Bernardo Kuczer

Bernardo Mario Kuczer

Bernardo Mario Kuczer (born April 30, 1955 in Buenos Aires ) is an Argentine composer, music theorist and architect.

biography

Argentina

Bernardo Mario Kuczer worked in Buenos Aires as a rock musician, composer and guitarist until he was around 20 years old and also composed for the theater. At the same time he completed a degree in architecture, which he graduated with a diploma in 1978. He came to classical music by studying classical guitar . He studied several years of harmony and music analysis and later Renaissance - counterpoint . He became a member of an interdisciplinary research group on music, working with psychologists, biologists, doctors and musicologists.

In 1979 he publicly presented a thesis with his own ideas about "the building blocks of music , their dynamic interaction and a special, resulting" form of energy "which determines and enables the microscopic and macroscopic articulation of the flow of music". He called the thesis first "La forma natural de la Música" ("The natural ways of music"), then "The New Connections" (1983) and later also "Música sin el factor Humano" ("Music without the human factor") ).

Europe

In 1980 Kuczer traveled to London to study viola da gamba , which he gave up a short time later to devote himself to composition. His first ensemble work ( Even ... the loudest sky , Saxophone - Quartet , 1981) was selected by the British Society for the Promotion of New Music for the "Composers Weekend" in 1981 in London.

In 1983 he came to Freiburg im Breisgau to study composition with Brian Ferneyhough at the music academy there, but soon felt the need to continue his path in music alone.

In 1984 he took part in the Darmstadt Summer Courses , where several pieces from his tape cycle Civilización o Barbarie were premiered. For this work, Kuczer was the first Latin American composer to be awarded the Kranichstein Music Prize.

In 1986, for the following event of the Darmstadt Summer Course, he was invited to perform a second concert with works from his tape cycle.

Civilización o Barbarie was proposed by Klaus Huber , one of the three jurors, as the personal choice of the jury for the World Music Days of the International Society for New Music , which took place in Cologne in 1987.

In 1990 Kuczer received a scholarship from the Heinrich Strobel Foundation of Südwestfunk .

In 1999 he withdrew from the active music and concert business. Since 2000 he has been working almost exclusively with computers, planning, writing and developing his own computer programs. These programs are based on his own hypotheses, models and theoretical ideas on harmony , rhythm , sound, form and “music flow” and are used for further research. With her help he also produced his later digital works.

Kuczer was also active in other artistic fields. He has created over 1000 paintings, drawings and sculptures and also designed his own furniture. As a writer, he has written about 250 poems and two books, none of which have yet been published. The title of his first book is "Salvas de Guerra" (contra La Música) ( "War salvos" [against music] ). He also shot and set his own documentary under the title Vida? (por un Espacio Poético o una Poesía del Espacio-Tiempo), una documentación .

Work and reception

Kuczer's musical oeuvre comprises over 81 major works, with around 110 individually named pieces from different areas of music, such as instrumental music , tape music, electroacoustic music , computer music and algorithmic computer music .

Over 60 of his compositions have not been performed (or unveiled) to date. Several of his instrumental works were long or are still considered unplayable today. His saxophone quartet from 1981 was initially classified as unplayable and did not experience a real world premiere until 1994. However, some works were performed and broadcast in various European cities. Examples:

• London: "Composers' Weekend", 1981
• Darmstadt: Darmstadt Summer Courses, 1984 and 1986
• Como: "18 ° festival internazionale, autunno musicale" (Musical Autumn), 1984
• Milan: "Musica del nostro tempo", 1987
• Freiburg im Breisgau: "Horizons Series", 1984
• Paris: "Perspectives du XXe siècle" ( Carte blanche to Harry Halbreich ), 1985
• Stockholm: "International Festival of Electronic Music", 1985
• Freiburg: "Aventure Freiburg", 1987
• Mönchengladbach: " Ensemblia Festival", 1987
• Cologne: IGNM World Music Days , 1987
• Frankfurt: Hessischer Rundfunk , 1988
• Los Angeles, Arnold Schoenberg Institute, 1990
• Witten: Witten Days for New Music , 1994
• Basel: IGNM, 1995
• Piteå : Piteå University, 1995
• Bremen: Festival “Transit” Places / Non-Places, 1999
• Montreal: World Saxophone Congress, 2000

Press reviews

The real revelation of this record is the Argentine Bernardo Kuczer, whose "even ... The loudest sky !!" is one of the wildest I've heard in a while. It is brilliantly written (devilishly difficult) and played with the utmost conviction, and one wonders what Kuczer may have been doing since writing it in 1981. Anything new from Kuczer or (the saxophone ensemble) Xasax is welcome here.

On May 2, 1996 Fara C. wrote in the world music magazine World :

“Even… The loudest sky !!!”, composed in 1981 by the Argentine Bernardo Kuczer, reaches a peak of complexity that had never been achieved before the world premiere by Xasax in 1994! It took the group six months of hard work to conquer these supernatural seven minutes.

