Composed by Stefan Thut in 2021 Written for Joseph Kudirka’s collection of music for music box later the score has been read in various other ways
Side a was recorded by Jaike Stambach in Berlin in May 2022. Joseph Kudirka: music box
Side b was recorded by Stefan Thut in Solothurn in May 2023 Cristián Alvear: guitar Christian Kobi: soprano saxophone Joseph Kudirka: synthesizer Stefan Thut: cello Mara Winter: flute
Design by Zhu Wenbo
excerpts from the correspondence between Joseph Kudirka and Stefan Thut, January 2021 - December 2022
subject: want to make a piece for a music box?
JK: How are you? Finding ways to enjoy your time in the pandemic? One thing I’ve been doing is making pieces for these hand-cranked punch-card music boxes I have. I thought instead of just making pieces for myself, it would be nice to also ask other composers if they would write something for them.
ST: Here is something that might be useful for a performer of a music box. I had this material for two voices lying around for long, now I decided to show the current version to you. I played it on my computer using the sound of Kalimba which made it sound quite nicely. I am fascinated by the irregularity and unpredictability of the lines.
JK: Thank you for this beautiful piece! It’s so simple, but also so surprising (that part where a 6th appears!). I think it could work very well on the music box, especially with moving the handle very slowly, where the resistance of the mechanism makes the tempo just slightly indeterminate. What I would suggest is that I have all the lines on the same roll, with the pauses simply existing as space between the lines.
ST: The slowly turning of the handle might also blur the coordination of the two voices wouldn’t it. I am more than happy if you can fit all the 42 segments onto one roll. We could think of adding a blank space in between each one, always of the same stretch. Just enough length to realize the end of the phrase. Then you could perform the rest by stopping the handle and continue again after your curiosity is ready for ‘another’ segment.
JK: I made the scroll with the method you suggested, which I like. First, I had thought to make rests in the scroll while I turn the crank, but I think it’s better like you suggest to just stop and wait, and then start playing again. Also, you are correct that by turning very slowly it will blur the two voices. I try to punch the holes accurately. But doing it by hand/eye is not as precise as the mechanism. I’m glad you’re ok with that, because I really like these kinds of idiosyncrasies of instruments.
subject: recordings of “another”
JK: I’m sending you a recording from a concert in January where I played “another.” It was just a private concert, but there was a nice group in an intimate space (back room of my friend’s bar on a night when it was closed).
ST: There are many moments full of expectation and surprise. The imperfections of the machinery and cut paper work beautifully! I was wondering about the unusual and unprepared progressions and whether they might be underlined by anticipating/retarding them or not. For me it is a question about the performer of the ever changing cascades acting as a musical interpreter.
JK: I agree about the aspects of surprise/fascination related to the imperfections, speed of the handle, etc. It is unlike playing any other instrument in many ways, but in others, it is more similar than one would expect from a description of the mechanical processes involved. I’ve found that one of the differences of playing pieces on this instrument to playing other instruments is one of focus and how it relates to moments in the music. Though it is programmed (punched out on the paper already), the steady turning of the crank becomes a sort of meditative process where I become lost to the music on the page. Somehow focus turns only on the immediate physical and aural experience. This is not something that I would have expected.
ST: What I have now sent to you is a concert recording from Santiago de Chile, April 21 2022. It is Nicolás Carrasco’s group called “sin aspavientos” plus Cristián Alvear and myself playing. We were doing two pages of the score “another”, a reading much opposed to the initial purpose of the score for the music box series. It shows how musical notation can lead into completely different doings. This was only possible by looking at this material unbound to any purposes.
JK: I really appreciate this approach to scores, and especially to making scores that can be read in multiple ways.
ST: Would you be interested in coming to Solothurn for a concert at Säulenhalle where I organize events? The idea is to have the score of “another” performed both as a solo for music box followed by a reading of an ensemble of musicians.
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Cristián Alvear (b. 1979) is a Chilean musician dedicated to the performance and research of experimental and contemporary music.
Christian Kobi’s artistic interest lies in improvised music. He explores the relationships between sound, action, noise and silence. For several years he has been developing performances for solo saxophone and has presented them at international concert series and festivals. He is a member of the Konus Quartet with four saxophones and he is a lecturer in improvised music at the Bern University of the Arts (HKB). Since 2003, he is initiator and artistic director of the festival for improvised music zoom in.
Joseph Kudirka (born 1978, USA) is a composer and performer of experimental music, focusing on composed chamber music, but also with toes in folk/pop music, electronic music, improvisation, and installation. Some musicians he’s composed works for include Tom Buckner, Rhodri Davies, Anton Lukoszevieze, Sebastian Berweck, and Rebecca Lane. As a performer, he’s premiered works by Antoine Beuger, Michael Maierhof, Eva-Maria Houben, and numerous others. He is a member of the groups The Jack Chicks, post music, Sparrows, BAKU, and panomorph. He holds degrees in composition from Northwestern University (BM), CalArts (MFA), and the University of Huddersfield (PhD), having studied with Michael Pisaro, Alan Stout, James Tenney, and Bryn Harrison. He likes cats, whiskey, music boxes, and vintage guitars.
Stefan Thut is a composer and cellist, living and working in Solothurn (CH) and abroad. He is interested in a variety of things such as people, plants, frequencies, words and thoughts. Through observation he tries to get a bit closer to phenomena and he likes to share the evolving experiences, for example through composition.
Mara Winter is an experimental musician who has pursued a unique specialization in the performance of transverse flutes of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Her compositions meditate on the myriad sound possibilities of these early instruments, set within the framework of contemporary space.
