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Perception and Reception

of Emmanuel Nunes's Musical Practice


Reis, J. (2015). Perception and Reception of Emmanuel
Nunesʼs musical practice. In G. Stöck, P. F. de Castro, & K.
Jaime Reis
Stöck (Eds.), Estes sons, esta linguagemʼ. Essays on Music,
Lisbon
Meaning and Society in Honour of Mário Vieira de Carvalho.
Leipzig: Gudrun Schröder Verlag.
The present text compares the study of a musical practice through
considering the perspectives of perception and reception. It briefly presents
how these concepts have been used in different perspectives and introduces
a viewpoint on how to advantageously use them in the study of musical
practices. 1 have used the study of Emmanuel Nunes's musical practice,
particularly the study on his conceptions regarding improvisation and
indeterminacy, as a paradigm to express this methodological approach,
which is a common method in ethnomusicological studies, along with
fieldwork and other tools.
The term Contemporary Western Art Music is generally employed
to refer to a musical practice mainly developed in Western societies,
generally in opposition to popular music, often having different and
contradictory meanings which have changed through time. This term
does not refer to an enclosed reality, since one can frequently find its
characteristics, or at least many of them, applied to other musical
practices that are not normally designated in this way (Middleton 2002;
Tagg 1982). However, studies have shown that such musical practice is
mainly confined to audiences largely made up of the musicians' peers,
often occurring in very particular performance spaces, requiring
expensive technical conditions, often resorting to music scores and other
ways to represent music, demanding trained musicians to read such
music (whose behaviour generally transcends the common musical
training in an ordinary music Conservatory) and has generally been
dependent on private (less common in Europe) or public funding
(generally provided by Ministries of Culture, or Science Ministries when
a structure is connected to Academia) for its sustainability and
development, since its internal economic activity generally generates a
direct debt (if one considers the example of a concert that cannot pay its
The Meaning of Meaning j. Reis: Perception and Reception 379

costs by selling tickets to accomplish this). Characteristics such as these of the mediation of his socio-communicative system with the audience.
have been considered in certain studies, such as Kingsbury (1988), Born In some literature the focus is on the study of the brain or other
(1995) and Bourdieu (1992). biological systems in terms of their general regulative functions, while
Das Miirchen' is an opera composed by Emmanuel Nunes.' As an others concentrate on the cognitive constraints of the perception of
established composer, recognised by international and Portuguese specific musical processes and many other perspectives with varying
audiences, the complexity of the work, the amount of resources works cited. However, the idea of studying perception in its multiple
demanded by the score, the duration (circa 4 hours, which is unusual for meanings and its relations to music seems to be an important issue,
contemporary opera) and, finally, the circumstances, also of a political particularly when discussing Contemporary Western Art Music. This
nature, that anticipated its premiere, along with the extraordinary focus may occur for other reasons, for an increasingly differentiated
expectation that the event arose (Vieira de Carvalho 2011, 169), make this socio-cornrnunicative system generated by a musical practice where
piece a paradigm of such musical practice. Given these characteristics, rupture and novelty take on an important role, often creating a gap
one could ask: why does such musical practice have these qualities? Or between what one can perceive, pay attention to or focus on when
why does such musical practice occur in specific social situations and encountering such musical practices and what the music-makers would
what are their characteristics? The first question may partially be think that should have been perceived.
answered through the perspective of the music-makers concerning how The study of reception in (contemporary western art) music has also
this music may be perceived, while the second question may partially be been widely studied, with Adorno probably being one of the most
answered by studying its reception. important contributors, focusing "on the complexities involved in
understanding the ways in which music is mediated by society, by the
The issue of perception of (contemporary western art) music has historical character of its material and its traditions, and by the history
been widely studied from many perspectives, namely in psychology, of its reception" (Paddison & Deliege 2010, 260). In Portugal reception
neurology and biology (Peretz & Zatorre zooja, zoojb, Schlaug 2003; has been studied by Mario Vieira de Carvalho, in studies ranging from
Sloboda 2005; Zatorre, Chen & Penhune 2007; Zatorre & Peretz his study from the 18,h century to the present day, including the case of
2001), musicology (Cross 2001; Howell, Cross & West 1985; Leman
Emmanuel Nunes's musical practice (1993, 2005, 2011).4
1999; Lerdhal iooo), sociology (Bourdieu 1992, 1999), cultural studies
(Born & Hesmondhalg 2000; Born 1995), sporadically in
The present text intends to contribute to the study of perception in
ethnomusicology (Nattiez 2004; Nett! 1985, I998), and semiotics
Contemporary Western Art Music using Nunes's musical practice as a
(Nattiez 2005)1. The latter reports an interesting case involving the
paradigm and to create an introduction to the composer's perspective on
composer Pierre Boulez' perspective on perception within the relations
such a subject.
I became more distinctively aware of such an issue when I was
Dns Miirchen (2002-2007).
2 Emmanuel Nunes (1941-2012). There is considerable lirerarurc on the composer,
directing the first festival I organised' and I was rehearsing Nunes's piano
particularly: (Amaral 2010; Borel, Bioteau & Daubrcssc 2001; Borel 2002; Monteiro
2007; Nunes 201I; Rafael 2007; Szcndy 1998; Vieira de Carvalho 2011).
4 Mario Vieira de Carvalho has researched extensively in this field. On his
3 The areas presented here arc nor stricrly delimited. Furthermore, some of the 70'" birthday, ] am looking forward to continuing to read and to learn from
literature is not focused on perception. However, it may provide a view on how his research. .
music is perceived and how one may methodologically approach the study of a Dni Muzyki Portugalskiej w Krakowie, in Poland (2003, November 27-29), along
musical practice in such ('CI'IIlS. with the conductor Julia Chmielnik.
--------------------------~~....................•••••••••••
The Meaning of Meaning j. Reis: Perception and Reception

