Ràdio Web MACBA presents Variations #7 - The Composer

Jon Leidecker presents an introduction to the history of sound appropriationism in 20th century composition, popular art and mainstream media, and the convergence of these trends in the present day.

In the nineties, sampling technology reached a level of sophistication and control that allowed musicians to truly assert themselves over their materials. While some collagists innovated by conifdently stepping into the traditional role of the romantic composer, presenting the resulting music as an expression of self, others continued to explore the intrinsic meanings suggested by the craft itself.

In this episode we trace through examples of the popular music that brought the term 'remix' into the popular lexicon, hear the CD player joining the turntable as a live performance instrument, and connect digital sampling to the history of musical borrowing: written notation’s classical equivalent to the editing techniques that modern composers use to transform existing music into new compositions.

Transcript available here:
http://rwm.macba.cat/uploads/20120607/07Variations_eng.pdf

Link to the complete series:
http://rwm.macba.cat/en/variations_tag

For more information on this series and other podcasts, visit Ràdio Web MACBA.(r)