The Single Format in New Clothes
«Max 3.30» is a project where well-known pop and contemporary composers such as Jenny Hval and Susanne Sundfør feeds the trio BOA with music in a single format. The results can be heard at Ultima’s opening party Wednesday. By Torgny Amdam
In 2006, the composer group from Ny musikk (the Norwegian section of the ISCM) spawned an idea of composing for clarinet, vocals and cello. After a successful concert at the Parkteateret venue, the select crew of Rolf Borch, Tanja Orning and Tora Augestad decided to continue this constellation under the name of BOA; its name consisting of the three initial letters in the surnames of the artists.
Entertaining and complicated
«Max 3.30» is their latest offspring. The trio invited 15 composers to write a song that – and don’t miss this detail – should not exceed 3 minutes and 30 seconds. Five of these songs are to be enjoyed at the opening party of the Ultima Festival.
So we’re talking singles. But are we talking radio hits? Cello player Tanja Orning explains the starting point of the project:
–We started off with the question «What happens when composers from pop/jazz and avant-garde circles are to combine forces on songs not exceeding 3:30?» Contemporary music can, as we all know, tend to be very «serious» and quite complicated, whereas pop music entertain rather different properties and qualities. We were quite anxious to see what contributions we would get and how to handle these. Important aspects to be considered were the notions of the creation and interpretations. Some obviously came with a detailed score, others were only sound clips that it was left for us to interpret. This demands a lot of practice, large precision and some very clear choices from our hands, in order to make it all work.
– What is your thought concerning the musical space between popular music and contemporary music?
– I see no waterproof bulks between the two, but I can spot an enormous and exciting grey area between popular music and more experimental music. Popular music constantly borrows from avant-garde and vice versa. What is interesting to us is what happens when the pop single format is to work as a premise for our select and uncommon line-up. To what extent do the composers make allowances on the format, and given the fact that it is for us, our background in mind, they actually compose.
Experimental background
The performers in BOA all have a background in the experimental; Tora Augestad, a vocal artist who, apart from her own band, Music for A While, regularly sings solo in the Ensemble Modern and Klangforum Wien. Cello player Tanja Orning is a profiled practiser of contemporary music, both as solo player and as member of, amongst others, asamisimasa and Christian Wallumrød Ensemble. Rolf Borch is a merited clarinet player playing solo in, among other things, the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. He is also member of the asimisimasa.
At the opening of the Ultima Festival on the 9. September at Stratos, visitos can enjoy the first five songs in the «Max 3.30» project. The project will later on be recorded and performed in Berlin, and various festival gigs are under planning.
Photo: Tora Augestad (left), Tanja Orning og Rolf Borch. Foto: Rune Kongsro.