Ataxia and Topological Tremors

Ross Feller (Oberlin Conservatory, USA)

This presentation consists of two parts: a live performance of Ataxia for solo alto saxophone, and a brief analysis of the primary compositional techniques used for material generation. Ataxia continues a two-decade-long effort to expand the sonic, technical, and gestural capabilities of various solo instruments. It also refers back to the very first piece from this ‘series’, a composition for solo alto saxophone written in 1985, premiered on the corner of State and Madison streets in Chicago.

In his well known book chapter entitled “Markovian Stochastic Music,” Xenakis used the term ataxy to describe entropic shapes, with respect to three axes: time, frequency, and intensity/density. The trajectories are mapped onto a simple X/Y axis in which the rates of disorder increase as lines move higher in Y-space. Ataxia is also a term that refers to symptoms of some nervous disorders wherein one experiences extreme difficulty coordinating the fingers, hands, etc. In composing Ataxia axes were combined in an effort to index a virtual polyphony characterized by timbral modification techniques. Sieves were formed containing various intersections of extended-technique/timbral pairs. Often the relationship between the saxophonist’s hands is intentionally skewed. Subtle rhythmic perturbations were overlaid in order to further delineate the sense of mismatch. Ultimately the effect is akin to a rhizomatic (non-arborescence) twitching. The work evolves according to organic values, but is not immune to sudden, extreme ruptures.

Ross Feller is an Assistant Professor of Composition at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music. His awards and honors include the ASCAP Raymond Hubbell Composition Award, finalist in the Gaudeamus Foundation International Composer’s Competition, and the ASCAP Young Composer’s Competition. His compositions have been performed throughout the USA and Europe by the Oberlin Conservatory Contemporary Music Ensemble, Oberlin Percussion Group, Aurelia Saxophone Quartet, Performers Workshop Ensemble, the University of Illinois Contemporary Chamber Players, clarinetist Anthony Burr, saxophonist Taimur Sullivan (Prism Quartet), trombonist James DeSano (Cleveland Symphony Orchestra), cellist Brad Ritchie (Atlanta Symphony Orchestra), at venues including the Park West (Chicago), Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, Weiler Concert Hall (New York City), De Ijsbreker (Amsterdam), Plateau (Brussels), and Roxy (Basel). His publications include an interview with Brian Ferneyhough in his Collected Writings (Harwood), book chapters in Postmodern Music/ Postmodern Thought (Routledge) and A Handbook to Twentieth-Century Musical Sketches (Cambridge University Press), and reviews and essays in various journals including the Computer Music Journal.