INTRODUCTION

IMPORTANT NOTE: This publication is a very reduced version of my PhD portfolio of compositions at Queen's University of Belfast. I prefer not to publish all music materials online despite the fact that the portfolio has been submitted and evaluated successfully. I take this opportunity to include information about other pieces not included in the portfolio and I hope this site to be upgraded with all my future work.
There is an important lack of documentation for all compositions involving acousmatic music, not to mention the little effort that musicologists do in the analysis of this kind of repertoire.
This site will be plenty of information explaining in detail every process of creation in my music, the technology involved, aesthetics and motivation for writing music.Step by step I will be uploading all my scores in Acrobat Reader pdf format for other musicians to download, my algorithms in MaxMSP, Pure Data, Common Lisp Music etc and audio files in compressed format for reference purposes only. Serve this beta version as a start.
I hope this modest contribution to be useful in one way or another for the electro-acoustic community of composers all over the world. Sorry about not English speakers, my intention is to translate it into Spanish, my mother tongue.
It has been said that writing commentaries about acousmatic composition is only a task for composer engaged to the academic world. I do not agree with that, and I encourage all composers, being or not in an academic environment, to write about the music they create for others to learn not only by listening but also by reading.

MY BELIEVES AS A SONIC ARTIST

To become a composer, or in my case a sonic artist, one needs to perceive the environment and our soundworld in a unique way. One also needs a broad knowledge of compositional techniques and a degree of discipline to achieve the desired targets.

The sonic art that I create realises a range of thoughts, perceptions and musical ideas. Observing the evolution of my music in recent years, I see it as something dynamic, evolving, in search of the beautiful and the unknown by researching the nature of the sound and our perception of this art.

New technology has an influence in my work though it is not a target but simply a tool to serve my compositional ideas. Most technological developments have been driven by the desire to make things easier for humans. I always try to follow this principle when dealing with music technology, but often I am aware that complexity is needed to achieve certain degree of quality, for instance, when designing new sounds in the studio.

I think most experienced listeners can perceive beauty and derive pleasure from listening to new and unique combination of timbres. This is the reason why my music focuses so much on concepts such as music timbre and texture. Within this context of research, I find new possibilities of musical expression by the identification of suitable forms, structures and gestures derived from what I call my 'sonic world'.

One of my first aims is to enhance my musical output with music tradition without renouncing to be a composer of my time.
My motivations to write music are more and more driven by 'intra-musical' ideas rather than 'extra-musical' associations. For me the concept is never more important than the work itself. In other words, what is more relevant for me is what you hear and not what I mean. It does not necessarily mean that my music should be regarded as abstract, rather, I prefer my meanings to be veiled by the musical discourse, its strength, expression, innovation and subtleties.
My early pieces show visual images have had a strong influence on my creative processes. This motivation is became less and less important in more recent works and is now very much a background influence. Now I work all the way around, the nature of the sounds themselves provide me a visual representation of the music for me to craft, no matter if they come from instruments or they are created by electronic means.

Next Figure illustrates how the sequence of works overlap in time:

MY MUSIC INSTERESTS AND INFLUENCES:

Most of my music influences arise from composers of the XXth Century. My perception of music is very analytical, therefore I am not influenced by the complete musical output of an author but by certain aspects and aesthetics of his/her music or even only by specific works.
In my recent academic environment I learnt enormously from our compositional workshops, tutorials and weekly seminars. In consequence lots of new concepts and compositional ideas were quickly assimilated. Only to mention a few examples: american experimental music, John Cage (Amores) , Carles Ives (4TH Symphony) , also Stravinsky (Symphony of wind instruments), Harrison Birthwistle (Carmen Arcadiae Mechanicae Perpetum), Witold Lutoslawsy (12 preludes and a fugue), Pendereski (Threnody for the victims of Hisorshima), Varese (Ionisation, Integrales, Density 21.5), Poul Ruders (Gong, Tundra), György Ligeti (Streichquartett nº2, violin concerto), Iannis Xenakis (Keren for trombone, chamber music), Boulez (Répons), Barry Truax (tape works).
I find very attractive the possibility of sharing ideas with composers in the same way we learn from the experience of performers of our music. In the past recent years I was lucky to listen to and in occasions to discuss the ideas of composers such as: Charles Eakin (orchestral works), Andrew Culver ('Ocean' - Takehisa Kosugi - Ongaky- Merce Cunnigham), Vic Hoyland ('Vixen'), Sir Peter Maxwell Davies ('3 songs for a Mad King'), Ian Wilson ('Phosphorus'), Jonathan Harvey ('Bakti', 'Mortus Plango Vivus Vocu'), Brian Irvine ('Chaplin') and Piers Hellawell ('Inside Story'). Also Thomas Kessler (Piano Kontrol), Jonty Harrison (Abstracts), Robert Normadeau (Rumours), Jo Hyde (Visual and tape works), Andrew Lewis ( ), Francis Dhomont (Phrynogie, Novars ), Jean-Claude Risset and Steven Montageau ('Dark Sun'), Leo Kupper (vocal works for tape) .
Less recent influences come from the Spanish Luis de Pablo (tarde de poetas), aspects of rhythm and chord progressions / extensions of Brazilian composers , Milton Nascimento, Caetano Veloso, Jobim and the masters of jazz music Charlie Parker, O. Hamerstein, Cole Porter, J. Kern, B. Evans or M. Davis in the art of improvisation and innovation.
There is an important influence in the revision of my music which is the performers 's feedback. The performer is the first customer of my music and his / her opinion is relevant to me. Also to mention the final receptionist of my work, the audience maybe not as an influence itself but a motivation to keep writing.
From my former career as Economist I acquired skills for numbers (statistics and mathematics) and organisation and control (specialised on ISO9000 / the British Standard 5750). The first, the numbers, helped my to have a better understanding of algorithmic music and programming which irremediably means greater control over the processes of music transformation in the studio environment. For the last few years I have being subscribed to several different community-lists of software development and related (PureData, Csound, Dsp-forum, Common Lisp Music, Common Music, CEC, RedHat - Mandrake Linux) and upgraded my knowledge on computer hardware and software, (Multi-platforms, programming etc). These new potentials of knowledge stimulated my research in music and definitely influenced my work.
The second, organisation and control, has influenced me in the way I control the 'bureaucracy' of my musical production in matters such as control over scores's distribution, revisions of scores and updating delivery, storage and classification of recording sources and compositional materials, database of information of concerts activities, conferences, scores, CDs, music papers etc. A good organisation is essential for 'healthy' music making activity.
Arts: I think the influence of arts in my music is not a 'direct input' as the music of composers mentioned above, however it has a place in the definition of my aesthetics. The art of women artists such as the imagination of Sophie Call, the treatment of space of Monique Bastian and Eva Lootz or the collective Knowbotic research in the interaction of live electronics and images. Also before, impressed by the commitment and conceptual ideas of Joseph Boys.
As a performer I play the live electronics designing my own music algorithms. I enjoy it when this practice goes beyond the simple execution of written instructions and requires the art of interpretation. I also like diffusing tape works on different acoustics, three-dimensional spaces and systems which in my opinion is another form of performing art.
Spite of I play the classical guitar and I occasionally compose short pieces for this instrument, I find more attractive to write and research for other instruments which sonorities and techniques are not so familiar to me.


                     Ricardo Climent.
                     Composer