FIGGIS vs BORAN

Posted by Bea Cloke on Wednesday Dec 11, 2019 Under Interview, Live events, Music

An audio-visually supported ‘interrogation’ into the spectacular forty-year career of composer, producer, curator and intermedia artist Daniel Figgis by fellow artist Michael Boran with an eye to what happens next for Daniel, incorporating archive recordings, followed by audience Q&A.

Daniel is a creative engine always pushing the boundaries of the field he engages in, drawing from all of the arts and harnessing it to his advantage.
– Gerry Leonard, Musical Director, David Bowie

Daniel Figgis was making post-classical/post-rock music years before either of those terms gained currency.
– John Schaefer, WNYC: NEW SOUNDS

Image: Daniel Figgis at THE BATTLE oF SPEEDS (2011).
Photo by and © Barney

Rua Red

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Electronic Sound features Daniel Figgis

Posted by Bea Cloke on Saturday May 26, 2018 Under Album, Interview, Music

Ben Wilmott interviews Daniel Figgis in Issue 41 of Electronic Sound magazine. Daniel discusses his career to date and his involvement in Heresy Record’s latest release A Map of the Kingdom of Ireland.

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New Sounds interview

Posted by Bea Cloke on Friday Mar 16, 2018 Under Album, Interview, Music

New Sounds

John Schaefer catches up with Daniel on New York Public Radio’s New Sounds to discuss, amongst other things, his involvement in Heresy Records’ latest compilation of Irish electro-acoustic music A Map of the Kingdom of Ireland.

The show features several tracks from the new compilation alongside some previously unheard material, including sound installation, a Skipper outtake Angel In The House, and On C from the upcoming solo album.

“Daniel Figgis was making post-classical/post-rock music years before either of those terms gained currency; his work continues to be a singular blend of the experimental and the engaging – purposeful, idea-driven, but always direct in its communicative ability.” – John Schaefer

LISTEN TO NEW SOUNDS #4092

Daniel Figgis New SoundsOptica The Buckley Partnership  

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Interview with Journal of Music

Posted by Bea Cloke on Monday Jul 16, 2012 Under Interview

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Hot Press interview

Posted by Bea Cloke on Thursday Jul 12, 2012 Under Interview

Q & A with Colm O’Hare

Copyright ©2012 Daniel Figgis

daniel-figgisQ:  Do you always start with a blank page when composing/in construction of a piece or do you carry a store of ready made ideas? (as many artists seem to do?)

A: I regularly revisit the vast archive marked Unfinished Business! Sometimes you have to wait a while for a good idea to concretise, to find a home. I junk 90% of what I write, particularly when I stray, as we all do, into the realms of the familiar. At that point I down tools. I only present work when I know that I am, at last, hearing something that I know I haven’t already heard somewhere else.

Q: Why work, as you are doing today, in the Pearse Museum?

A: Because it’s a beautiful space to work in. I enjoy the rock’n’roll world to its fullest when that’s appropriate but when I want to create a new work from scratch I want to connect with natural growth and decay and not urban growth and decay. Outside of my roaming ad hoc/on location studio set-ups I favour Apollo Studios Dublin.

tamper-marlay-park-2004I have chosen in recent years to present live events in public spaces as opposed to traditional concert performance spaces. I am, however, feeling the pull again of the traditional venue but many of my pieces e.g. TAMPER (see photo) and THE BATTLE oF SPEEDS required these specific places.

Q: Tell me about dimmerswitch for Crash Ensemble at the Galway Arts Festival this month.

A: Crash Ensemble commissioned a piece for the full extended lineup of 10 players. I chose to further extend it. So there are 10 live performers, augmented by a further fourteen on tape who, between them, play a further 23 parts including “pigbass”, church organ, harmonium, piano, Hammond organ, Mellotron, spatula, processed brass, cello, hihat, playground swing, clock, bicycle horn and Moog Taurus 1 bass pedals. dimmerswitch is a self-regulating but faulty steam punk mechanism in hyperactive dialogue with the beating heart that is Crash Ensemble.

crashQ:  And the live line-up consists of which instruments?

