Interview with composer Daniel Wohl

The Theater of Found Sounds is pleased to kickoff the Fall season (and kick OFF this blog’s unconscionably long hiatus) with a new series of interviews with composers in and around the New York region. The second decade of the 21st century seems like such an unlikely time, fiscally and culturally, to be a composer (dare we even begin to explore the ontology of what it means to be a "composer" composing today?), and yet there has been an audible spike (if not yet in visual prominence) in the proliferation of composers producing interesting and individual work today, each one of us pursuing what intrigues us and all of us discovering our own way in navigating through the complexities of the composer-performer-listener dynamic. I have a strong suspicion that we haven't really lost a notion of a "common practice" after all, merely misplaced it, but I will leave such conclusions for another day, after the accumulation of a little more data.

I'm also trying to figure out if an optimal formal structure exists for the representation of interviews in print, apart from the usual magazine format of fictionalizing the event as if it were occurring in real time. I have taken the liberty of modifying and amplifying our email interviews, providing connections where required rather than leaving gaps in sense and meaning. I hope however that I have merely provided a structure to enable me to condense into a single post the series of interviews that stretched over a week. It is, obviously, not my intent to alter the content of the interviews: only to give them shape. I am optimistic that given sufficient interviews, the interview form on this blog will both evolve and eventually find itself.

It's a genuine pleasure for me to begin this series with an interview with composer Daniel Wohl, co-founder and composer-in-residence of the stellar ensemble Transit New Music. Daniel Wohl is a Paris-born composer based in Brooklyn who writes for a variety of instruments that range from computers and slide whistles to orchestras, chamber ensembles and string quartets. Recently described by the New York Times as a composer whose “ingenuity was evident” and one of this generation’s most “imaginative and skillful creators”, his recent work draws heavily on his background in electronic music and delves into sounds produced by decayed audio, noise, and prerecorded media, while maintaining a direct link to influences ranging from Debussy to Reich.

We spent most of the interview discussing Transit’s new CORPS EXQUIS project, premiering on October 14 at Galapagos Art Space in DUMBO, Brooklyn on a triple bill with So Percussion and a world premiere by Tristan Perich. But conversations are fertile ground for tangents and free associations, and we ended up discussing issues that I think are shared by all composers working today, and these concerns connect us, whether we are conscious of them or otherwise.

(Ed: Daniel's thoughts are in BOLD, and mine in italics)

1. CORPS EXQUIS PROJECT

The CORPS EXQUIS PROJECT is a work for chamber ensemble, electronics and video. I composed the music, Transit is performing it, and six different videos are being made to go along with the score (by Antoine Catala, Alexis Gambis, Brian Gibson, Satan's Pearl Horses, Andrew Steinmetz/ Teddy Stern, Brina Thurston). Though the music is written for a chamber ensemble, it also relies heavily on electronics: Casio sounds, drum machines, found sounds and pre-recorded distorted acoustic instruments feature very prominently in the Corps Exquis Project.

So Percussion will also be performing a brand new work composed by the group and the Transit collective has commissioned and will be premiering a new work from composer Tristan Perich. This new piece of Tristan's steps away from his work with 1-bit electronics and incorporates a specially created system he designed to digitally process amplification.

2. What is corps exquis (as opposed to cadavre exquis)?

Corps exquis (the exquisite body), as Daniel points out to me, borrows from the familiar Surrealist parlor game "le cadavre exquis" or "the exquisite corpse (or cadaver)" but leaves behind its darker, more Gothic (perhaps even Frankensteinian) associations. For those unfamiliar with the game, the "exquisite corpse" is a method first embraced by the Surrealists (primarily among literary and visual types, rather than among composers) in which a collection of words or images is assembled collectively, with each collaborator adding to the composition in sequence, either by following a rule or by being allowed to see the end of what the previous person contributed.

The familiar children's books in which the pages are cut into thirds, the top third showing the head of a person or animal, the middle third the torso, and the bottom third the legs, giving children the ability to "mix and match" by turning pages is a lovely example of this Surrealist concept embraced by popular culture. Whatever the variation of method, what to me is essential (and to Daniel as well) is that the element of chance or surprise be allowed a certain degree of free rein.

This project is an "exquisite body" on several levels. Each video artist worked with a frame from the previous video as a seed to their own work (in a sense, this would constitute the most traditional application of the corps exquis method). They were also given parts of the music beforehand upon which they based their work, though I did revise the music often, so it became more of a back and forth between the two mediums (referencing the collaborative aspect of the exquisite corpse. What intrigues me about the idea of the exquisite corpse is that it can be said to both embrace the idea of collaboration (we acknowledge that we're writing a part of a whole) and at the same time refuse it, because one writes with, potentially, very little knowledge of the preceding section). Also, the "exquisite body" works on a purely musical level: I came up with a series of six instrumental "songs" as a musical counterpart to the videos, where an element from the previous song is present in the one that follows, though this element is often disguised or transformed in some way.

What interests me about the exquisite corpse format is that it brings you out of your comfort zone and there's of course an element of surprise involved. I still have no idea what the final product will look like (though I will soon find out in rehearsal!), or how the music will "fit" with each specific video. There's an element of releasing control over the final product that's both exciting and nerve-racking for a composer.

Composition can be a very insular activity: you sit at your desk or keyboard and you embark on a kind of solitary journey. Though I have collaborated with other musicians, composers and choreographers before, I thought that it would be fun to branch out and to create a more substantial connection in my collaboration with other artists, specifically with video artists who's works inspire me, and hence the idea for the Corps Exquis Project.

