Music, Science and Data-driven Composition
The music of Marco Buongiorno Nardelli
Recordings, scores and releases can be found on
CATALOG OF WORKS
Tout ce qu'on perd
(2020)
for speaking voice, flauto d’amore and flugelhorn after a poem by Hyam Yared (4’30”)
text and voice, Hyam Yared
flauto d’amore, Ginevra Petrucci
flugelhorn, Nathan Hudson
For the Creativity Quarantine of the Flauto d’Amore Project (world premier on BandCamp, April 17, 2020)
untitled (Four. Feel. Title. Words.)
(2020)
a triptych
for flauti d’amore (or flutes or alto flutes and/or bass recorders) and electronics
(dedicated to Ginevra Petrucci)
1. Dew. Rust. Light. Flow
2. Mist. Iron. Cold. Pulse.
3. Rain. Steel. Hollow. Veil.
TO BE PREMIERED
miniature opera project #2: The Messengers, a CosmOpera
CosmOpera for voices, fixed media (multichannel audio), and cosmic rays (variable duration)
Morgan Horning, soprano, Tom Mebarki, contratenor, Mia Detwiler, violin, Florian Antunes, cello, Marco Buongiorno Nardelli, flutes
The Messengers… are cosmic rays. They come to us from the cloud of possible futures. They pass through its messaging system and bring to us voicemails of the future.
La forme de l'ocean
(2019)
for SATB choir and multichannel audio, text by Jiang Hao after his poem 海的形状
(dedicated to Yeomyoung Lim and Ensemble Creation)
TO BE PREMIERED
Le reseaux de ton souvenir
for viola, contrabass and soprano voice (2019)
Meditation is inspired by fragments of poetry by the Chinese poet Wang Wei (699-759 CE) and is meant to highlight the expressive possibilities offered by a new viola bow design by the French-Italian bow maker Marie-Eve Geeraert. The piece is written in 24 tones equal temperament and uses, at its foundation, harmonic hierarchies and rhythmic sequences based on a compositional design derived from complex network analysis.
Meditation
Thin cloud. Light rain.
Unfold your thoughts.
Against the light.
Sit. Look.
Kathleen Crabtree, viola, Justin Kujawski, contrabass, Morgan Horning, soprano
miniature opera project #1: UNKNOWN, a journey
for pre-recorded soprano, spoken voice and instrumental samples
soprano: Adria Le Boeuf; spoken voice: Heather Spence
libretto: Ken Eklund, Heather Spence, Adria Le Boeuf, Peter Walter, Marco Buongiorno Nardelli ("The Band of Six")
In the Miniature Opera Project, space becomes an interactive score; its audience creates unique musical sequences by making choices about connective paths on a physical art piece. Each project installation centers on a large “game board” made of an array of light-sensitive tiles. Strategically positioned on the array, and illuminated from within, are “word nodes” or “character nodes” formulated to create a “stage of possibility” for an operatic libretto. In each iteration of the short opera, an audience member (or members) engage with the work by placing or tossing beanbags to create paths that connect the nodes, in a way that expresses the story they want to hear. As they cover each light sensor in a tile, they trigger a unique musical gesture, shaped by its place in the sequence; if they complete a path from one node to another, a story-defining moment is added to the work. At the end of a set time, the work is complete, the beanbags are recovered and the work is ready to create another opera for its audience.
Un giro d'anello
(2017)
six experiments for electric string quartet and fixed media
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Even snails can accelerate
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非常饿了 (feichang e le), "very hungry" or the emergence of the machine
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Scandalous interference sizzle slowly inside or the dialogue of Knowledge and the Unknown
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Area reservada para especies salvajes
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Lucifer's inner light illuminates them
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Aktion von licht oder intensiver strahlung im all
Completed at the Djerassi Resident Artists Program in 2017 as a tribute to the Italian synchrotron radiation facility ELETTRA, un giro d’anello epitomizes my esthetics of post-sonification as artistic practice in musical composition. Its fixed media component is based on the sonification of scientific data both in the sound synthesis and in its temporal evolution, while the strings depart from the sonification canon still maintaining a unifying connection and theme. The acousmatic portion is the soundscape of the installation IDEA, a public interactive educational display of the microscopic world of materials as collections of electrons and atoms.
Mylar soundscape
Soundscape for the "Installation in the Old Barn" by Javiera Tejerina-Risso at the Djerassi Resident Artists Program in July 2017. (Photo by Javiera Tejerina-Risso)
on the resonance of the fog
(2017)
for flute and percussions (three performers)
A fantasy on the fog in the Santa Cruz mountains.