A: The live players (Crash Ensemble) are: violin, viola, cello, double bass, clarinet, electric guitar, flute, bowed vibraphone, piano, trombone.

The world premiere of dimmerswitch  is at the Galway Arts Festival 19 July, St. Nicholas’ Collegiate Church, 8pm. I will also give a pre–show talk with Crash Ensemble artistic directors Donnacha Dennehy and Kate Ellis at 7pm. See you there, I hope. This is a new Adventure.

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CMC interview with Daniel Figgis

Posted by Bea Cloke on Wednesday Jul 4, 2012 Under Interview

An interview with Daniel Figgis, whose Crash Ensemble-commissioned work, dimmerswitch, will be premiered by the group as part of the Galway Arts Festival on 19 July 2012.

Copyright ©2012 Contemporary Music Centre, Ireland

Tell me about the piece you’re writing for Crash. Where did you get the idea for the piece?

Certain aspects had been gestating for decades. The opening feedback wall was largely recorded in 1978/1979 but not “composed” until 2012.daniel figgis portrait 1999

Why 10 instruments?

The Crash requested a piece for the full extended lineup of 10 players. I chose to further extend it. So there are 10 live performers, augmented by a further fourteen on tape who, between them, play a further 23 parts.

And the line-up consists of which instruments?

The live players (Crash Ensemble): violin, viola, cello, double bass, clarinet, electric guitar, flute, bowed vibraphone, piano, trombone.

The “tape players” (Daniel Figgis, Vincent Doherty, Charles Baby, Arun Rao, Roxy Goggins, Jed Belly, Mona Gown, Vonnie Pocket, Ionetta Kresta Lins, Nusch Frowd, Benny Tooth, “Sport”, Maggie Sandwich, Penny Schilling): pigbass, church organ, harmonium, pitched microphone feedback, piano, Hammond organ, Mellotron, spatula, snaredrum autopan, electric bass, processed brass, protest, processed strings, fizzbass, cello, hihat, playground swing, (faulty) plumbing, Revox, clock, bicycle horn, water taxi, Moog Taurus 1 bass pedals.

What does the tape part consist of?

It runs the gamut from my earliest tape experiments on a dictaphone and a borrowed Revox, a piano improvisation as Artist-in-Residence at the Pearse Museum with my six-month old son in tDaniel and Charles Figgis 2011ow, a water taxi in Venice 2011, a local security demonstration (binlids) which I captured on my iPhone at the Cannes film festival 2010, an early “jazz kit” extemporisation at a 17th century farmhouse since demolished, to the faulty plumbing at an old family residence revisited as base camp for the completion of the programming arm of this project – a vast repository/archive/lexicon… sound memories awaiting an instrumental destination – waiting to be played as instruments. I do not quote “verbatim” in my work so a cello is as much a found sound to me as is a playground swing. Both are “catered to” in perhaps surprisingly traditional compositional process so the notion of found sound as it is normally understood is entirely redundant in my case in that the sound archive is as composed and, yes, “played” as are the live instrumental parts. That is where the very real dialogue begins.

How much freedom will the performers have?

Very little. The piece sounds very fluid, if jarring in places, but at no point does it deviate from strict tempo. The audience experiences a certain trompe l’oreille (to mildly abuse the term).

It’s often the case that the composer has to make some changes to the score based on feedback from the players. How much change do you anticipate the piece undergoing during the rehearsal process?

The dialogue undoubtedly continues at the rehearsal stage; we’re all in this together. But it feels relatively written in stone right now.

In one Tweet, how would you describe the piece?

Ah, I know this one…

‘The piece presents a self-regulating but faulty steam punk mechanism in hyperactive dialogue with the beating heart that is Crash Ensemble’

So, are you a fan of steampunk?