3. The Instrumental "Song" and the Art/ Pop Divide

My use of the word "song" is specific in trying to bring together the perceived musical divide between various artistic cultures. I wanted to focus particularly on the area where the popular song format crosses and meets with the instrumental, through-composed pieces that I typically work with. And what I came up with was a way of grappling with the musical issues that I often delve into (I often work with the notions of contrast in music. I tend to strive for beauty while inserting a healthy dose of noise into the mix. I work with prerecorded or found sounds which I like to artificially decay or distort in some way. I'm also very interested in the interaction of live musicians and electronics, often synchronizing the two to create a sort of amplified instrument) but within the more concise and direct form of the song.

The way I composed much of this music was to treat the instrumental lines as samples of themselves - so there isn't necessarily a developmental quality in much of the material, though there is variety within the "samples". This really gives the pieces a non-classical feeling. I also used many sounds that are commonly found in a more popular context (although I did distort many of them to find more interesting possibilities): for example a drum machine with a distortion pedal, a circuit bend CASIO sk1, a delayed and decayed organ sound. One of the many things I like about indie or electronic music is the vast expanse of timbres that are available to an indie pop musician. A composer of classical music typically only uses acoustic instruments and the extended techniques available for those instruments. Though these always sound fresh in the hands of a great composer, I thought that it would be fun to delve into the limitless palette of timbres available to indie pop musicians working today.

Also the format of the song, with its sectional quality, clear direction and well defined mood appealed to me as a model for Corps Exquis.

4. Found Sounds

Found sounds include so much more than a sample from "real" life, than aural readymades. It encompasses other preexisting materials such as algorithms, proportions and mathematical sequences (with composers such as Tom Johnson and John Cage). Found sounds encourage the notion of a composer who is not merely an inventor, but a discoverer as well.

Found sounds are a big part of my music. I use a variety of source material as a jumping-off point for pieces. Naturally produced sounds, prerecorded instruments, vocals, machine-generated noises.

Found sounds are great to use because they're accidental. I'm one of those composers who loves to create music accidentally. I like planning things out but allowing elements to influence the final product. In "Glitch", a string quartet I wrote, the electronics for the final movement are taken from a glitch that arose inside my computer while I was writing the piece.

5. Chance and the Aesthetic Accident

In terms of the exquisite body idea, it seems to me that the primary motivation for its appeal is the idea of the happy coincidence - that one derives an unexpected aesthetic pleasure from an unanticipated combination, an unplanned meeting of minds. Cage and Cunningham collaborations come to mind here, where they would agree only upon the duration of the movements but the end result was revealed only on the day of the actual performance. Can we accurately describe this as an updated version of the Corps Exquis idea? One that is especially applicable to musical collaboration?

The element of surprise in the Corps Exquis Project resides both in the way the music and video will interact, and how the videos will flow into one another. The exquisite corpse idea on a musical level however doesn't hold any surprises for me, but it was nonetheless a productive constraint and jumping-off point for the music.

6. Musical Ancestry (or where do you see yourself in this thing we call our tradition?)

Musical inspiration is always evolving. Over the past few weeks I've been listening to music by Lucky Dragons, Ingram Marshall, Cage, Animal Collective, Julia Wolfe, Dan Deacon, Chopin ... These people and many, many others inspire me and remind me why I strive to make good music. I'm also very inspired by young composers working today; people I'm sharing the bill with on October 14th are some of my all-time favorites, but there are many others, especially in the NY area that are doing some fascinating stuff.

I think we have fewer hang ups than the previous generation about what's right and wrong in music, but also less to rebel against. I think many of us are just trying to make good music, or we're working with concepts that interest us. There are no stylistic restrictions, no ideas off limits. I think you can create your own language, even if it's a patchwork of all your influences, or if it's coming from completely different musical traditions.

7. Man-becoming-machine (Machine-becoming-man)

What intrigues me most and strikes me as something quite special, quite unique in Daniel's music, is this symbiosis between Man and Machine, in the interaction of live musicians and electronics, a way of, in Daniel's words, synchronizing the two to create a sort of amplified instrument. I hear it clearly in "+ou-" (in fact, while the music ebbs and flows, the form's clarity is beautiful and extremely striking), where you cannot tell where the electronic element begins and where the acoustic element stops or vice versa.

One of the most memorable musical moments in my life happened while I was studying in Michigan. I was at a piano recital and as the pianist struck the first chord, a distant radio playing some sort of warbling chord sounded at the exact same time. This struck me as an incredibly beautiful moment. It was magical the way the piano and this invisible instrument were combining into some sort of amplified instrument. I've been striving to manufacture these kinds of moments with my music ever since.

8. Desert Island Discs

One of my favorite things to request from composers is a simple list of the music that they love, where "love" is that which requires no rational explanation, only unembarrassed affection (an experience before words, born in the absence of signs, like Cage's love for Satie).

I'm a sucker for these pieces and songs:

Magnetic Fields "Born on a Train"
Serge Gainsbourg "L'anamour"
Chopin Nocturnes op 72 no. 1
Debussy "Jardins Sous la Pluie"
Mozart Sonata in A Minor

***

Once again, Transit’s new CORPS EXQUIS project premieres on October 14 at Galapagos Art Space in DUMBO, Brooklyn on a triple bill with So Percussion and a world premiere by Tristan Perich. Many thanks to Daniel Wohl for his time and patience.