Completed and premiered at the Djerassi Resident Artist Program on July 2, 2017.
Photo by Javiera Tejerina-Risso.
Trio
(2010, revised 2017)
for flute, violin (or oboe) and cello
Premiered at the Djerassi Resident Artists Program on July 16, 2017
EleKtrIon
(2016)
fixed media
EleKtrIoN I (music of diamond) is a composition based on the sonification, remix and artistic reinterpretation of diamond property data obtained by very sophisticated scientific computer simulations translated into music using a computer-aided data-driven composition environment developed by the composer in the materialssoundmusic project.
Inventions for data stream #1: Contappunto
(2015) [5']
for two prepared pianos
In Contrappunto (the first of my Inventions for data stream) the data stream (from the AFLOWLIB.org entry for Silicon) is manipulated during the live performance creating a musical material that will be influenced by the performer in any instance of execution. This is where the CADDC environment is most versatile, allowing for a large degree of improvisation and for a broad palette of esthetic choices. The duration of the piece is open and the recording on SoundCloud is just an example of the infinite possibilities that this piece opens.
Premiered at the University of North Texas MusicNow on April 27, 2015
Inventions for data stream #2: Ricercare
(2015) [4'15"]
for flute, player piano, electronics and live data stream
The structure of Ricercare is a reinterpretation of the original "ricercare" style of the late renaissance and early baroque period. Here the word “ricercare“ (Italian for "to research") takes a double meaning: on one hand is the research the performer does to find the optimal connection between the flute and the sonification of the data stream in the basso continuo accompaniment; on the other, it refers to the scientific research work that has led to the data on which this composition is based. All the parts are directly based on the remix and sonification of the materials property data for Silicon, Germanium and Tin (Si1_ICSD_60389, Ge1_ICSD_181071 and Sn1_ICSD_53789 in AFLOWLIB.org), some of the group IVa elements of the periodic table. The flute part is built on the materials data mapped to pitch class sets (one of the output of the data manipulation algorithm). These pitch class sets are used in the original form found by the mapping procedure - no operation (translation, inversion or multiplication) is done on the sets. The rhythmic patterns oscillate between quasi-random sequences and continuous virtuosity runs as in a baroque solo section. The basso continuo is split in one harmonic and one percussive part. The harmonic part comes from the direct mapping of the materials data into MIDI note-on/note-off events streamed live through the DataPlayer app; the percussive section doubles the flute part in a rhythmic unison triggered by the flute through an audio-to-MIDI pitch recognition Max for Live patch.
Ricercare has been premiered at the 41st International Computer Music Conference, 2015.
Inventions for data streams #3: ...et qua diversa moventur
(2015) [5'40"]
alchemical variations for violin, clarinet and piano
Inventions for data streams #4: Amargosa Triptych
windows of sand
windows of darkness
windows of air
for Piano
I have come to lose myself in the wide immensity and know my littleness.
I have come to lie in the lap of my mother and be comforted.
I am alone but not alone – I am with myself.
My soul is my companion above all companions.
Charles Erskine Scott Wood, The Poet in the Desert (1915).
Amargosa Triptych was inspired by a chance visit to the Amargosa Opera House and Hotel in Death Valley Junction, CA, where "for more than 40 years, Marta Becket has lived and shared her art and dreams with those fortunate enough to find this wonderful and magical place". In this composition I explore the relationship among the nature of the desert, the nature of our memories and the nature of art. The piece is scored for prepared piano and utilizes a variety of extended techniques to convey all the contrasting feelings (awe, excitement, sadness, solitude, fulfillment, nostalgia, reminiscence, empowerment, helplessness) that I felt there. Amargosa Triptych is dedicated to Marta Becket and Jenna McClintock, who now carries on Marta's mission to make this world a better place by dancing on our dreams.