Not particularly.

How influenced were you by the Crash Ensemble’s sound/style of playing when writing the piece?

You could easily lose your mind trying to second-guess the requirements of an ensemble. Elgar famously considered the orchestra to be his friends and co-conspirators and reputedly attempted to keep all hands as busy as possible. I find music-making to be a very social experience. Ultimately I wrote the piece that I needed to hear right now and this has resulted in an intriguing dialectic between what are clearly the live performed parts and the pre-recorded tape parts.

You’re well known for your site specific works. When you were writing the piece, to what extent did you think about the space/context in which the final piece would be performed?

In this case I had to forego any notion of site specificity and aim for a site neutral work, given that I have no idea when and where and how often dimmerswitch will be performed. Even the first venue came as something of a surprise – St Nicholas’ Collegiate Church, Galway (19 July 2012). Each venue presents a different challenge when you introduce the tape element. My concession to what is, of necessity, a one-size-fits-all approach was a very “dry” final tape mix.

Tell me about your approach to composing the work. Where do you work on the piece – in the studio, in the park?

Both. I find a long walk in the woods is conducive to analysis. And to getting the mood and the tone and the picture right. dimmerswitch is very “forest-y” in this respect. It addresses natural decay. It is not very urban.

The composition tends to fully realise in the studio when I get together with my programmer(s). Visitors are largely welcome as I enjoy the feedback and I tend to head up fewer cul-de-sacs as a result.

Daniel Figgis 2012Nowadays I tend to split this compositional and programming activity between my mobile set up in whatever environment takes my fancy and a more standard studio environment – Apollo in Dublin being my studio of choice.

From your other work as a record producer, working in a studio must be quite a comfortable experience for you. Would you regard the studio as your natural habitat?

I very much enjoy studio-based work. (I am equally at home on a stage, albeit manipulation of natural surroundings is my preferred modus operandi for staging.) dimmerswitch was heavily studio dependent as it comprises, in performance, live ensemble (scored) and extremely dense acousmatics.

Daniel Figgis was interviewed by email by Jonathan Grimes during May/June 2012.

Further information:

The views expressed are those of the persons concerned and are not necessarily the views of the Contemporary Music Centre.

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GAF TV

Posted by Bea Cloke on Tuesday Jul 3, 2012 Under Interview

GAF TV interview

Interview with Donnacha and Daniel at Trinity College, Dublin for Galway Arts Festival TV

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VcVEd2EUtc&feature=youtu.be

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Nova RTÉ lyric fm 96-99fm @9-10pm

Posted by Bea Cloke on Sunday Nov 20, 2011 Under Interview, Radio

TBoS

forest dwellerPresented by Bernard Clarke, Nova is about new composers, new trends and new audiences. All new music here and now, chronicling what’s radical and what’s conservative, who’s established and who’s in the avant garde. A blend of contemporary classical, electronic, experimental and more. Featuring composer interviews/profiles, Irish works, and concerts from home and abroad.

Coming up This Sunday November 20th…

This week’s Nova goes from one extreme to the other as we meet composer Raymond Deane and profile his new “Noctuary Book I” for solo piano (played by Hugh Tinney); and at the other extreme-Daniel Figgis’ “The Battle of Speeds-phase 1…an immersive, ultra-vivid, ultra-violet fantasy spectacle, featuring video with surround-sound”. Nova investigates.

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Nova interview RTÉ lyric fm

Posted by Bea Cloke on Friday Nov 11, 2011 Under Interview, Radio

Bernard Clarke

forest dwellerBernard Clarke interviewed Daniel this morning for Nova on RTÉ lyric fm.

The interview will be broadcast on 20 November at 9pm.

Thanks, Bernard.

http://www.rte.ie/lyricfm/nova

 

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Daniel’s interview with Contemporary Music Centre

Posted by Bea Cloke on Thursday Nov 10, 2011 Under Interview, Live events, Music, Video

forest dwellers point of view

forest dwellerEvonne Ferguson, director of the Contemporary Music Centre, interviewed Daniel about THE BATTLE oF SPEEDS -phase 1.

