Concert in collaboration with the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK), class for electro-acoustic composition Germán Toro Pérez
Mario Davidovsky’s “Synchronisms” are masterpieces of instrumental music with playback tape, which we had already planned in 2020 but were unable to perform due to the coronavirus. Instead, a double LP was created. For the new edition of the idea of playing Davidovsky’s music in concert, we were able to win the ICST of the ZHdK as a co-production partner. This collaboration will result in seven new compositions by students for the same instrumentation.
Mario Davidovsky is one of the great figures of American New Music – but has hardly been played in Europe. As a pioneer of electronic music, he was already working at the “Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center” in 1960. His work includes by far not only electronic music. His most famous works, the “Synchronisms”, a series of over a dozen works written over a period of more than 40 years, have influenced generations of composers. In combining “classical” instruments with pre-produced electronic sounds, Davidovsky, unlike many other composers of this genre, is not interested in special “sound effects” in any way, but rather seeks a fusion of instrumental sound with electronics, resulting in both continuity and intrinsic musical expression. The earliest “Synchronisms” date from a time when today’s sound technology was still in its infancy, but they are nevertheless masterpieces without equal; the long time span in which the “Synchronisms” were created also documents the technical progress in this field over the time. In addition to a large number of awards for his work, Mario Davidovsky received the Pulitzer Prize in 1971 explicitly for his work “Synchronisms No. 6”.