piece Litanies dufeu et de la mer j6 with the pianist Zuzanna Drzymala. required a lot of rhythmic improvisation where durations could never be
We diverged significantly in our interpretation of the very first part of rigorous (2011, 64), as he previously had mentioned in an interview
the piece that starts with the notes B flat and D written freely as regards (1973) with Mario Vieira de Carvalho, who had asked for comments on
the rhythm, with the indication that it should be irregular in this sense. the composers' perspective concerning "indeterminacy" or "freedom of
The composer had an idea concerning this kind of writing related to musical creation" for the performers. Replying, Nunes referred ro the
the conception of this and other pieces, but that raised some questions, idea of specific fields of variation and not indeterminacy in pieces such
as mentioned to me by the composer in 2003;7 at a much later stage as The Blending Season,9 Impromptu pour un voyage and Litanies du feu
after the composition of Litanie du feu et de la mer I and II, Purlieu' and et de la mer, also expressing his idea that this was not related to a lack of
others, Nunes challenged the use of free writing, indicating that he creating freedom, but to a particular way of notating his music in order
would write these moments in different ways, in order to be more to obtain an objective musical result (20Il, 355-365). For the composer,
accurate in his usable rhythmic typologies. He explained that the way he the .idea of improvisation was related to the origin of his compositional
wrote at the time was related to the conception of the work, but now (at ideas and not necessarily to the idea of such elements being perceived as
the time of the conversation), he would prefer to write otherwise, improvisations or indeterminate elements. On the contrary, he intended
considering that the kind of attitude towards more free writing could to maintain the character of the pieces in order to make them
lead the musician who performs his music to compose for him - a kind identifiable, as the composer mentioned to Max Faust in 1979,
of attitude which differed from Nunes. He mentioned in particular the explaining that he had written two "improvisations for a journey",'?
case of Litanie du feu et de fa mer I, for which he had held an experience pieces that included improvisation, but where the conditions for such
with some performers who played, at the beginning, an ostinato, improvisations were prepared in a way where there was the possibility for
syncopation or other figures that are in fact regular (in the sense that the composer or performer to determine that one thing or other might
they repeat) but for some performers these are a kind of regularity which not work within the meaning of the composition. Nunes explained that
for them is irregular enough (to the extent that they are not exactly the in these pieces there was a control of the overall harmonic
same repetitions). To Nunes this problem depended on the context and development and that it would always be possible to recognise them
culture of the individual musician but, in fact, the composer intended in different interpretations, even if they contained improvisations (20II,
a notion of irregularity in which rhythmic patterns were variable. 373)· The idea of improvisation as a way of obtaining the development
The composer had already presented this issue on ather occasions, of musical materials is frequent in Nunes's works, as he mentioned to
including with regard to this particular piece, as in the 2001 text where Francisco Monteiro in reporting the pieces Litanies du feu et de fa mer
he stated that an excellent pianist, also a composer, with whom he had I and II, explaining they were based on years of practice of
never worked, had decided to play Litanies du feu et de fa mer I with a improvisation using the piano, when he was living in Paris, in order to
panoply of metronomes and chronometers. For Nunes the piece explore the timbres of the piano, allowing the audience to listen to its
sound qualities and possibilities (Monteiro 2007). It is a personal

6 Litanies dtt feu et de fa mer I (1969) and Litanies du feu et de fa mer If (1971).
7 Informal conversation with Emmanuel Nunes on the 27<1'October 2003, 9 The Blending Season (composed in 1973, revised during 1976-[977; the composer
Fundacao Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon, Portugal. removed the piece from his catalogue).
8 Purlieu (1969-1970). 10 Impromptu pour un voyage J (1973) and !!(1974-[975).
-------------------- ..--..•............••••••••••••••••••
'/ 'he Meaning of Meaning I Reis: Perception and Reception

