On Electronics

Many of my compositions are performed on samplers. Every time when somebody calls them "electronic music" I try to explain that they have nothing to do with electronic music, and that my approach to the sound and to the process of composition has nothing to do with that of an "electronic" composer. To be precise, electronic music is music for synthesizers. I don't use synthesizers; I use samplers. There is a principal difference between synthesizers and samplers (these two words point at this difference). Synthesizer sound is "made" from electronically generated sound waves. Sampler has no sound source inside. You can take ANY acoustic sound and place it into the sampler's memory. After this procedure this sound does not become electronic. I hope nobody thinks that Mozart's Symphony on CD is electronic music; but the process is the same: converting sound into binary code and back. Sampling technology is a possibility to play any acoustic instrument using piano keyboard. And it is not something that is "exactly like flute", but it IS flute.You may ask me: "Isn't it better to find a good flute player?" Unfortunately, it is extremely difficult, sometimes simply impossible, to find a performer who is not just a good "player" whose job is to play any music (in fact, he doesn't care), but a musician who feels, understands and really wants to play this music. Now, imagine that I need a whole ensemble! We know, for example, Steve Reich's and Philip Glass' ensembles, but they are absolutely unique. They consist of outstanding musicians, and we know all these musicians by names. With "regular" performers, instead of a sonic realization of the music written on paper, it's only possible to get a result of endless compromises which is very far from composer's intentions.With sampling technology, I can compose for "virtual ensemble" in which I can play all parts myself instead of trying to explain what I want to hear. At the same time, I can be a sound engineer, because the process of performance and the process of recording are very close to each other. But, nevertheless, the music remains "acoustic", i.e. music written for "usual" instruments. Certainly, I can also use sampler to create entirely new sounds; any acoustic sound can be treated as "raw material" for any transformations. For "electronic" composers, the process of composition is based on creating new sounds. But, alas, these breathtaking hi-tech horizons are much wider than the set of human stereotypes: electronic music is a music of the future, "space" music, etc. All newly-created sounds are more or less the same: "space" effects and a feeling of something huge and very significant.I don't know what the music of the future will be like. I think that music of the universe is rather silence than electronic explosions with long artificial echo. I don't want to compare a control panel of a sampler with control panel of a spaceship. I just want my sampler to be a kind of "extended piano". I want it to be my "virtual ensemble" which consists of "usual" instruments but understands me without words (as the piano does). Generally speaking, I wouldn't like to attract any special attention to the "technical" features of my music. Even in those cases when I am making new sounds for my compositions, these sounds are not an intervention of "another" ("space") reality but natural elements of "earthly" acoustic environment.Unfortunately, our prejudices against "electronics" are very strong. "If you are using these metal boxes with displays and buttons instead of "normal" instruments, your music is electronic!" We are used to listening not with our ears but with our eyes. When we hear a sound of double-bass, we want to see a tall man "physically" playing this instrument. If we don't see this picture, we get angry, because it seems to us that we are being fooled. Several times I made the following experiment: I played a tape with my compositions in which only orchestral instruments were used for people who had no idea of "how this music was cooked". And they didn't even suggest that it has not been performed by a "normal" ensemble! The only question was: "Where did you find such an excellent performers?" So let's try to disconnect our ears from our eyes.Recently I was asked by a journalist: "Aren't you afraid that technology will kill music?" I said: "No. Technology cannot kill music. Any musical instrument is "technology". Sampler is "technology" in comparison with the piano. The piano is technology in comparison with violin. Violin is technology in comparison with pipe. Pipe is technology in comparison with human voice. But music is still alive.

1996-06-26, Anton BATAGOV