MATTHIAS KRANEBITTER

Matthias Kranebitter (1980.) diplomirao je elektroakustičku kompoziciju na odsjeku Medienkomposition i glasovir na Universitat fur Musik und darstellende Kunst u Beču (klase prof. D. Kaufmanna, G. Toro-Pereza, K-P. Sattlera i C. Karajeve), a poslijediplomski je studij upisao u Amsterdamu. U fokusu skladateljevih glazbenih preokupacija nove su forme ekspresivnosti, usko povezane uz postulate „medijskoga društva, trash kulture i (zaglušujuće) poplave informacija“, ali i muzički klišeji i tonalitetnost te suvremeni glazbeni diletantizam (boom reality formi ili selfexpression eksperimenti u vidu YouTube klipova).

 ”Prošlo je vrijeme fetišiziranja zvuka u modernoj glazbi, zato me više ne zanima potraga i proširivanje soničkog materijala. S druge strane zanimaju me nove forme glazbenog izražavanja, ne u ekspresionističkom ili pseudo-romantičnom smislu već u duhu hiperaktivnog, šizofreničnog društva medija i trash kulture, sa svojom bujicom informacija koje nam oduzimaju pozornost. S druge strane me fasciniraju glazbeni klišeji i tonalitet, u smislu svakodnevne buke kao i takozvane anti-glazbe, dilentatizma i promašaja, koje vidim kao ključne estetske kategorije nedavne povijesti, bilo u primjerima reality televizije ili eksperimenata u samo izražavanju kroz YouTube videa. No ne u smislu sublimirajućeg osjećaja voajera, već u smislu ljepote autentičnosti. U svjesnom pokušaju integracije ovih elemenata u kompozicijama ideja nije više uništenje tradicije, koje se u modernoj eri već zbilo, niti korištenje procedura moderne glazbe, koja je već postala tradicionalna, već nered ili uništenje, koje se bavi isključivo sobom, i na taj način je razumljiv svima koji se ne bave tim poljem. Mislim da je ovo uloga skladatelja, s obzirom da elitni diskurs (primjerice o unutrašnjoj prirodi zvuka) omogućuje skladatelju da kao umjetnik komunicira s vrlo ograničenom publikom. A interakcija je ključna u umjetnosti.”

Matthias Kranebitter, 2011

Matthias Kranebitter (1980) graduated in electroacoustic composition from the Department for New Media and Piano at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna (in the class of Professor D. Kaufmann, G. Toro-Pérez, K-P. Sattler and C. Karajeva), he finished his post graduate studies in Amsterdam. He focuses on the new forms of expressivenes, closely related to the postulates of a media society, trash culture and the deafening barrage of information, but also on the musical cliches and tonality as well as contemporary amateurism in music (the boom of different reality tv forms as well as YouYube experiments in self-expression).

“The sound fetish of contemporary music has had its day, and that is why I am no longer interested in the search and expansion of sonic material. On the one hand, I am rather interested in new forms of musical expression, not in an expressionistic or even pseudo-romantic notion, but in the sense of a hyperactive, schizophrenic flitting media society and trash culture, with its attention-disrupting flood of information. On the other hand, I am fascinated by both musical cliches and tonality, in the sense of everyday noise, as well as so-called “anti-music”, the dilettante or the failure itself, which I perceive as a crucial aesthetic category of the recent past, whether through the reality documentary boom or self-expression experiments via YouTube clips. But not in the sense of the sublime feeling of a voyeur, rather in the sense of the beauty of authenticity. In a conscious attempt to integrate these elements in my compositions, the underlying idea is no longer the destruction of tradition, which already took place in the modern era, and not the same procedure with the modern music, which itself has already become a new tradition, but a disturbance or destruction, which only deals with itself, thus being perceptible and comprehensible for outsiders, too. This is precisely what I see as the role of the composer, since an elite discourse (eg about the “inner nature” of sound) only lets the composer interact as an artist with society to a very limited extent, this kind of interaction, that makes art essential.”

Matthias Kranebitter, 2011

INTERVJU

1. Od kud počinješ i kako?

 Iako je moja primarna disciplina glazba, dosta je kazališnih komponenti u mojim kompozicijama. To je zato što se moj fokus u glazbi orijentira na sam izraz prije nego na samu ideju zvuka, što s vremenom iz muzičke geste vodi prema ljudskome tijelu (svirati glazbu također znači glumiti). Ne želim raditi glazbeni teatar, samo koristim kazališne elemente onda kada su potrebni kao alat kojim postižem svoje dramske ideje,  nove muzičke izričaje iznad romanticizma i ekspresionizma 20. stoljeća.