approach to a musical work and not an idea related to the wayan issues concerning the perspective of the criticism about the opera were
interpreter may view the work, as Nunes stated in an interview with analysed as a counterpoint to the production's perception (the composer
Cristina Fernandes, explaining that in Das Miirchen he did not allow and the opera production team) and the perception of others (critics),
"undetermined" elements to enter the performers' considerations, but providing examples such as a critic who stated that for logistic reasons
that when he spoke about "improvisation" in the melodies of the voices the percussion was in a different room (which was true), and that it was
of the opera, he meant he was referring to his own improvisation when barely audible (which was absolutely incorrect, since the percussionists
writing the voices for the singers, in the sense that there was no schema and other musicians, including the choir, were, in fact, in different
(such as a serial schema or of other nature), but rather that each rooms that were not the main hall, but they were amplified and
character, during different moments of the opera, had peculiar musical sometimes electroacoustical1y processed, and transmitted to the room,"
characteristics in terms of melodic and rhythmic qualities and that these as I could personally observe on the occasions I attended the opera).
characteristics were based on his own reading of the text, within his own
rhythm, tempo and other elements that were created as a kind of The, understanding of what a composer (and even other music-
handicraft to pass on his own readings of the text to musical materials makers involved in musical production) intends to be perceived (in
(2011, 519). terms of what the relevant music materials or processes that the
Getting back to the initial example of my experience with the composer intends to make clear at a specific musical moment can be)
pianist Zuzanna Drzymala, in fact 1 realised in the rehearsals with her may provide an interesting starting point to infer and compare with
that everything the composer had told me might happen, actually what an audience (either a general one, or one of peers, critics or another
happened, She had her own idea of irregularity, that in my opinion was typology) may have perceived (which can be very different), and thus to
not that of the composer's. However, after our conversation and trying provide new insights into the study of musical processes in their multiple
out different hypotheses, the pianist rapidly adapted and played what 1 contextual dynamics,
considered to be an absolutely exceptional interpretation of the piece.
Improvisation is present in different ways in most musical practices.
For me, it is interesting to understand how a composer, or group of
composers, or other music-makers create their music, focusing on the
process involved in the creation of the work, rather than on the work
itself. This case was intended to be a mere example of how the idea
of perception (in this case, the idea of the perception of typologies of
improvisation) may vary so much even between peers in a musical
practice that one sometimes tends to observe as a crystalised practice the
codes which are common and have been mastered by their peers. This
could also provide an insight to complement the studies on reception, in
the sense I believe one should start from the study of musical processes,
instead of focusing the study on an object such as a musical work
One very interesting analysis that contains such a perspective is
11 Through an IReAM (Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique)
expressed in Mario Vieira de Carvalho's article (2011), where several team led by Eric Daubressc.
j. Reis: Perception and Reception
The Meaning of Meaning

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INDEX

I Preface XIII

CENTRO DE ESTUDOS DE

FCT
SOCIOLOGIA E ESTETICA
II Tabula Gratulatoria XIX

Fundacao P,U;\ a Ciencia c a Tccnologla


MlNIS'CEP.lO DA t]mc',\('Al) f.f.1{~f'('"

III Laudatio

Christian Kaden
Mario. Memories and Commentaries 3

This book is published with support Irom FC'!' through the CI':SEM strategic
project (PEst-OE/EAT/U 10693/20 II).
IV Methodological Discourse, or: Musicology Reconsidered
Tille: "Estes sons, esta linguagcm". Essays on Music, Meaning and Society
in I-Ionour of Mario Vieira de Carvalho Manuel Pedro Ferreira
Editors: Gilbert Stock, Paulo Ferreira de Castro, Katrin Sliick The Periphery Effiu:ed: The Musicologicrzl Pllte
of the Cantigas 23
Cover: Pedro Serpa
Layout: Vasco Rosa, Zuelma Chaves, Rui Aralljo Paula Gomes Ribeiro
Linguistic revision: David Hardisty, Hilmar Ilcistcr, Maria l lcync, /?e1JiewingMusic Sociology in the Light of Its Recent
Christiane Rhode, Emily Rubis Epistemological Chflffenges 41

Gudrun Schroder Verlag


Tatjana Bohrne-Mehner and Klaus Mehner
Leipzig 2015
ISBN: 978-3-926196-67-5 Anniuersary Celebrations in the Worft! (~(Music tIS an Initial
Moment ofSe!/~Constructiort 65
Bibliografische lrformotion del' Deutschen Nationalbibliothek:
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothck vcrzcichnct diose Publikation in dcr Cerd Rienacker
Deutschcn Nationalbibliografie; dctaillicrtc bibliografischc Daten sind im A Lesson - tv Learn .from? 79
Internet libel' hup:lldnb.d-nb.de abrufbar,
Diosnio Machado Nero
© 20 15 Gudrun Schroder Verlag, Leipzig
Koopcration: Rhytmos, ul. Grochmalickicgo 35/1,61-606 Poznan, Polen The Role of Mario Vieira de Carvalho in the Renewal of
Aile Rechtc vorbchalten. Lusopbone Musicology: .from Ideological Action to the Legacy
Printed in Poland. of Resistance through the Analysis of the Social Function
o.fMusic 93

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