Contrepointe décadente

Qui sequitur via recta non ambulat in tenebris

Some years ago I found the canon enigmatico from Manuel Cardoso, a portuguese composer from the 17th Century. The canon enigmatico was a common praxis in the 16th Century and consists in hiding one of the polyphonic voices of a piece. Instead of music notation the composer writes in the Tenor II or Alto a text that should be deciphered to reconstruct the music. Manuel Cardoso wrote 1625 one canon enigmatico which as far as I know was only deciphered by the musicologist Mário de Sampayo Ribeiro in the 20th Century. The sentence is this:  Qui sequitur via recta non ambulat in tenebris  which could be translated as who follows me through a straight way will not be walking in the darkness. The part “who follows me through a straight way” means that you should read the Superius I backwards from the end to the beginning. The second part  “will not be walking in the darkness” means that you should take the Superius I and read only the white notes and ignore the black ones.

A fascinating form of obscure mystery that once solved allows the piece to be performed with all voices.

This White Music means to be an Homage to Frei Manuel Cardoso. It is an algorithmic process where only the white notes are used. All the music is in this case from Chopin except for the black notes (in sense from pitch and not from rhythm).

The first examples are from Chopin op. 18 Grand Valse Brillante and Etude op. 10 nr. 5 (Black Keys)

White Keys Music - Chopin Op 18 Grand Valse Brillante

VERMALUNG II - DONNY G. for 8 Channel Elektronik (2006) Premiere: 01.08. Aschaffenburg , Stadttheater
Vermalung II belongs to a cycle encompassing Vermalung I until IV, both of which quote material from a previously existing music source. In Vermalung I - Western Music for Electronics, rhythmic structures from the soundtrack of Sergio Leone's film Once Upon a Time in the West are reconfigured into the composition. Based on a pop song from John Zorn, Vermalung III - Batman was composed for percussion quartet and live-electronics. Vermalung IV - Ludwig v. for Orchestra is based on Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.
Vermalung II originates from the aria Don Giovanni, A Cenar Teco in Mozart's opera Don Giovanni. The sound material for the composition is derived mainly from instrumental samples transcribed from the same aria for soprano and accordion. In Vermalung II, I was intensively engaged with the rhythmic form of sound particles. Each particle has a great functional diversity in terms of spatialization, content, transposition, duration and dynamic contour. The transformation of these characteristics in time brings forth a rich versality of polyphony. The piece was realized in the ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe with the program RGS (Rhythmic Grain Synthesis).
Luis Antunes Pena

Vermalung II - Donny G.

FRAGMENTE Nr. 2 für Klavier, Granitsteine und Zuspielband

aus

FRAGMENTS OF NOISE AND BLOOD
für Bassklarinette, Violoncello, Schlagzeug, Klavier und Elektronik 2009/10

1.multiphonic I - in mir slebst
2.tonlos I - das fast perfekte gleichgewicht von kraft und zurückhaltung 
3.noise I - apotheose des absurden 
4.noise II – das kapital chaos 
5.rhythmus I - nicht fassbares rot 
6.multiphonic II - ich will die unsterblichkeit nur, damit das blut durch die ären fliesst


Texte aus dem Programm des Konzerts am 3. Juni 2009 - Philharmonie Essen von Stefan Drees

(...)
Im Gegensatz hierzu arbeitet Luís Antunes Pena in seinen "fragments of noise and blood" mit isolierten Klangkomponenten, die auf jeweils unterschiedliche Weise miteinander in Beziehung gebracht werden. Jeder der fünf kurzen Sätze basiert auf einer genau durchdachten Klangsituation, deren Möglichkeiten musikalich ausgestatet werden. Wesentlich Gestaltungselemente hierbei sind Klänge mit wechselden Geräuschanteilen, deren Einsatz und Kombination zu immer neuen Klanggestalten führen. Klar bestimmte Tonhöhen nutzt Pena etwa im dritten Stück ("apotheose des absurden"), wo durch besondere Artikulationen aus dem gleichmäßig dahinfließenden Klavierpart eine melodische Struktur herausgearbeitet und mit den Klängen von Granitplatten konfrontiert wird.  Einen höheren Greäuschanteil besitzen hingegen die so genennten "multiphonics" (Mehrklänge) der Klarinette, die der Komponist im ersten Stück ("in mir selbst") zu fragilen Gebilden formt und gleitenden Tonhöhen des Violoncellos sowie elektronischen Geräuschzuspielungen entgegenstellt. An anderen Stellen wiederum - so im zweiten Stück ("das fast perfekte gleichgewicht von kraft und zurückhaltung") - greift Pena vorwiegend auf Klänge mit hohem Geräuschanteil, wie gestriechenne Becken, zurück, die er in subtiler Rhythmisierung einsetzt. Indem er die geforderten Mittel immer äußerst sparsam verwendet, schafft er eine Reihe miniaturartiger Satzgebilde, deren fragmentarischer Charakter durch die tagebuchähnlichen Untertiel unterstrichen wird.
(...)

noise I - apotheose des absurden

Qui sequitur via recta non ambulat in tenebris

Some years ago I found the canon enigmatico from Manuel Cardoso, a portuguese composer from the 17th Century. The canon enigmatico was a common praxis in the 16th Century and consists in hiding one of the polyphonic voices of a piece. Instead of music notation the composer writes in the Tenor II or Alto a text that should be deciphered to reconstruct the music. Manuel Cardoso wrote 1625 one canon enigmatico which as far as I know was only deciphered by the musicologist Mário de Sampayo Ribeiro in the 20th Century. The sentence is this: Qui sequitur via recta non ambulat in tenebris which could be translated as who follows me through a straight way will not be walking in the darkness. The part “who follows me through a straight way” means that you should read the Superius I backwards from the end to the beginning. The second part “will not be walking in the darkness” means that you should take the Superius I and read only the white notes and ignore the black ones.

