Music for violin and electronic music
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HM77DJIfP0YHi,
above you find one of my favorite pieces that I myself played twice, 3 years ago. (It is not me in that video).
This is absolutely my music! It is a challenge to play with a firm track instead of a person, but I enjoyed it to play as freely as possible within that strict frame. There are just a few microtonal parts, which makes for a surreal experience, and one section with 5 beats per bar that always start faster and slow down at a very certain rate.
After I had really studied it well, I felt absolutely free as if it were a partner to play with. The music came with a CD, and I only needed a device and a pair of big speakers for the performance. No extra technician needed, besides someone to press the play button.
Anyway, I see this is a matter of taste, of course, but I have always loved this style of the early electronic music from about 60 years ago, and the combination of firm synthetic sound tracks with live instruments.
And now I wonder, if there is more like this for violin +CD.
However, I simply don’t know how to search for this - whenever I google electronic music and violin, I come across Lindsay Stirling and similar styles. I have no idea how to search! Any ideas? I would love to do a whole recital with such music, one day.
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Sounds like you've unlocked your jazz gene. Not all jazz is swing stuff. Maybe find a couple of kindred spirits in your area -- a keyboard player or someone who plays vibes. Often they have collaborative spirits.
He also wrote symphonies, at least some of which had much expressive grandeur (I came across Badings when our orchestra did two of them).
So, a huge variety of styles by one composer, but all of those having in common to be very expressive and, though not all quite easy, being pretty player-friendly, after all.
He was not a violinist (actually he was an engineer, as far as I remember), but he knew all details about how things could be not only played, but being played well, on a violin.
I never thought of parallels to jazz, though. I am no jazz expert, but doesn’t jazz always consist of at least some improvisational aspect in its core?
When I wrote about playing freely, earlier, I actually didn’t mean it in an improvisational way- just the agogics, like in any romantic piece. I personally like the challenge of having that very strict frame of detailed written music and discover the freedom within these boundaries- may it be Brahms, Mozart, or Badings.
Also, consider improvisation. You could decide to 'skip the swing rhythm' and 'stay straight', but learning to work within the chords, voice lead chords, work outside the chords with a purpose, etc. are valuable skills in this genre. I've heard many pieces like this in Eastman School student concerts. Often, they have some written solos and some improvised solos. For example many of Morton Feldman's pieces are written with notes for performers, but no rhythm and no bars. You just listen to others and try to start and end at the same time.
Enjoy your travels!
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