The Belgian musicologist Harry Halbreich wrote in the monthly magazine "Le Monde de la musique" No. 72 of November 1984:

However, the evening had to end in the company of the Argentine Bernardo Kuczer, who lives in Germany, and his apocalyptic electroacoustic pieces, which are summarized in an enormous cycle under the name 'Civilización o Barbarie'. I confess that I escaped. But two days later I was able to again listen to this extraordinary music of a crazy visionary, skinned alive, bloody shreds of flesh with a tremendous power of expression, at a somewhat more bearable volume, which paradoxically is reproduced on a simple tape!

List of works

• Articulaciones II , (1980), for two alto recorders (or two identical wind instruments) tuned a quarter tone apart
• Seis estudios sobre la disonancia simple y la mixtura de lenguas , (1980) for choir
• Huella , 1981, for flute
• Dualidades , 1981, for piano
• Drei'h , 1981, for clarinet
• Even… the loudest sky , 1981, for saxophone quartet
• A-gent's Arguum , 1982, for viola
• La Distancia IV ( un fragmento ), 1982–1983, for flute, bass clarinet, cello and piano

• towards a New Brutality , 1983, nine studies
  • Study Nº 1 : (Historias Naturales), for percussion and (digital) sound space (*)
  • Study Nº 2 : (Soul-Lage), for voice in sound space (*)
  • Study Nº 3 : (La vuelta al día Ia), for percussion, (two roto-toms) (*)
  • Study Nº 4 : (memorias de un pasado por suceder…), (1983), for two percussionists, voice, tape and electronics
  • Study Nº 5 : (La vuelta al día II: de Spatium Natura), for room percussion (*)
  • Study Nº 6 & 7 : (Tween dances)
    • Nº 6 dance A, for percussion and (digital) sound space (*)
    • Nº 7 dance B, for percussion and (digital) sound space (*)
  • Study Nº 8 : (El espejo y la lámpara I), for percussion (*)
  • Study Nº 9 : (El espejo y la lámpara II), for voice and percussion (*)

(*) revised in 2012, now only available as a digital version

• Civilización o Barbarie , (1984): a cycle with the following 18 independent tape pieces:
  • Peripéteia II , (1984), tape music
  • Peripéteia III , (1984), tape music
  • Peripéteia IV , (1984), tape music
  • Peripéteia V , (1984), tape music
  • Peripéteia VI , (1984), tape music
  • Peripéteia VII : Iña'K, (1984), tape music
  • Peripéteia VIII : Periplo, (1984), tape music
  • Une mémoire la vie , (1984), tape music
  • Cri de la mémoire fermée , (1984), tape music
  • Finale, ou la mémoire pulsante , (1984), tape music
  • Contre-rime , (1984), tape music
  • Him'l , (1984), Tape-Music
  • Dream-line , (1984), taped music
  • One other desert , (1984), tape-music
  • Escenas-Miró , (1984), tape music
  • Ejercicio de aire , (1984), tape music
  • Hole the black , (1984), taped music
  • ... and silence beside it , (1984), tape-music

• K'tedral , (1984–1985) for viola
• formas y fluidos II-VII , (1985) for piano
• Form-Memory (1986), tape music
• Memory-Form (1986), tape-music
• Equations of change (1987), Computer Music
• In search of the Engram , (1986–1988 (88-90)), for wind quintet

• Zeitschlag -Bbridges (battering) , (1991-2001), a cycle with the following eight pieces (with possible electronic amplification and processing) :
  • FORM I , (1991–1998), for viola, violoncello and 1 or 2 pianos, or for violoncello and piano
  • FORM II , (1991–1998), for viola, violoncello and (1 or) 2 pianos
  • FORM III , (1991–1998), for viola and piano
  • FORM IV , (1991–1998), for viola, violoncello and 1 or 2 pianos
  • ZickZackZeit , (1991–1997), for violin
  • Zeit-Raum-Zerre II , (1991–1999), for violoncello
  • Zeit-Raum-Zerre III , (1991–1999), for viola and violoncello
  • Surrounding targets , (2000–01), for violin, viola and cello (string trio)

• Cosmografía -Panopticum Armonicum- , (2002-04), for piano
• Sinfines , (2002–04), for piano, piano four hands or two to five pianos
• La vuelta al día Ic , (1983, 2000ߖ), (computer- generated versions and scores) , for 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 or 8 percussionists
• Resistencia de la materia , (2011–2012), a cycle with the following five digital works:
  • Tungsteno , (2011–2012), Digital Music
  • Casi Ayer , (2011–2012), digital music
  • Siglo XX: Un Respiro , (2011–2012), digital music
  • A-Sintaxis III , (2011–2012), digital music
  • Siglo XX, Pequeño Epitafio Nº2: Esmeril , (2011–2012), digital music

• Trenzados americanos , (2011–2012), Digital Music
• Malambo , (2011–2012), Digital Music
• Drama de amar , (2011–2012), for digital drums, digital music
• Sureña Ic , (2012), for piano (*)
• Cuicantos , (2011–12), for digital percussion ensemble , digital music (*)

(*) these works belong to the so-called “Apócrifos americanos”, a series of “composer aided, computer generated” studies.