A fascinating form of obscure mystery that once solved allows the piece to be performed with all voices.

This White Music means to be an Homage to Frei Manuel Cardoso. It is an algorithmic process where only the white notes are used. All the music is in this case from Chopin except for the black notes (in sense from pitch and not from rhythm).

White Keys Music - Chopin Op. 10 - 2

Qui sequitur via recta non ambulat in tenebris

Some years ago I found the canon enigmatico from Manuel Cardoso, a portuguese composer from the 17th Century. The canon enigmatico was a common praxis in the 16th Century and consists in hiding one of the polyphonic voices of a piece. Instead of music notation the composer writes in the Tenor II or Alto a text that should be deciphered to reconstruct the music. Manuel Cardoso wrote 1625 one canon enigmatico which as far as I know was only deciphered by the musicologist Mário de Sampayo Ribeiro in the 20th Century. The sentence is this: Qui sequitur via recta non ambulat in tenebris which could be translated as who follows me through a straight way will not be walking in the darkness. The part “who follows me through a straight way” means that you should read the Superius I backwards from the end to the beginning. The second part “will not be walking in the darkness” means that you should take the Superius I and read only the white notes and ignore the black ones.

A fascinating form of obscure mystery that once solved allows the piece to be performed with all voices.

This White Music means to be an Homage to Frei Manuel Cardoso. It is an algorithmic process where only the white notes are used. All the music is in this case from Chopin except for the black notes (in sense from pitch and not from rhythm).


White Keys Music - Chopin Op. 10 - 11

Noise Study 01. With Serge Modular Synthesizer only.

Serge Noise Studies 01

Noise Study 02. Serge Modular Synthesizer and csound processing.

Serge Noise Studies 02

Performance for Piano and Electronics at Villa Romana,
April 2011 usind csound live
Piano: Pavlos Antoniadis | Electronics: Luís Antunes Pena
New Version and recording available here: Caffeine Wergo 2016 https://de.schott-music.com/luis-antunes-pena-caffeine 
More info: http://sumtone.com/work.php?workid=404

K-U-L-T

Improvisations on Serge Modular Synthesizer and csound processing.

Serge Noise Studies 03

Demo version of "Three Pictures on Stone" I/II/III
Percussion / Granit stones: Nuno Aroso
Recorded at ZKM | Karlsruhe

Tres Quadros sobre Pedra (Demo)

VERMALUNG I - WESTERNMUSIK for four channel tape (2005) - Florence Version Mai 2011 Live

- Did you bring a horse for me?
- ...Well... looks like we've... ...looks like we're short one horse... ahh, aahhhh
- ... you brought two too many
Sergio Leone, "Once upon a time in the west"

Vermalung I - Western Music

Improvisations with analog synthesizer: Benjolin + 4ms Atoner

Benjolin Impro Nr02

Benjolin Impro Nr01

Improvisation with analog synthesizer: Bejolin (Klangbau Köln), 4ms Atoner

Benjolin Impro Nr03

Improvisation with analog synthesizer: Bejolin (Klangbau Köln), 4ms Atoner



Benjolin Impro

Benjolin Impro Nr04

Florian Zwissler, analog synthesizer
Nuno Aroso, cymbals
Luís Antunes Pena, analog synthesizer

Resonant Bodies 
Live Recording Quartier am Hafen 19.12.2016

Improvisation Resonant Bodies Zwissler Aroso Pena

noise II - nas kapital chaos
für klavier zu 6 händen, kabelgeräusche und elektronik

fragment Nr. 4 of "fragments of noise and blood"

noise II - das kapital chaos

During the studies at the ICEM Folkwang University I programmed an instrument in csound to understand the additive synthesis. This is an improvisation with this instrument made around 2006. The instrument works live with 32 sine waves. Each one of them is individually controlled in amplitude and frequency deviation.

Etuede In Granit

Konvolut (extract)
for alto flute, clarinet, piano, violin, cello, electronics
2014
Sond'Art-te Electric Ensemble, Pedro Carneiro
Image: © Cornelia Hedwig Böhme

Konvolut

Excerpt from DISORDER / RESONANCE 3

Live Improvised Music 
Eurorack Analog Synthesizer and Csound based digital processing.

Recorded for the Radio WDR Artist's Cut 
https://www1.wdr.de/radio/wdr3/programm/sendungen/wdr3-open-sounds/open-sounds-128.html
Editor: Frank Hilberg
Producer: Katja Teubner

Foto: Sandra Stein 2019

Artist's Cut

DISORDER / RESONANCE 3

Improvisation on regular rhythms using Serge Analog Synthesizer, Benjolin, Klangbauköln and csound processing.

Improvisation on a regular pulse

DISORDER / RESONANCE 6

composer based in cologne, germany.
here you'll find mainly solo improvisations or together with other musicians, as well as excerpts of electronic and instrumental compositions.

luís antunes pena

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