INTRA. Computational rhythms for microtonal metallophones
Mark Fell + DRUMMING Grupo de Percussão
“One of the most outstanding works written for percussion ensemble of the last decades” Ismael G. Cabral, Scherzo Magazine 2024.
INTRA is a series of linked pieces of indeterminate duration for four percussionists, each of which follow a separate but related rhythmic structure played over headphones. INTRA is devised for a set of metallophones originally designed by the Greek composer Iannis Xenakis for his work Pléiades (1978). These instruments have an unusual tuning system where the pitch of equivalent notes is detuned by a slight amount. In many respects INTRA is regarded as a significant development in a phase of Fell’s practice where he began to explore generative systems for human performers and acoustic instruments. Commencing in 2011, early works of this period were primarily for solo performers, following simple but unusual patterns that Fell would later describe as time-shifts. Here a series of durations are specified in milliseconds, and when a single durational element is increased, the entire musical phrase contracts or expands. This time-shift would take even the most skilled performer at least one iteration to assimilate - producing a momentary slippage between score and performer, and breaking the notion of perfection as a performative imperative. Unlike the technical dexterity required for new complexity works, here, a performer's “difficulty” is more an exploration of a temporal and cognitive border-land. And this zone became a focus for Fell’s subsequent works. INTRA takes four patterns and performers in parallel, each looping around interactions of prime numbers to create an (almost) endless phase shifting of pattern spaces. INTRA stands as both an unusual and pivotal contribution to Fell’s oeuvre, and an important precursor of his later procedural works that focus on the interactions of behavioural systems.
INTRA was commissioned by Fundação Serralves (Porto) by Pedro Rocha as part of Intermetamorphosis (2017).
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Mark Fell is a multidisciplinary artist based in Rotherham (UK), described as "one of the most compelling and influential electronic artists in the world" (London Southbank Centre).
His work combines interests in the philosophy of technology, creative process, and class consciousness; demonstrating a specific focus on the interaction between algorithmic systems and interpersonal dynamics, as well as procedure and emergence.
Over the past three decades Fell has built a substantial body of work that spans electronic sound, multisensory installation, critical writing, curatorial projects, educational systems, and choreographic performances.
In 2022 Fell published “Structure and Synthesis, The Anatomy of Practice” with Urbanomic press, bringing together the various strands of his philosophical and political thinking into an analysis of creative practice. He continues to be a leading figure in contemporary art and music.
Dedicated to contemporary music, the Drumming Grupo de Percussão, founded and directed by Miquel Bernat, has established itself as one of the most important collectives of its kind at an international level, since its début in 1999. Drumming GP challenges sound innovation by proposing performances of a diverse nature.
The group travels from classical percussion to jazz, through electronics and rock and also trying to develop stage music for theatre, opera and ballet. Its constant creative activity also has didactic-pedagogical and social aspects. Drumming GP is a pioneer in the creation of a timbila orchestra (a traditional African instrument and ancestor of the Marimba) that performs both oral tradition music (of Mozambican origin) and music conceived by contemporary composers who write especially for the group.
He also created the first ensemble of steel drums (a traditional instrument from Trinidad and Tobago) in the Iberian Peninsula. It was a resident group at Porto 2001 European Capital of Culture, and regularly performs in the most prestigious national venues, including the Gulbenkian Foundation, São João National Theatre, Culturgest, Belém Cultural Center, Rivoli Theatre, Serralves, Casa da Música. Abroad, he performed in Spain, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, South Africa and Brazil.
Eroteme is a Manchester based concert series championing experimental music from the hinterlands. Home of the Uncategorizable. Foraging new sonic territories in electronics, improvisation and beyond.