''Synchronisms'' is a series of twelve musical compositions for solo or ensemble live instruments and pre-recorded tape composed by

Mario Davidovsky Mario Davidovsky (March 4, 1934 – August 23, 2019) was an Argentine-American composer. Born in Argentina, he emigrated in 1960 to the United States, where he lived for the remainder of his life. He is best known for his series of compositions ca ...

at the

Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center The Computer Music Center (CMC) at Columbia University is the oldest center for electronic music, electronic and computer music research in the United States. It was founded in the 1950s as the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. Locatio ...

, the first dating from 1963. Davidovsky explains that, "One of the central ideas of these pieces is the search to find ways of embedding both the acoustic and the electronic into a single, coherent musical and aesthetic space."Grimshaw, Jeremy (2005). "Mario Davidovsky", ''All Music Guide to Classical Music: The Definitive Guide to Classical Music'', p.341-2. Woodstra, Chris; Brennan, Gerald; and Schrott, Allen; eds. . The series, "is characterized by the interaction of virtuoso musicians with a counterpoint of electronically generated sounds covering a broad tonal and

timbral In music, timbre ( ), also known as tone color or tone quality (from psychoacoustics), is the perceived sound quality of a musical note, sound or tone. Timbre distinguishes different types of sound production, such as choir voices and music ...

spectrum." Davidovsky describes the goals of his series: "In those works, I try to keep, on the one hand, as much as possible of what is characteristic of the electronic instrument edium and, on the other, what is characteristic of the live performer. At the same time, each extends the other." In the series Davidovsky attempts, "exact coordination only in short passages of intricate counterpoint; elsewhere, in more extended passages in which one component clearly accompanied the other, 'an element of chance leeway in the synchronization"">tempo rubato">leeway in the synchronization"is introduced'".Taruskin, Richard (2009). ''Music in the Late Twentieth Century: The Oxford History of Western Music'', p.212. . uotes Davidovsky./ref> The works are as follows: # Flute (1963) # Flute, clarinet, violin, cello (1963) # Cello (1964) # Chorus (1967) # Percussion quintet (1969) # Piano and electronic sound (1970) # Orchestra (1973) # Wind quintet (1974) # Violin (1988) # Guitar (1992) # Bass (2005) # Clarinet (2006)

Performance History

''Synchronisms No's. 3, 6, 9, 11, and 12'' were played at the Davidovsky Memorial Concert (2020) in Yellow Barn, Vermont

No. 6

''Synchronisms No. 6'', for

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a musica ...

and electronic sound (1970), was awarded the

Pulitzer Prize for Music The Pulitzer Prize for Music is one of seven Pulitzer Prizes awarded annually in Letters, Drama, and Music. It was first given in 1943. Joseph Pulitzer arranged for a music scholarship to be awarded each year, and this was eventually converted ...

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

. Published by E. B. Marks, it was premiered August 19, 1970 at the

Berkshire Music Festival The Tanglewood Music Festival is a music festival held every summer on the Tanglewood estate in Stockbridge and Lenox in the Berkshire Hills in western Massachusetts. The festival consists of a series of concerts, including symphonic music, ...

. No. 6 was written for pianist Robert Miller (of

The Group for Contemporary Music The Group for Contemporary Music is an American chamber ensemble dedicated to the performance of contemporary classical music. It was founded in New York City in 1962 by Joel Krosnick, Harvey Sollberger and Charles Wuorinen and gave its first con ...

). The Pulitzer jury found that the piece, "shows mastery of a new medium and its imaginative use in combination with the solo pianoforte." Violinist

Mari Kimura (; born 1962) is a Japanese violinist and composer best known for her use of subharmonics, which, achieved through special bowing techniques, allow pitches below the instrument's normal range. She is credited with "introducing" the use of violi ...

, who studied with Davidovsky, cites ''Synchronisms No. 6'' as prompting her initial interest in electronic music.

Recordings

*Boston Musica Viva - ''Boston Musica Viva Plays Schwanter, Ives and Others'' (1987)

o. 3 O is the fifteenth letter of the modern Latin alphabet. O may also refer to: Letters * Օ օ, (Unicode: U+0555, U+0585) a letter in the Armenian alphabet * Ο ο, Omicron, (Greek), a letter in the Greek alphabet * O (Cyrillic), a letter of the ...

ref name="All"/> *Aleck Karis - ''Secret Geometry'' (1996)

o. 6 O is the fifteenth letter of the modern Latin alphabet. O may also refer to: Letters * Օ օ, (Unicode: U+0555, U+0585) a letter in the Armenian alphabet * Ο ο, Omicron, (Greek), a letter in the Greek alphabet * O (Cyrillic), a letter of the ...

ref name="All"/> *Jennifer Frautschi - ''Solovision'' (2003) o. 9ref name="All"/> *Davidovsky - ''Flashbacks'' (2000)

o. 10 O is the fifteenth letter of the modern Latin alphabet. O may also refer to: Letters * Օ օ, (Unicode: U+0555, U+0585) a letter in the Armenian alphabet * Ο ο, Omicron, (Greek), a letter in the Greek alphabet * O (Cyrillic), a letter of the ...

ref name="All"/> *David Bowlin - ''Bird As Prophet'' (2019) o. 9*Michael Nicolas - ''Transitions'' (2016)

References

External links

*Susser, Peter Matthew.
Attack, Sustain and Decay: An Analysis of 'Synchronisms No. 3 for Cello and Electronic Sounds' by Mario Davidovsky
, ''Music.Columbia.edu''. 1963 compositions Cycles (music) Electronic compositions Pulitzer Prize for Music-winning works {{classical-composition-stub

Performance History

No. 6

Recordings

See also

Further reading

References

External links