Block Beuys - Raum 3

'Aktionen' for 12 instrumentalists with tape (2000)
14 minutes | no.18

The most important role in Block Beuys - Raum 3 (size: 68 m2) is reserved for the voice of Joseph Beuys. In January 1985 the artist performed a lecture in Rorschach (Switzerland) entitled “Aktive Neutralität, Überwindung von Kapitalismus und Kommunismus". Excerpts from this lecture form the material for the tape.

The musicians (strings, percussion and trumpets) limit themselves to the execution of so-called 'Aktionen'. There are three kinds of 'Aktionen', involving hitting, dropping and friction. The aquaphone with its gliding, ethereal sound performs the continuum.

photo: Block Beuys, Raum 3 (Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt, 1990) by Claudio Abate

Scoring

tape-0.0.0.0-0.3(III=btrp).0.0-perc(2)-str(1.1.2.2.1)
(without conductor)

tape (solo)
2 trumpets, bass trumpet (or trumpet or trombone)
percussion 1, percussion 2
2 violins, 2 violas, 2 cellos, double bass

commissioned by & written for

Ives Ensemble (Netherlands)

dedicated to

Christopher Fox

première

6 May 2000
Concertgebouw, Amsterdam (Netherlands)
Ives Ensemble

Audio Fragments

Performance

Ives Ensemble

recording

4 May 2000, Maria Minor, Utrecht (Netherlands)
by Eclat Music Productions

Score Excerpts