimonials
Adrian Moore: "It's amazing. You should have put a piece of Bach on just as a sense check. I keep hearing things and thinking the CD pressing didn't work... but it's the organ!!!"
Andrew Blackburn: "I have just finished listening to it, and how wonderful to hear. The technique and control of stop manipulation is sensational! I was very interested in the way you have arranged the pieces to fit the organ on which you are performing – making the seeming limitations of manuals and stops a very positive advantage. That is great. Thank you so much for thinking to send it to me: I loved hearing the music performed so well. Congratulations – it will be an important part of your PhD and in many ways is a worthy submission in its own right."
Barry Truax: "Thanks for the CD. It’s very adventuresome of you to do this, as it’s not an easy repertoire to bring off."
Cândido Lima: "Parabéns pelo trabalho. A(s) estética(s) deste CD, com algumas leves excepções, assentam nas massas, no continuum e na expectativa do compositor do que poderá dizer "este instrumento do diabo", como Pascal Dusapin o classificou numa mensagem que me enviou, pelo medo que tal mundo impunha, apaixonado pelo órgão, mas sem coragem, até hoje, de compor para o instrumento!"
Carlos Zíngaro: "EXCELENTE!!! Muito grato pelo envio do CD. É algo limitativo dizer que se gosta muito… Mas é o que me ocorre de momento. Muito obrigado pela partilha."
Cesar Viana: "Gostei muito, não só da música magnífica, como também do grafismo!"
David Cranmer: "Aceite, por favor, os meus agradecimentos e sinceros parabéns pela iniciativa. Parece-me um trabalho bastante diferente do que se pode encontrar aqui e bastante bem-feito. Abraço."
Daniel Schvetz: "Gostei bastante do CD, parabéns pelo projecto!"
Diana Ferreira: "Cláudio de Pina é um músico plurifacetado"
Dominik Susteck: "Dear Claudio, thanks a lot for your CD – I just listen right now to it – Very inspiring! – Kind of improvisation about some works? I like it!"
Gonçalo Frota: "Tenho ouvido o teu CD com frequência. E gosto mesmo muito. É muito surpreendente esta linguagem de música vanguardista interpretada num instrumento que identificamos com música sacra / antiga. Gosto especialmente das peças do Ligeti e das últimas do La Monte Young. Parabéns, belíssimo disco!"
Hugo Paquete: "Gostei bastante da interpretação e das obras escolhidas. Votos de muita sorte na promoção do disco."
Isabel Pires: "Fantástico Claudio! Obrigada por não ter desistido! Apesar de todas as dificuldades, a persistência, o entusiasmo, e o trabalho sério compensa!
Excelente."
Ismael G. Cabral: "'Avant-Garde Organ' (9musas) es uno de los discos que más he escuchado este verano. Cláudio Pina realiza una singular reivindicación de obras de La Monte Young y John Cage, entre otros autores, a partir de un instrumento portugués del siglo XVIII. Ojalá tenga oportunidad de hacer algunas presentaciones en concierto de este repertorio."
Jim Dalton: "I have been enjoying it very much. Excellent choice of repertoire and wonderful playing!"
Luís Tinoco: "Excelente! E parabéns antecipados. Vou gostar muito de ouvir!"
Maciej Lewenstein: "Great concept and great performance!"
Nuno Rogeiro: "Talvez um dos nossos maiores cultores do órgão setecentista. Toca quase sempre no órgão da Igreja Paroquial da Ajuda em Lisboa e agora investe num CD sobre música contemporânea, de compositores do séc. XX, em órgão, quase todos eles de vanguarda. Cláudio Pina no seu órgão majestoso, deve ser visitado por todos os portugueses." (Leste/Oeste - SIC Notícias).
Miguel Azguime: "Queria dar-te os parabéns pelo monumental empreendimento e saudar as qualidades do teu CD: o seu conceito experimental e inovador, a sua dimensão provocatória. As escolhas das obras e a liberdade criativa que muitas deles oferecem. A personalidade da interpretação. O cuidado e a estética da captação/gravação. Paradoxalmente a escolha das obras representadas, se por um lado abre várias portas, por outro também limita aquilo de que o instrumento é capaz, mesmo sabendo que a tua opção, se bem entendi, é “demonstrar" o instrumento na sua dimensão acusmática."
Robert Hasegawa: "This is a great project [...] I particularly like the La Monte Young tracks... I've heard of most of these pieces before but never listened to a real interpretation. I think they're very succesful... congratulations on the album!"
Andrew Blackburn: "I have just finished listening to it, and how wonderful to hear. The technique and control of stop manipulation is sensational! I was very interested in the way you have arranged the pieces to fit the organ on which you are performing – making the seeming limitations of manuals and stops a very positive advantage. That is great. Thank you so much for thinking to send it to me: I loved hearing the music performed so well. Congratulations – it will be an important part of your PhD and in many ways is a worthy submission in its own right."
Barry Truax: "Thanks for the CD. It’s very adventuresome of you to do this, as it’s not an easy repertoire to bring off."
