Uri Caine Ensemble & Tempo Reale

Berio Project

Uri Caine, piano and composition
Ralph Alessi, trumpet
Jim Black, drums and percussions

Tempo Reale, live electronics and sound projection
Recorded Voices: Cathy Berberian, Julie Patton
Computer music consultant: Kilian Schwoon

Production: Ravenna Festival – Tempo Reale

The technologies developed at Tempo Reale since its foundation in 1987 have been strongly characterized by Luciano Berio’s personal thoughts about live electronics, which reflect his experiences as a “pioneer” of electronic music at the Studio di Fonologia in Milan as well as his research carried out at the IRCAM in Paris during the seventies.

“Technologies interest me when they become an extension of human work, of the performance, the sound, the voice, but not as an end in themselves, not as ”effects”. In fact, I have no interest in searching for new sounds. A new sound is created when there is a new musical idea to produce it. What interests me is extending the possibilities of instruments, of the voice, but in an organic manner, which is not in conflict with the sources of sound. ”
(Luciano Berio).

The basic idea of this project is to offer these technological instruments to a musician admired by Berio such as Uri Caine, and to adapt them to his way of making music, including improvisational aspects. Berio’s concept of a continuous mobility created with live electronics (using spatialization, but also continuous harmonic and dynamic modulations and various types of proliferations of sound layers) acts as a point of departure for these musical and technological explorations.
The concert has two different sections: in the first one (Ofaqìm-horizons) music ideally arises from Berio's Sequenzas for solo intruments while the second part (Real Time) is more free and based on the integration of a series of sound objects from Berio's personal archive (folk music, electroacoustic compositions, etc.). Both in the first and second section there is a strong interaction between the acoustic and live electronic parts by means of the digital processing of the sound of musicians and the creation of new musical structures.
The live electronic setup includes a spatialization system with a variable number of loudspeakers and various digital devices controlled by a group of performers. Some of them interact on stage with Uri Caine and his musicians, whereas the overall sound direction and the spatialization are controlled from a position at the center of the concert hall.

 

 

 

 

Video excerpts - Uri Caine Ensemble & Tempo Reale - Ofaqìm

Video excerpts - Uri Caine Ensemble & Tempo Reale - Real Time

 

Performances:

Ravenna, Ravenna Festival, july 13, 2005
Rome, Auditorium-Parco della Musica, november 13, 2006
Wien, Wiener Konzerthaus, 19 april, 2008
Florence, Tempo Reale Festival, 13 october, 2009
Monfalcone (Gorizia), Theatre of Monfalcone, 22 april 2010