DUEL - [Personal] Notes on the album

I wanted to write some personal notes on Duel, which will be released on Friday April 8, 2022. The ‘official’ program notes can be found in the CD liner notes and here, but I wanted to provide some of my own thoughts on the project as well.

The album was conceived in early 2020, pre-pandemic, and was approved as a project in early summer 2020. Recording started in January 2021 and was completed in around 8 days across January, February, May and June. Most of the recording sessions took place in the large recording studio at the Helsinki Music Center, with two days of recording at Kallio-Kuninkala studios. Post-production took place between July and October 2021. Throughout, I acted as both clarinetist and artistic director, working in close collaboration with sound engineer Tuukka Tervo.

The works on the album were selected first and foremost for genre - clarinet and electronics. Electroacoustic works were always intended to be the topic of my third doctoral concert, as they are a unique and important aspect of contemporary music performance and research. Electroacoustic music is also a genre that I have less experience in. I performed two electroacoustic works in my second doctoral concert, ‘Elollinen’, and the experience of collaborating with composers Jack Hughes and Ville Raasakka for that concert were critically important in my preparation for this CD. I also wanted to focus on electroacoustic works that had not previously been recorded (the only one on this album that has previously been recorded is the Trbojevic).

This is also my first ever solo CD recording. This coupling of new experiences - electroacoustic music and recording - was both rich and humbling. The opportunity to record, in addition to a fantastic professional opportunity, was also a rich research opportunity to study the nature of recorded performance, how one works in a studio, collaboration with a sound engineer, as well as themes of my research like shared ownership and the cultural practice of notation. As ‘artistic director’ of the album, complete conceptualization - from program to recording and mixing to album concept and booklet notes - was my responsibility. Though generally cohesive in genre, the CD includes works for fixed and live electronics, six solo works and two chamber works. It also features the entire clarinet family, and a newly commissioned work. The musical variety on the CD attempts to create the widest possible study of the electroacoustic genre.  

The project also offered rich opportunities for direct composer collaboration. In addition to the commission from Molly Joyce, Maija Hynninen, Riikka Talvitie and Minna Leinonen were all very active in the rehearsal and recording processes, in some cases revising the clarinet parts and the electronics for this recording. This experience was invaluable, and I am grateful for their willingness to participate in the process. I am also thankful to have been able to perform with musicians Tuuli Lindeberg, Aleksi Trygg, Eva Trygg, Sirja Nironen, Martin Malmgren, Antti Ohenoja and Janne Valkeajoki. This recording often felt like a very solitary experience, particularly during this COVID time, and the possibility to have contact with these composers and musicians throughout the process helped me feel I was not alone.

In an artistic research seminar I participated in last fall, Visiting Professor Neil Heyde encouraged (insisted) that I make a list of things that I liked about my album and things I did not like. And most critically, these lists had to be equal in length. I discuss a couple points from my list here as a way to both digest and mentally release this long-term project that will soon be put in the past tense.

A big positive from this project was not only learning to become more comfortable with recording, but actually coming to really like the process. Artistically, I felt I had more control over all aspects of production. I also became more confident relying on my own ear and attention to detail, what I believe to be two of my musical strengths. At the same time, the complete control was a bit of a negative, or potential negative. As the solo artist and artistic director, the project was ultimately limited by the range of my own knowledge and experience. Speaking with Tuukka last month, for example, he suggested that it would have been interesting to hear what these pieces would have sounded like had they been recorded in a different space. This had not occurred to me! Similarly, my recent experiences in electroacoustic chamber music this spring 2022 have led me to think more about the relationship between acoustic instruments and electronic sound, particularly the role of the click track. This knowledge could have perhaps affected the recording, but who is to say.

The artistic collaborations between myself and Tuukka, and between myself and composers Riikka Talvitie, Maija Hynninen, and Minna Leinonen also made the list of album successes. As I wrote in the liner notes to the album, I am grateful for Tuukka for his hardwork and patience, but also for his willingness to let me learn from him throughout the year. Our collaboration was probably the most crucial, as it was he and I in every recording, editing and mixing session. For the two chamber pieces on the album, I was lucky that Riikka and Maija were willing to participate in the rehearsal and recording process of both their works. For Riikka’s piece, it was critical to get her point of view when updating the electronics. And as Tuukka mentioned in our chat, Maija’s piece was very different (electroacoustically) to the other works on the album. She was active in matters of sound and interpretation not only in our rehearsals, but also helping to manage the recording session. Finally, I was lucky to have met Minna, and to have worked with her closely in revising her work Pheme for this recording. My performance of Pheme feels more personal and confident having worked with her.

This ‘positive’ points out a negative as well - due to COVID, amongst other practicalities, it was not possible to meet and workshop with the American composers in the US. Of course, we exchanged emails and Zoom calls, and I solicited comments on recordings and mixes, but it would have been valuable to have been able to perform for them in person and to get their live feedback to my interpretation of their works. This was a particular challenge in the work commissioned by Molly Joyce, Attack and Sustain. Tuukka and I ultimately found our way in the end, but it was artistically challenging for both of us!

I asked Tuukka what his favourite track on the album was, and I feel obligated to ask myself the same. I do not have a favourite - of course I like them all! But I do have tracks I feel more or less artistically confident about. Perhaps this is not an ‘OK’ thing to write about, but I am reaching the end to this post so hopefully anyone who has read this far will accept my naval-gazing without judgment.

I feel very confident about Pheme and Honk if you Love Me. I feel the best about my performances, I think the interpretation is sound, and I feel like I understand well what was intended musically between the electronics and the live clarinet part. On the flip side, I still feel unsure about Le Fantome du Vent and Attack and Sustain. I should clarify, this is my feeling about my own performance, not the works themselves! Le Fantome du Vent is the only work that has previously been recording, and it is one of two virtuosic bass clarinet works on the album. It remains an artistic goal of my doctoral research to gain experience in new bass clarinet repertoire, and the inclusion of bass clarinet on this album is a reflection of that aim. Performing a solo piece on a live concert, however, is very different than creating a studio recording for public consumption…! Attack and Sustain acoustically is very unique - the manipulated clarinet sounds in the backtrack are completely different to a live clarinet sound, and negotiating between the two was challenging in recording. I look forward to performing the piece live, I think gaining that experience will offer valuable insights into negotiation between pre-recorded and live elements.

To sign off, I think it is important to remind myself, and listeners of recorded music, that while an album might feel like a permanent artistic statement, it is only a snapshot in time. As a developing artist, which I think all artists hopefully consider themselves, we are constantly revising and maturing in our musical viewpoints, skills, and ways of expression. My snapshot, Duel, also has dual purposes - as an artistic statement and as a research object. I hope the album is enjoyable to listen to, highlights works and composers that people might not be familiar with, and can be a resource in the genres of electroacoustic, clarinet, contemporary and classical music.

Lucy Abrams-Husso’s debut album Duel will be released by SibaRecords on April 8, 2022.