Vinko Globokar (b. 1934)
VOIX INSTRUMENTALISÉE (1973)
for a bass clarinet player
In Voix Instrumentalisée, Globokar asks the bass clarinet player to learn a couple of new techniques how to play the instrument. The mouthpiece is removed and not used at all. Instead, the instrumentalist has to sing, speak and blow into the bass clarinet while changing the fingering and adding special effects with the voice and the keyclick sounds.
Although the words can never be clearly understood, all the spoken and sung material is based on the sentence "L'art et la science ne peuvent exister sans la possibilité d'exprimer des idées paradoxales." (Art and science cannot exist without the possibility of expressing paradoxical ideas). Indeed the piece expresses lots of those paradoxical ideas, not only through the expansion of the traditional bass clarinet sound, but also with how the piece is notated. In three lines, Globokar indicates the fingering, the voice and the lip pressure - sometimes very strictly, sometimes just like a improvisation concept.
The composer also demands that the bass clarinet is amplified and the bass clarinet sound should be picked up by two microphones: one on the top and one in the lower area of the bass clarinet towards the bell. In the present recording, the effect which arises through the use of the two differently placed microphones can be experienced through a stereo panning. As a result it is highly recommend to listen to the track with stereo headphones or a stereo sound system.
www.felix-behringer.de
released June 5, 2011