“Guero” for the piano by H. Lachenmann: the semantics of the performer’s technique
Background. The creative work of the German classic of avant-garde music H. Lachenmann (1935) is of great interest to any researcher of the contemporary musical art. According to this very composer’s definition, his method is called “the instrumental specific music”. This composing technique is based upon the expansion of the sound capabilities of the instrument, by means of introducing non-traditional methods of playing them. On the one hand, the compositions by H. Lachenmann present a series of various unconventional tricks of playing; on the other hand, it is a masterfully organized musical material with the conceptually built musical form, development methods and contrasting sound structures/forms, as well as the composer’s timbre rich musical language. The researchers explain the originality of H. Lahenmann’s musical language by the consequences of socio-political and cultural-historical events in the postwar Germany [see: 1, p. 2]. The composer’s thinking was also influenced by the works of the representatives of the Frankfurt School of Philosophy, the aesthetics of structuralism, the Christian religion (church songs, organ compositions which the composer had heard from his early childhood), the creative work of O. Lasso, the greatest polyphonist of his time, the composer parodying “spiritual values” [see: the same source, p. 5]. The formation of the composer’s style was facilitated by his communication with the advanced avant-garde musicians (J. Cage, L. Nono, P. Boulez, K. Stockhausen, B. Maderna, T. Adorno). Unlike specific music, which involves the processing and reproduction of a composition using electronic technology, H. Lachenmann extends the sound and technical capabilities of the instruments themselves, through the use of non-standard methods of playing them, graphic design of scores. In the light of the above, one can conclude that H. Lachenmann’s composing thinking and the artistic style were formed by many factors like society, philosophy, religion, science and communication. Objectives. The aim of the article is to reveal the artistic and aesthetic significance of the non-standard performing technique on the example of “Guero” for the piano by H. Lachenmann. One of the components of his compositions is the use of all kinds of performing techniques, however how do they function in a musical text and how is the integrity of the composition achieved? In order to answer this question, in the present article an attempt of the functional-structural analysis of “Guero” for the piano (1969, the second edition – 1988) by H. Lachenmann was made. Methods. Since the compositions by H. Lachenmann are absolutely devoid of any classical romantic canons, we face an uneasy scientific task – to interpret a musical text in accordance to the non-standard musical language of the composer. The problem of the interpretation of H. Lachenmann’s compositions N. Petrusyova describes as follows: “A composition can be understood: as a game of the material and structures; as a ‘window into the world’ ...; as an expression of one’s own residence and one’s own roots, that is, as a self-understanding through an identification with a new, foreign experience” [7, p. 126]. Thus, the scientist highlights the phenomenon of the composer’s creativity from three sides: analytical, cultural-historical and reflexive. Among the studies of the composer’s creativity, we should point out the works by N. Koliko [3]; V. Petrov [6], N. Gorshkova [1; 2]; N. Petrusyova [7]; P. Cavalotti [9], as well as the article by H. Lachenmann himself called “Vier Crungbestimmungen des Musikhörens” [10]. Results. As a result of the functional-structural analysis of “Guero” for the piano by H. Lachenmann we came to the following results. A new interpretation of the piano sound made by H. Lachenmann entailed the introduction of special concepts into the analytical apparatus of research: reception (the form of the movement of the sound form/structure); reception type (a slide, pizzicato in the form of a pinch); speed, strength and time of the technique performance; factors of the time-action of the technique (place, time, nature of the presentation, the source of the performance), the musical score (instead of the musical stave), the sound form (the timbre-sound component of the technique). Based on the consideration of the different techniques of playing in “Guero” for the piano, one can find the method of their functioning in the musical text according to the time (the time grid), the place (the surface of the white and black keys, colic, and strings), the nature of their representation (the strength and speed of the performance) and the source of reproduction (side, base and inner side of the tip of the nail). Each of these factors forms a certain sound form/structure, therefore, affects the dynamic process of the development of the musical tissue. The article defines the conceptual significance of a non-standard performing technique: the creation of a space-time continuum of the composition, through the artistic comprehension of sound forms by the composer. The essential aspect of the performance technique phenomenon is the objectification of one or another form of the movement: the result of the space-time existence of sound forms in a musical text. Conclusions. Here we face an absolutely masterful composition, conceptually meaningful, devoid of any sense-forming and timbre-sound cliché. The unchanging structural parameter of the composition is the musical form, built according to all the laws of dramaturgy. The creation of the space-time continuum of the composition by means of the artistic comprehension of sound forms shows the composer’s idea to recreate the symbolism of the ascent path. Let us draw a conclusion: the use of non-standard methods does not deny the content side, which testifies to the composer’s conceptual thinking, intellectualism, and philosophical interpretation of the performing technique. We shall not deny that, in connection with the given facts of the composer’s style formation, this composition by H. Lachenmann might have a spiritual connotation: perhaps the idea of the composition is to show the spiritual ladder ascent. The sample of the functional-structural analysis proposed in the article contains a methodological forecast, a “key” to the study of the music by this outstanding composer of the 20th–21st centuries.