MUSICAL WORKS

SUZUKI Kotoka / 鈴木琴香

2010

Automata | Mechanical Garden

Birth Y: 1971 Birth C: JAPAN Gender: Female

Dest: Concert

Media Specification: Tape, 16-channel diffusion

Commission: Inventionen Festival, Berlin, Germany

First perf.: Inventionen Festival, Berlin, Germany. Dedicated to Folkmar Hein.

Duration: 10:00

Perf. Country: GERMANY

Media: https://soundcloud.com/kotokasuzuki/automata-mechanical-garden-excerpt

Prog. notes: -
The notion of man-made living beings has always exercised humaningenuity since the ancient times. In the hellenistic world target=_blank id='activeurl'>http://www.kotokasuzuki.com/en/Automata.html
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The notion of man-made living beings has always exercised humaningenuity since the ancient times. In the hellenistic world, complexmechanical devices are known to have existed and used as toys,religious idols, or tools to demonstrate basic scientific principles.As more elaborate models of automata were being built in the 18th C, adding realistic sound effects became increasingly important in makingthem look closer to real-life. Many of them represented daily figuresof the time, such as a musician playing an instrument, a magicianperforming, or a bird singing. Jaques de Vacanson, who studied music,medicine, and mechanics, made a life-size mechanical duck that notonly looked and moved like a duck, but quacked like a duck, anddigested and produced droppings like a duck when being fed. In thiswork, these automata and mechanical toys from the past and present arereleased in an imaginary garden, where they are brought to life tooperate freely on their own.

The materials of the work derive from a miniature work I wrote forFolkmar Hein to celebrate his 65th birthday and his retirement fromhis long standing position as the Director of the ElectronischesStudio at the Technical University of Berlin since 1974. These self-operating machines and toys are a symbolic representation of hispassion for computer music, and the studio he single handedly builtthat became a birth place for numerous important computer musicworks. This work is dedicated to Folkmar Hein.

Editor: M.B.

Phono: INVENTIONEN VII: 30 Jahre Inventionen 1982 - 2012 (2012), Ed. RZ 3006-8 | 2CD + DVD