Istraživanje ovih novih izričaja hiperaktivnog i šizofrenog medijskog društva 21. stoljeća i trash kulture dovela me nužno do konfrontacije s glazbenim klišejima. U svojim sam novijim kompozicijama počeo koristiti algoritamske generatore vjerojatnosti za deformiranje tih gesti muzičkih klišeja, što je rezultiralo estetikom pseudodilentantizma, kvazi antimuzikom – estetskom kategorijom koju percipiram kao ključnu u prezrenoj prošlosti, uzimajući u obzir boom reality emisija ili uradi sam eksperimente na YouTube servisu.

2. Kojim putem ideš?

Studij skladanja započeo sam na Sveučilištu za glazbu u Beču, disciplina primijenjene glazbe (glazba za film i medije) kao i elektroakustičko skladanje. Otišao sam na Konzervatorski studij u Amsterdamu, smjer „suvremena glazba kroz nezapadnjačke tehnike“, učeći južnoindijsku karnatačku glazbu. Nakon diplome u Amsterdamu, nastavio sam s dvogodišnjim obrazovanjem na Sveučilištu za glazbu u Grazu.

Osim studija skladanja, studirao sam i piano na Sveučilištu za glazbu u Beču.

Moji su utjecaji široka spektra – od ranog free jazza (Eric Dolphy) do eksperimentalnog psihodeličnog rocka (Captain Beefheart) do elektroničke noise glazbe i takozvane suvremene glazbe. Naravno da ima utjecaja i iz drugih umjetničkih disciplina, posebno iz filma (Jean-Luc Godard, Christoph Schlingensief).

Naravno, utjecaj suvremenog skladatelja na društvo je ograničen ali je i, po mom mišljenju, esencijalna dužnost svake umjetnosti – ne u didaktičkom smislu, da publika doživi umjetnikovo gledište i njegovo usvajanje u smislu relativizacije i dokidanja dogmi, da stvori kaos i natjera recipijenta da stvori svoje misli i mišljenja. To želim postići.

3. Kuda želiš stići?

 U glazbi ostajem sljedećih nekoliko godina, zasigurno (jer sam za to školovan), iako su mi multimedijalni projekti također posebno zanimljivi i izazovni. Za suvremenu je glazbu, što se tiče problema s komunikacijom sa širokom publikom, uključivanje drugih medija i umjetničkih disciplina idealna prilika pri stvaranju drugačijeg gledišta na nju. Tako da, možda i postoji potreba za skladateljima suvremene glazbe da prošire svoj rad i na druge medije, barem sam sâm stekao takav dojam u svome donedavnom radu.

INTERVIEW

1. Where are you starting from and how?

Although I am working in the field of music, there is often a theatrical component in my compositions. This is because my focus in music is on the term of expression rather than on the idea of sound for itself, which eventually leads from the musical gesture to the human body (playing music is acting too). I don’t want to make musical theatre; I just use theatrical elements when necessary as tools for achieving my dramatic ideas – new musical expressions beyond romanticism or the expressionism of the 20^th century.

The exploration of these new expressions of a 21^st century’s hyperactive and schizophrenic media society and trash culture led me necessarily to the confrontation with musical clichés. In my recent compositions I have been using algorithmic chance generators for deforming (these) gestures of musical clichés, resulting in an aesthetic of a pseudo-dilettante, quasi “anti-music” – an aesthetic category I perceive as crucial of the recent past, concerning the Reality-TV-boom or self-expression experiments via YouTube clips.

2. Which way are you going?

I started my study of composition at the University of Music Vienna in the field of applied music (music for film and media) as well as electroacoustic composition. I went on to study at the Conservatory of Amsterdam in a course called “contemporary music through non-western techniques” dealing with the South Indian Carnatic music system. After finishing in Amsterdam I proceed with two more years of studying at the University of Music in Graz.

Beside my composition studies I also studied piano at the University of Music in Vienna.

My influences are widespread ranging from the early Free Jazz (Eric Dolphy) over experimental psychodelic rock music (Captain Beefheart) to electronic noise music and the so-called contemporary music. Of course there are strong influences from other artistic fields especially from the media Film (Jean-Luc Godard, Christoph Schlingensief).

Obviously the influence of a contemporary composer on society is limited, but nevertheless I think it’s the essential duty of every kind of art – not in a didactical way, making the audience just consuming my point of view, but in the sense of a relativisation and the breaking of dogmas, creating confusion and forcing the recipient to create his/hers own thoughts and opinion. That’s what I would like to achieve.

3. Where are you going to?

I guess I will stay in music for the next couple of years for sure (since that is what I have learned), although multimedia projects are very interesting and also challenging to me. It seems that especially for contemporary music with its problem of communicating with a wider audience the inclusion of other media and artistic fields is a great opportunity to help the perception of the artwork. So maybe there is a need for contemporary music composers to expand his or her work to other media, at least that’s how I experienced it in my recent commissions.

http://matthiaskranebitter.com/video/