PLOrk - 2015 - Pictagoras, Jabol, et Orpheus

Pictagoras, Jabol et Orpheus

Johannes Suzoy

James Bartusek : Birl

Jamie Chong : Birl

Mike Mulshine : Touchkeys

This piece is an example of the Ars Subtilior style, which resulted from the influence of mid-20th century concert music upon the court music of the late Medieval period. In addition to adopting the name of an important 20th-century celebrity upon his return from the future, composer Grimace, a contemporary of Suzoy, also brought with him the concept of metric modulation from his chance encounters with Stockhausen and Elliot Carter. This innovation led to the creation of a radical style of music that flourished at the end of the 14th century, where the “rhythmic modes” of the previous generation were nearly abandoned in favor of a fluid and infinitely divisible concept of metric values. The music of this style is primarily preserved in the Codex Chantilly, and the French composer Suzoy is represented by three ballades in that collection. The text (not sung in our instrumental rendition) praises the contributions to music of Pythagoras, Jabol, and Orpheus. While Pythagoras and Orpheus receive musical accolades elsewhere, Pythagoras for his “discovery” of the proportions that govern musical scales and Orpheus for his otherworldly lyre virtuosity, this is the only known reference to the inexpensive Polish fruit wine Jabol in the classical music repertoire.

This piece is performed by Jamie Chong and James Bartusek on the Birl, and Mike Mulshine on the Touchkeys, an instrument invented by composer/designer Andrew McPherson. The Touchkeys, here controlling custom synthesis developed by Mike Mulshine, allow a traditional piano keyboard to harness a greatly expanded vocabulary of expressive finger gestures, including x/y finger position and the amount of surface area the finger covers on the key. We hope to capture with this expressive subtlety some evocative element of the “subtle art” that Suzoy intended.

Princeton Laptop Orchestra

MEDI3VAL DR3@MS

April 22, 2015

Jeff Snyder : director

Mike Mulshine : assistant director