Inventions for data streams #5: JXOverdrive
for Bassoon quartet and digital effects
Music for 88 keys
(2015) [10’]
to Conlon Nancarrow (in memoriam)
for player piano and electronics
Music for 88 keys is the first example of a composition based on the sonification and remix of materials property data from the online computational materials repository AFLOWLIB, the heart of the materialssoundmusic project.The sonification algorithm behind Music for 88 keys maps the materials information into sound by encoding data into MIDI events in an automated high-throughput fashion. The sonic data are fed to audio generating patches written for MAX and Ableton Live through a DataPlayer app. The algorithm used in the creation of Music for 88 keys maps data to the MIDI notes 21 through 108 (the 88 keys of the piano) and associates an amplitude (MIDI velocity) to each note derived from a manipulation of the same dataset. The duration of any MIDI event (that is a representation of rhythm and meter) is inferred from the rate of variation of the data (i.e. their derivative in time), making each material soundscape completely internally consistent. The MIDI stream so generated is then treated as a collection of musical structures for further compositional elaboration. “Music for 88 keys” is a suite born from the remix of the data from Diamond, Zinc Oxide and Gold. The piece is scored for player piano and electronics and is dedicated to the memory of Conlon Nancarrow, the American composer who made the player piano his instrument of choice throughout his career. In Music for 88 keys the original datasets from AFLOWLIB.org are variably manipulated through different techniques: from simple variations of tempo and meter to extensive reordering of pitches or regions and various orchestration choices. The suite starts with a preludio that uses the sonic mapping of the data for Diamond as starting compositional material. The same concept is used in the interludio, but with data from a different material, Zinc Oxide. Interludio separates the two principal sections of the suite: largo and andante, with the piano accompanied by sampled percussions sounds and based again on data from Diamond, from continuo, based on the data for Zinc Oxide for piano with a drone of brass, and contrappunto aureo, based on the data from Gold, where the brass and the percussions are both combined with the piano. The suite ends with a postludio, where the piano alone states again a sonic mapping of data that now combines the three materials.
Premiered at the University of North Texas MusicNow on April 27, 2015
all compositions by Marco Buongiorno Nardelli
recording, editing and mastering: Scot Gresham-Lancaster and Marco Buongiorno Nardelli
recorded in the studios of the School of Arts, Technology, and Emerging Communication
of the University of Texas at Dallas on April 10,17 2015
Big Round Records is proud to present MORNING MOON, the debut commercial release from the eclectic and varied Ecco La Musica. The group's seamless blending of jazz, world, chamber, and experimental music-all of which is composed by the group members themselves-highlights their ability to remain ahead of the curve of their competition, both independent and mainstream. As most artists struggle to blur the lines of genre, Ecco La Musica has them nearly erased (from Big round RECORDS website).
Gradus ad linos (2010)
preparatory exercises to "Chant de Linos", for flute
NEWS: Gradus ad Linos is published by Edizioni Musicali "Riverberi Sonori"
Tzolk'in (2010)
for three marimbas
NEWS: Tzolk'in has received Honorable Mention in the Second Annual Louisiana State University Percussion Society's Percussion Ensemble Composition Contest!
NEWS: Tzolk'in is the winner of the 2010 Volta Trio Composition Competition!
NEWS: Tzolk'in has been premiered by the Volta Trio at the Eastman School of Music on November 30, 2010.
Visit the Tolk'in web page here for a video of the performance and more on the piece!
Numeric counterpoints (2009)
for strings
Visit the Numeric Counterpoints web page here
Elementi in una variazione (2007)
for flute/piccolo, piano, and percussion (two performers)
Bamboo's ghost
In Bengal, young children are told that the whispers and crackles they hear near bamboo bushes are the voices of the ghosts that live there. With this story in mind, I have created a piece where I have elaborated the natural sounds made by bamboo trees when they are moved by the wind. These natural sounds are then mixed with other ambient sounds (street, traffic, conversations) and processed so that the resulting composition is characterized by a remote and abstract atmosphere. The original sounds have been recorded in Jakkur, India, in the summer of 2006.
Anninnia anninnia (2007)
for female voice and piano
rain over tallin (dedication to Arvo Pärt) (2007)
for amplified piccolo (violin), two amplified flutes, percussion and electronic music on digital medium.
NEWS: RAIN OVER TALLIN has been premiered on Dec. 5, 2007 by the "New York System" ensemble at Rhode Island College, RI (E. Codd, vl; K. Waters, C. Craig, fl; M. Buongiorno Nardelli, electronics; A. Shockley, conductor)
Finzione di interludio
for chamber orchestra
NEWS: Finzione di Interludio has been premiered on Feb. 25, 2007 at NC State University in Raleigh by the Raleigh Civic Chamber Orchestra conducted by Randolph Foy.
Two drones
Two drones written for the iTunes podcast “StaticMusic | Drones” of the New York Miniaturist Ensemble:
1. Kaleida
2. Threnos
Circle limits (2007)
String quartet after M.C. Escher
Ossi di seppia (Cuttlefish bones) (2006)
for flute and digital audio effects.
Canto notturno (di un pastore errante dell'Asia) (2006)
for amplified flute and tape