Ostrava Center for New Music

Composing music, listening to music and performing music and are all different activities, which may not be necessarily connected in any way and have nothing to do with each other. This is a known statement John Cage made long time ago. The example of Phill Niblock is a testimony to the truthfulness of it. Niblock is not a musician. He never learned how to read music notation and for the realization of his scores, he needs an assistant. Despite this, there is no doubt that the music he is creating (ergo composing) has all the attributes of the works of music with we we are familiar; his compositions have a wide appeal and a firm place in the context of the music of the 20th and 21st century. Niblock’s example is indeed inspiring. He shows us how and to what extent an author can be separate from the making of music. His compositions also indicate just the opposite: namely, that being a musician of the highest caliber does not guarantee one the ability to write a single note worth listening to. Niblock composes music of sustained micro-tones produced by instruments, or vocalists, recorded on multi-track, and combined in live performance with sustained tones produced by musicians. Niblock combines pitches in order to create, through their proximity and durations, rhythmical beats and changes in harmonic overtone structure. His music, as well as his films and videos, are a reflection of the dynamic relationship between stasis and movement. He does not match his compositions to his films; they are presented together randomly. Niblock believes that this creates an ideal performance situation, with just the right degree of indeterminacy. Phill Niblock has traveled extensively, making videos and films in places like China, Hungary, South Africa, Peru, Mexico, Quebec, and among the indigenous people of the Arctic. Each year, Niblock produces a series of performances in his loft on Centre Street in New York City, also known as the Experimental Intermedia (EI). I met Niblock for the first time in the summer of 1972 at Burdocks festival, organized by Christian Wolff in Hanover, New Hampshire. Since then, we have collaborated many times in the U.S. and Europe, including many performances at his Experimental Intermedia in New York. - Petr Kotík, Augst 7, 2009