Michel van der Aa / Works / 

Hysteresis

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Hysteresis refers to the way in which a system depends both on its current environment, and its past. That is, the idea that non-living things can have a sort of ‘memory’ of previous states, which they carry into their present. It was originally used in material science – to describe, for example, how certain metals become magnetized when brought into contact with a magnetic field, and stay magnetized after that field has been removed.

In his clarinet concerto – his first major work for the instrument – Michel van der Aa extends this idea into more speculative realms: can musical material (note sequences, rhythms, chords) retain some ‘memory’ of itself even after it has been worked with? Is it identifiably the same stuff, does it behave similarly, even when the magnet has been taken away? Of course, questions like these have been an underlying consideration for composers for centuries, but in his clarinet concerto Van der Aa brings them to the fore.

By combining acoustic instruments with recorded and digitally processed mirrors of themselves – sometimes just as a soundtrack, sometimes, as in his cello concerto Up-Close and his recent opera Sunken Garden , also as video – Van der Aa is familiar with thinking of music in terms of physical stuff. His works are full of the sounds and procedures of music editing and sound design; loops and layers, clicks and cuts. Music may only be intangible soundwaves or digital bits, but software and compositional technique mean it can be virtually stretched, cut, squashed and transformed just as much as a piece of clay.

Hysteresis introduces the idea of musical memory from its very first sound – the nostalgia-inducing pop and crackle of static from a record player (played via electronic soundtrack). At the same time the percussionist rubs sandpaper in circles over a table surface, imitating the noise and movement of the spinning record. In spite of its digital sheen, Van der Aa’s music stays in touch with the analogue and the physical roots of music making.

As the clarinet unfolds a line of wide leaps and slow phrases, occasional notes and intervals reverberate back from the soundtrack. Live tones morph into digitally manipulated chords. The transformations continue to bounce between instruments and media types: the vinyl pops become percussion taps, which in turn become stuttering strings and digital clicks. In the shorter, second movement, analogue synthesiser sounds (used for the first time by the composer) bubble out of a complex rhythmic texture and another transformation is hinted at, as the soundworld briefly flips from angular atonality towards the fringes of acid house. The point is less the identifiable moments on such a trajectory, than the multi-dimensional space of interlocking sounds and suggestions that is opened up.
— Tim Rutherford-Johnson

Reviews

A clarinet concerto bristling with life

“What we hear is simply a clarinet concerto, but one bristling with life. Even Van der Aa’s characteristic layers of sound – a recorded soundtrack, the static from an old record player, analogue synthesiser sounds – seem incidental and could almost be swept away in favour of the virtuoso writing Hysteresis gives to the solo clarinet and small orchestra. Mark van de Wiel, principal clarinet of the London Sinfonietta, made a spine-tingling job of it as the music raced to its frenetic conclusion.”
— Financial Times, Richard Fairman, 1 May 2014

A thrilling display piece

“Cast in one single movement lasting just over a quarter of an hour, the result is a genuine concerto in the way the soloist dominates proceedings from first to last. The solo line, played with authority and verve by van der Wiel, leaps and capers through every conceivable virtuoso loop, its fast-and-furious quality rarely toning down into anything gentler or more obviously lyrical; it made a thrilling display piece nevertheless, with the composer’s inventive percussion writing and use of a soundtrack adding distinctive perspectives to the accompaniment.”
— The Guardian, George Hall, 02 May 2014

Das rockte mitreissend jugendlich

“Interessant war der Einsatz eines Soundtracks, der – anstatt wie üblich den Zeitlichen Ablauf zu regieren – auf das kompetent lebendige Dirigat von Susanna Mälkki reagieren konnte. Der grosse Ambitus der Klarinette faszinierte auch hier den Komponisten, der das kleine Orchester durch elektronische Verstärkung ganz munter zu kraftvollem Sound aufblies. Das rockte mitreissend jugendlich.”
— Olaf Wieden, Kölnische Rundschau, 11 June 2014

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Instrumentation

for solo clarinet, ensemble and soundtrack
2013

Clarinet in B-flat (solo)

1 Bassoon
1 Trumpet in C
1 Percussion player

4 Violins *
3 Violas
2 Violoncellos
1 Double bass

Soundtrack (laptop, 1 player)

—-

  • Two alternative string set-ups are possible for this piece:
    – 1 Vln, 1 Vla, 1 Vlc, 1 Db (all amplified)
    – 6 Vln, 5 Vla, 4 Vlc, 2 Db

Details

Duration

17′

First performance

1 May 2014
Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, London, United Kingdom

Commissioned by

London Sinfonietta, Ensemble musikFabrik, Kari Kriikku, with support of London Sinfonietta Pioneers, Kunststiftung NRW, and Fonds Podiumkunsten

Publisher

Boosey & Hawkes

Listen

Performances

Last performance


15 March 2022

Hysteresis

Münchener Kammerorchester
Reto Bieri, clarinet

BASF-Feierabendhaus, Ludwigshafen, Germany

All performances of Hysteresis

News

3 October 2019

Italian and Czech premieres for ‘Hysteresis’

Michele Marelli Hysteresis, which receives its Chinese premiere on 25 October, will have its Italian premiere at the Venice Biennale earlier in the same month. Michel van der Aa’s 2013 clarinet concerto will be performed by Michele Marelli, with contemporary music specialists the Orchestra della ...

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23 April 2014

New clarinet concerto Hysteresis to be premiered in London

Here [enclosed] Michel van der Aa’s new clarinet concert Hysteresis will receive its world premiere in London on 30 April. The performance is part of a portrait concert given by the London Sinfonietta that will also feature the UK premiere of the complete Here Trilogy (with soprano Claron McFadde...

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