Sciarrino's 10 Ps

Thanks Kappa for your insights

Perhaps we also need to talk about voice, registers and instruments, right?

Kappa wrote:

What do you think of such granular dynamic markings? In particular, Sciarrino's 10 p come come to mind.

I am not familiar with the specific case, which might seem like an exaggeration, but... Schumann, for example, wrote crescendo under a held piano chord, something evidently impossible in itself, except that the psychological attitude with which one plays changes, depending on the indication, even if the indication is in fact unachievable.

Another aspect is the foresight of certain composers and the awareness of writing (in this specific case) in an era where technology influences—or potentially can influence—musical production as much as the human element.

Karajan, in 1974, made extensive use of multitracking to create a (stunning) recording version of Arnold Schoenberg's Variations for Orchestra op. 31, whose dynamic indications were impossible to fully respect without using the means that technology already provided back then.

And besides, the driving force has always been what moves both musical and technical discourse forward. Let us always remember what Beethoven said regarding his Sonata op. 106 “Hammerklavier” («Here is a sonata that will give pianists a hard time when they perform it fifty years from now!», and it was 1819).

In my opinion, a sequencer cannot differentiate a scale of values ranging between hypothetical 10p and 10f... there is a quantization due to the fact that sequencers do not reason in the world of the continuous but of the discrete... unless the scale is changed and one travels, for example, at 3p at a time...

Who knows: f mf p pp(3p) ppp(6p) pppp (9p)

I hope I have explained myself; as Carlos used to say, it is just psychological pressure that one wants to exert on the performer

Even in the first piece of Schumann's album for youth, there are indications of < > on some quarter notes

Kappa wrote:

In particular, Sciarrino's 10 p come come to mind.

In which piece did you find them? I am curious, because usually Sciarrino is quite realistic regarding dynamics! (Nono's ppppppp are more famous). Thanks!

I am attaching an interesting link regarding this, although it doesn't seem to me to mention Sciarrino for the dynamics:

http://www.informatics.indiana.edu/donbyrd/CMNExtremesBody.htm

Thanks for the ideas

RedScharlach wrote:

In which piece did you find them? I'm curious, because usually Sciarrino is quite realistic regarding dynamics! (Nono's ppppppp are more famous). Thanks!

Actually, I didn't see them in a score, but they were mentioned in a lecture given by a maestro I know; I intend to ask him for details at the next opportunity so as to eventually share the name of the work.