READER: ADOLESCÊNCIA

DEMOCRATIC MUSIC IN THE HERE AND NOW:
THE COMPOSER RICARDO EIZIRIK (EXCERPT)

by Gerardo Scheige

Ironically – or perhaps not – “adolescência” for five performers (2022/23) is to be premiered at the Darmstadt Summer Course, the same echo chamber that rigidly set the agenda for contemporary composition in the 1950s. Back then, alternative artistic approaches and results were judged without mercy or compromise, even though the Boulez-Nono-Stockhausen triumvirate strove for a democratization of all musical parameters in their serially organized pieces. And in parallel with the erasure of the composing subject thus achieved, the body of rules grew. Seventy years have passed since then, but at times this legacy still hangs over the course’s history and discourse like a sword of Damocles. This is precisely what Eizirik, who first visited Darmstadt as a student in 2012, takes as his starting point: the focus is on human beings, in this case Carola Schaal, Roberto Maqueda, Jennifer Torrence, Francesco Palmieri, Håkon Stene and Ricardo Eizirik himself. The physical presence of the five musicians and the relationships between them are crucial to the piece. All senses are involved and every action matters: reciprocal glances, attentive listening and interaction with the audience, which should ideally also be involved. In puberty, the body’s process towards sexual maturity is the central focus. At the same time, it is a phase of extensive questioning in the search for one’s own place in society. Corporeality becomes a powerful engine in “adolescência”, including the physical experience of loudness, light or acceleration; Eizirik has been focusing especially on the last of these aspects in recent years. One could break his approach down radically to the maxim ‘Prima l’esperienza, poi la reflessione’: experience precedes reflection. And when Darmstadt’s Centralstation is immersed in darkness, the here and now are all that matters. Rewind and play.

Translation: Wieland Hoban