EF: What is the THE BATTLE oF SPEEDS -phase 1?

the OrangeryTHE BATTLE oF SPEEDS -phase 1 explores how we have listened to and enjoyed recorded music down the years, investigating how musical content has always been informed by recording technology and playback media. I am particularly interested in looking at the limitations thus imposed and the long-term archival and experiential possibilities.

The work consists of six recompositions each soundtracking a short video piece shot in Marlay Park boathouse. The recompositions reference different playback media. The event takes place in the Orangery, Marlay Park on 27 November between 10am and 4pm. Family tickets are €5 and are available from tickets.ie.

EF: Are the six short fantasy videos playing at the same time?

DF: Yes -above, below and all around the audient. 6 movies. 6 surfaces (four walls, ceiling and floor). Above, below, behind and front of… The White Cube experience in extremis.

EF: How does the soundtrack to each integrate? or are they intended to clash with each other ?

DF: Of course not. They harmonise. Hopefully rather beautifully.

EF: Why are you so intrigued by the battle of speeds? Why do you consider it a battle?

DF: 1. I am intrigued but 2. I don’t. The original legal case popularly known as T.B.O.S. simply sparked an unrelated notion.

It struck me that it would be intriguing to recompose my back catalogue for this investigation into recording and playback systems. THE BATTLE oF SPEEDS was envisaged, from the off, as an auto-recomposition project because as recomposers of my work go, I’m a shoo-in.

EF: We’ve all heard of remixing and revising of composition, but what exactly is recomposition? You have had an entire double CD album/online spinoff where other artists recomposed your works… Were you flattered by that?

DF: Spitroast Records asked me in 2002  for permission to commission a Various Artists remix album: When It’s Ajar: the music of Daniel Figgis?. This marked the inception of my recomposition concept. The Skipper album and a further 10 tracks  provided the reference material -the latter 10 formed the backbone for 5 years or so of my concert events.

As to the how and why I originated the recomposition concept, it came down to the fact that I was strongly averse to the standard remix as commonly understood and I wished, out of respect for the composers concerned, to avoid the classic compilation album mismatch. I therefore decided that the pieces should be based exclusively on recordings that I alone had made. That meant that these recorded component parts became the available lexicon for the commissioned composers, enabling them to write in their own vernacular, yet making for a coherent listening experience.

Flattered? Yes, I was appropriately flattered by the project. Equally flattering is the fact that I am told that one or two of the original artists commissioned are presenting a concert further interrogating my original idea -when you plant a seed you expect a little growth….

EF: Are you trying to create a kind of wall of sound for those experiencing it?

DF: This is a completely immersive experience – perhaps analogous to a floatation tank.

EF: How does the space inspire the work?

DF: The Marlay Park boathouse and Orangery determined the visual content and suggested a rather bucolic musical response.

EF: Could this be presented somewhere else?

DF: Yes, in one sense easily, as this work is scalable, ever-evolving and thus both site-specific and site-neutral to each venue but, logistically speaking, the figures don’t add up at the minute. So we’re done here. And I feel compelled, having rather made my point, to return to the traditional concert and recording cycle.

EF: Do you get frustrated that these large scale multi-media works which you spend months (?) working are over within the space of a few hours?..

DF: Yes, it can be frustrating. But that just comes with the territory. You’re essentially working with/in a landscape and, in every sense, the seasons change.

EF: Is that the attraction and you then move on to a new idea?

DF: Yes, that is also an attraction. One moves on very quickly – in this case, onto a major new commission for Crash Ensemble.

But if an artist is to some extent an inventor, then I am, with THE BATTLE oF SPEEDS, truly enjoying my Caractacus Potts moment!

When It’s Ajar: the music of Daniel Figgis? is now available on iTunes. 

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