[Ştefan Niculescu] Ison II, Concerto for Winds and Percussion (Score-Video)

Performers: Pierre Bartholomée / Orchestre Symphonique de Liège Audio from    • Stefan Niculescu : Ison II (1975)   —————— Special Thanks to my friend ‪@工具人-p8n‬ for permission to reupload his video on YouTube! Here's the original video link: www.bilibili.com/video/BV1i6V665ELd/ —————— The Ison (ίσον, or isocratema / ισοκράτημα) is a unique vocal drone technique in Byzantine Orthodox chant, providing a fixed pitch to accompany the monophonic chant melody (melos / μέλος), resulting in an auditory effect close to an organ pedal point (drone). "Composed between 1975 and 1976, Ison II is scored for an ensemble of 4 flutes, 4 trumpets, 4 horns, 4 trombones, and 4 (or 6) percussionists. Three musical structures, which vary with each appearance, are presented either successively or overlappingly: The melody of the flutes; 2. The harmony of the brass; 3. The rhythm of the percussion. The concept of the 'ison' (a drone supporting the melody) is also developed, functioning to run through the entire work and maintain a unified musical style. In this way, the three structural materials—each expressing a specific melody, harmony, or rhythm—merge into a 'structural ison'. On a poetic level, this implies that a single but complex state is continuously deepened, ultimately evolving into a new state of being." — Ștefan Niculescu Since the 1960s, a group of Romanian composers, influenced by Romanian folk music and Byzantine traditions, emphasized natural harmonics, the phenomenology of timbre, continuous textural transformation, and cultural roots, rather than relying strictly on computer-based spectral analysis. Among them, in addition to Octavian Nemescu, Ștefan Niculescu is regarded as one of the key pioneers of this tradition. His students, such as Horațiu Rădulescu, also followed their mentor's footsteps to explore this field. In fact, this was not Niculescu's first work written in this style. In 1966, the composer completed courses in electroacoustic music at the Siemens Studio in Munich, and in the following years, he attended the Darmstadt New Music Summer Courses. He organically combined his previous explorations with his experiences during his electroacoustic studies to compose Formanţi for at least seventeen solo string instruments. At this stage, some initial thoughts of spectral music were already manifest. The form of the work derives from the continuous exposition of all 14 formants. The conductor determines their order, but two formants with even and odd numbers must always be linked. Each of these seven pairs of formants can begin with either the even- or odd-numbered formant. These formants contain heteromorphic microstructures, which merge into multiple macrostructures of heterophonic color. In Ison II, the composer superimposes thematic materials with A-Mixolydian modal characteristics, creating complex textures driven by density, activity levels, and thematic energy. This is reminiscent of György Ligeti’s micropolyphony, but is rooted in Byzantine and folk heterophony. The timbres of the three different groups of instruments are clearly divided into three distinct acoustic layers. These timbral streams (flute melody, brass harmony, percussion rhythm) alternate and overlap, forming a "structural ison". This superimposition generates rich interactions of partials, fusion and separation, resonance, and timbre clouds, making timbre and texture the primary parameters. The instrumentation of percussion with brass and woodwinds likely reflects the composer's ideas on exploring natural harmonics, resonance, and spectral fusion. Viewed locally (taking woodwinds as an example of a single instrument family), Niculescu's heterophony also recalls Renaissance musical traditions. In conversations with Niculescu, his close friend György Ligeti pointed out that in Niculescu's works, when such materials with diatonic colors are superimposed upon one another, they can be viewed as a form of imitative polyphony. This similar musical material, when subject to different tempo proportions and rhythmic displacements, can generate complex vertical harmonic relationships. This strongly evokes the works of Franco-Flemish school composers such as Johannes Ockeghem. In fact, the composer did indeed study the works of Johannes Ockeghem, Jacob Obrecht, and others, and admitted that he might have unconsciously incorporated the "fruits" of these studies into his own compositions. (Description by ‪@工具人-p8n‬) —————— I do not own neither the score, nor the recordings used in this video. This is only for educational purposes. If you have any complaints regarding copyright issues, please write to me directly at asorabji20(at)gmail(dot)com before submitting a report to YouTube and I will remove the video as soon as possible.