Cândido Lima: "Parabéns pelo trabalho. A(s) estética(s) deste CD, com algumas leves excepções, assentam nas massas, no continuum e na expectativa do compositor do que poderá dizer "este instrumento do diabo", como Pascal Dusapin o classificou numa mensagem que me enviou, pelo medo que tal mundo impunha, apaixonado pelo órgão, mas sem coragem, até hoje, de compor para o instrumento!"
Carlos Zíngaro: "EXCELENTE!!! Muito grato pelo envio do CD. É algo limitativo dizer que se gosta muito… Mas é o que me ocorre de momento. Muito obrigado pela partilha."
Cesar Viana: "Gostei muito, não só da música magnífica, como também do grafismo!"
David Cranmer: "Aceite, por favor, os meus agradecimentos e sinceros parabéns pela iniciativa. Parece-me um trabalho bastante diferente do que se pode encontrar aqui e bastante bem-feito. Abraço."
Daniel Schvetz: "Gostei bastante do CD, parabéns pelo projecto!"
Diana Ferreira: "Cláudio de Pina é um músico plurifacetado"
Dominik Susteck: "Dear Claudio, thanks a lot for your CD – I just listen right now to it – Very inspiring! – Kind of improvisation about some works? I like it!"
Gonçalo Frota: "Tenho ouvido o teu CD com frequência. E gosto mesmo muito. É muito surpreendente esta linguagem de música vanguardista interpretada num instrumento que identificamos com música sacra / antiga. Gosto especialmente das peças do Ligeti e das últimas do La Monte Young. Parabéns, belíssimo disco!"
Hugo Paquete: "Gostei bastante da interpretação e das obras escolhidas. Votos de muita sorte na promoção do disco."
Isabel Pires: "Fantástico Claudio! Obrigada por não ter desistido! Apesar de todas as dificuldades, a persistência, o entusiasmo, e o trabalho sério compensa!
Excelente."
Ismael G. Cabral: "'Avant-Garde Organ' (9musas) es uno de los discos que más he escuchado este verano. Cláudio Pina realiza una singular reivindicación de obras de La Monte Young y John Cage, entre otros autores, a partir de un instrumento portugués del siglo XVIII. Ojalá tenga oportunidad de hacer algunas presentaciones en concierto de este repertorio."
Jim Dalton: "I have been enjoying it very much. Excellent choice of repertoire and wonderful playing!"
Luís Tinoco: "Excelente! E parabéns antecipados. Vou gostar muito de ouvir!"
Maciej Lewenstein: "Great concept and great performance!"
Nuno Rogeiro: "Talvez um dos nossos maiores cultores do órgão setecentista. Toca quase sempre no órgão da Igreja Paroquial da Ajuda em Lisboa e agora investe num CD sobre música contemporânea, de compositores do séc. XX, em órgão, quase todos eles de vanguarda. Cláudio Pina no seu órgão majestoso, deve ser visitado por todos os portugueses." (Leste/Oeste - SIC Notícias).
Miguel Azguime: "Queria dar-te os parabéns pelo monumental empreendimento e saudar as qualidades do teu CD: o seu conceito experimental e inovador, a sua dimensão provocatória. As escolhas das obras e a liberdade criativa que muitas deles oferecem. A personalidade da interpretação. O cuidado e a estética da captação/gravação. Paradoxalmente a escolha das obras representadas, se por um lado abre várias portas, por outro também limita aquilo de que o instrumento é capaz, mesmo sabendo que a tua opção, se bem entendi, é “demonstrar" o instrumento na sua dimensão acusmática."
Robert Hasegawa: "This is a great project [...] I particularly like the La Monte Young tracks... I've heard of most of these pieces before but never listened to a real interpretation. I think they're very succesful... congratulations on the album!"
Acknowledgements
I want to publicly thank the people involved in this project:
Francisco Cadete (for the wonderful watercolour on paper of the Ajuda organ).
Rosário Cadete (for the invaluable help in production, photography and support throughout the process).
Edward Ayres de Abreu (for the professional work and cordiality with which he embraced this project).
Tatiana Bina (for the exemplary graphic work and pagination).
Isabel Pires (for the guidance, endless meetings and providing the recording gear for the recording).
Lisboa Incomum for hosting the CD launch.
Paróquia Nossa Senhora da Ajuda - Lisboa, lead by Prior Francisco, for the opportunity to be at the helm of this fabulous instrument for 30 years.
And last but not least, Dominik Susteck and Andrew Blackburn for their inspiration and contribution to this field.
Quoting Newton, it is a privilege to stand on the shoulders of giants.
Francisco Cadete (for the wonderful watercolour on paper of the Ajuda organ).
Rosário Cadete (for the invaluable help in production, photography and support throughout the process).
Edward Ayres de Abreu (for the professional work and cordiality with which he embraced this project).
Tatiana Bina (for the exemplary graphic work and pagination).
Isabel Pires (for the guidance, endless meetings and providing the recording gear for the recording).
Lisboa Incomum for hosting the CD launch.
Paróquia Nossa Senhora da Ajuda - Lisboa, lead by Prior Francisco, for the opportunity to be at the helm of this fabulous instrument for 30 years.
And last but not least, Dominik Susteck and Andrew Blackburn for their inspiration and contribution to this field.
Quoting Newton, it is a privilege to stand on the shoulders of giants.