• Sendas negras , (2012), for percussion ensemble

• Swarm Behavior I , (1986–2012), Digital Music
• Swarm Behavior II , (1986–2012), Digital Music
• Swarm Behavior III , (1986–2012), Digital Music

• For growth and prosperity , (2012), digital music

• Máximos y Mínimos ( en un Nanocosmos ), (2012–2013), a collection of 27 digital works

• Música de cámara Nº1 (algo oscura) , (2013), digital music
• Música de cámara Nº2 (donde hubo fuego) , (2013), digital music
• Juego de engranajes , (2013), Digital Music
• Gris ardiente , (2013), digital music
• Los Pasos Perdidos , (2013), Digital Music

• Lo heterogéneo (2013–2014), a cycle of nine independent digital works divided into four groups:
  • Tres Hibridaciones (2013), a group of three independent digital works
    • Canticum Sacrum Non , (2013), digital music
    • Formas nobles y melancólicas , (2013), digital music
    • Tourdion (et basse) , (2013), digital music
  • Una Decantación (2014), includes an independent digital work
    • Un sol menor (2014), Digital Music
  • Tres Aleaciones (2014), a group of three independent digital works
    • Don't Stand Still Here ... (2014), Digital Music
    • Marcha plana (2014), digital music
    • Tres ceremonias (on the melting line) (2014), digital music
  • Dos Imbricaciones (2014), a group of three independent digital works
    • Imbricación I (Süredrath) (2012, 2014), digital music
    • Imbricación II (Silétsere) (2014), Digital Music

Individual evidence

1. ↑ with Hector Rocha and then with Jorge Panitsch
2. ↑ with Nestor Zadoff and then with Sergio Hualpa
3. ↑ with Nestor Zadoff
4. ↑ under the guidance of Sergio Hualpa
5. ↑ Quote from a private work by Bernardo Mario Kuczer
6. ↑ The invitation to organize a concert in Darmstadt came about after Kuczer had played some of his tapes to Brian Ferneyhough in May 1984. Then he wrote a letter to the IMD (Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt), which read: "... I am of the opinion that these pieces ... are in part of very great interest ..." and later: "... I keep it (ie Kuczer ) for an important composer in this field ... ". The letter is in the IMD archive.
7. ↑ The title Civilización o Barbarie is based on a similarly named book by Domingo Faustino Sarmiento .
8. ↑ Chronology of the Kranichsteiner Music Prize ( Memento of the original from October 29, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
9. ↑ His piece A-gent's Arguum for solo viola from 1982 was premiered during these summer courses . Mainly for this performance the soloist Barbara Maurer received the Kranichstein Music Prize for Performers.
10. ↑ IGNM World Music Days 1987, general program book, page 13, printing and publishing house Vienand Cologne
11. ↑ IGNM World Music Days 1987, general book program, page 15, printing and publishing house Vienand Cologne
12. ↑ Quote from a private work by Bernardo Mario Kuczer
13. ↑ Not included in this set is the so-called " Apuntes de Arquitectura (cotidiana) " (1980-), a collection of more than 1000 drawings, sketches, plans, etc. relating to architecture and design.
14. ↑ "Life? (for a poetic space or a poetry of space-time), a documentation "(1989/92)
15. ↑ In January 2014 the Fukio Ensemble played the piece at the Universität der Künste Berlin , in the final of the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University Competition . The saxophone quartet from Spain was awarded 1st prize in the New Music category.
16. ↑ Best of Paris Transatlantic (English)
17. ↑ Report on the concert at the Maison de la Culture in Amiens 1996 (English)
18. ↑ Published in the report on the Darmstädter Ferienkurse 1984. Original French: Il fallut néanmoins terminer la soirée… en compagnie de l'argentin fixé en Allemagne Bernardo Kuczer et de ses apocalyptiques pièces électro-acoustiques groupées dans un immense cycle intitulé o Civilieización . J'avoue avoir fui. Mais deux jours plus tard, j'ai pu réentendre à un niveau sonore un peu plus supportable ces musiques extraordinaires de fou visionnaire, d'écorché vif, lambeaux de chair saignante d'une prodigieuse puissance expressive réalisés, paradoxalement, avec un simple magnétophone à cassettes!

Web links

Commons : Bernardo Kuczer  - collection of images, videos and audio files

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