Carlos Sandoval
Encyclopedia
Carlos Sandoval Mendoza Is a Mexican
/German
freelance composer and multimedia artist, mostly recognized for his work joining technology
, nature
and art
.
downtown, Carlos Sandoval was used to deal with harrowing, extreme social and cultural situations already from his childhood, a fact to be later reflected in his work. He has lived mainly in Mexico City
(1956-64), Cuernavaca City
(1964-78 and 1983-03), New York City
(1979), Vienna
, Austria
(1980-82), Los Angeles
CA (1983) and Berlin
, Germany
(2003- ). He is also a German citizen since 2009. Dissident at the Escuela Nacional de Música UNAM
1976-79 (classical guitar and composition) studied later composition, analysis and theory
privately with Julio Estrada
(1985-90). He assisted also to several courses and private sessions with Brian Ferneyhough
, Joji Yuasa
, Peter Garland
, Lorenc Barber, Leo Brower, François Bernard Mâche, James Tenney
, Stefano Scodanibio, Iannis Xenakis
and Conlon Nancarrow
. Nevertheless, he is one of the few active Mexican composers of his generation that did not studied in Europe
or the United States and does not have an academic degree in composition. Later he studied indeed in Europe: Piano tuning
and building at the Bösendorfer Klavier Fabrik
in Vienna
(1980-82). These studies ("and not the Vienna School
") changed his vision about music in general. His work has been premiered or exposed mostly in Germany but also in Mexico, USA, France and The Netherlands. He has been fellow of the SNCA
(the highest Mexican Government recognition for Mexican artists) since 1999 with no interruption. He has been invited to countless activities and contemporary music festivals like Donaueschingen Musik Tage (1994, Germany), Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (2009, UK, festival´s highlight) and the Darmstadt Summer Courses (1990) in Germany, among others. He writes articles and essays on music and lately has been focused in the joint of music and video, "LIPS" being his last piece.
's Techniques and the Xenakian
school: Use of Cartesian
graphics representing sonic trajectories and its evolutions, multi parametrics (the use of several simultaneous performance and compositional resources in a single line or stave) and internal sonic imagination analysis. "Ginantria", for cello solo, 1990, is the best example of this period. Few out-of-cataloque pieces do belong also to this stage:
. He works as his assistant (1991-94). In this period Sandoval expands and combines his resources. The influence of Nancarrow´s music is strong and some remains of the Xenakian school are also present. Sandoval´s musical thinking does begin to loose channelization
. This lack of "school", "channelized impulse" or "Style" ("Style is just a super thin ham slice between your "freedom" and your own limitations (Sandoval, 2009)") is still a characteristic of his work and can be easily identified with a radical postmodern approach
. Besides this, it took him almost 4 years to assimilate and sinthesize the extreme bipolar Estrada-Nancarrow influences. This situation not being new.. The list of 16 postmodern music characteristics defined by Kramer (Kramer 2002, 16–17) suite well to Sandoval's music from this period. Between 2002 and 2003, just about moving to Germany, Sandoval published two of his "manifestos": "Imaginación, análisis y posmodernismo" and "De la fenomenología al ejercicio estético, o una apología del cinismo".
in Hamburg, commissioned by the Festival Eigenarten and the Culture Ministry in Hamburg. This piece is a break-point in Sandoval's work, his first truly multimedia piece and a first attempt to join video and music into a single conceptual and constructive layer. In general, Sandoval begins to forsake traditional score writing and deterministic thinking to start developing either a "non-fictional" approach to music (as a result of countless acoustical and cultural sound-recordings made in Mexico), and a cognitive Piagetian
one to animism
towards music and life in general: “A video camera is not just a tool, it is also an animal. If we animalize our tools, we will finally stop talking about them, in the academic sense of talking” Jean Piaget´s theories about language as an object and a cognitive inability to distinguish the external world from one's own psyche, made a strong impact in Sandoval's pieces in this period.
using technology. His work with living trees with accelerometers and hands with tactile sensors are based on random-picking software, giving objective transduction of physical phenomena a "mystic" character. “The first time I used the gloves (…) I was analyzing continuous information coming from each tactile sensor and realized that, despite being "free", I had a "style", my own syntax expressed in patterns (…). The same way, the trees as “free” entities generate patterns since they are systemic too. Pattern-recognition, artificial intelligence, cliches and prejudgements belong to the same order, that's why I prefer just random picking instead of pattern recognition methodologies to generate musical materials."
Mexican people
Mexican people refers to all persons from Mexico, a multiethnic country in North America, and/or who identify with the Mexican cultural and/or national identity....
/German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
freelance composer and multimedia artist, mostly recognized for his work joining technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
, nature
Nature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world, or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general...
and art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
.
Biography and Work
Born in an archetypal "barrio" in Mexico city'sMexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
downtown, Carlos Sandoval was used to deal with harrowing, extreme social and cultural situations already from his childhood, a fact to be later reflected in his work. He has lived mainly in Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
(1956-64), Cuernavaca City
Cuernavaca
Cuernavaca is the capital and largest city of the state of Morelos in Mexico. It was established at the archeological site of Gualupita I by the Olmec, "the mother culture" of Mesoamerica, approximately 3200 years ago...
(1964-78 and 1983-03), New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
(1979), Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
(1980-82), Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
CA (1983) and Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
(2003- ). He is also a German citizen since 2009. Dissident at the Escuela Nacional de Música UNAM
Unam
UNAM or UNaM may refer to:* National University of Misiones, a National University in Posadas, Argentina*National Autonomous University of Mexico , the large public autonomous university based in Mexico City...
1976-79 (classical guitar and composition) studied later composition, analysis and theory
Music theory
Music theory is the study of how music works. It examines the language and notation of music. It seeks to identify patterns and structures in composers' techniques across or within genres, styles, or historical periods...
privately with Julio Estrada
Julio Estrada
Julio Estrada Velasco was born in Mexico City, April 10, 1943. His family was exiled from Spain in 1941. He is a composer, theoretician, historian, pedagogue, and interpreter.-Life:...
(1985-90). He assisted also to several courses and private sessions with Brian Ferneyhough
Brian Ferneyhough
Brian John Peter Ferneyhough is an English composer. His music is characterized by the extensive use of complex rhythmic tuplet notation which features in all his works...
, Joji Yuasa
Joji Yuasa
is a Japanese composer of contemporary classical music.-Biography:Born in Kōriyama, Fukushima, he is self-taught as a composer.In 1951 or 1952, together with the composer Tōru Takemitsu and other contemporary artists and musicians, he founded Jikken Kobo , an organization dedicated to the...
, Peter Garland
Peter Garland
Peter Garland is a composer best known for publishing Soundings Press, one of the few sources of new music scores and articles while in print...
, Lorenc Barber, Leo Brower, François Bernard Mâche, James Tenney
James Tenney
James Tenney was an American composer and influential music theorist.-Biography:Tenney was born in Silver City, New Mexico, and grew up in Arizona and Colorado. He attended the University of Denver, the Juilliard School of Music, Bennington College and the University of Illinois...
, Stefano Scodanibio, Iannis Xenakis
Iannis Xenakis
Iannis Xenakis was a Romanian-born Greek ethnic, naturalized French composer, music theorist, and architect-engineer. He is commonly recognized as one of the most important post-war avant-garde composers...
and Conlon Nancarrow
Conlon Nancarrow
Conlon Nancarrow was a United States-born composer who lived and worked in Mexico for most of his life. He became a Mexican citizen in 1955.Nancarrow is best remembered for the pieces he wrote for the player piano...
. Nevertheless, he is one of the few active Mexican composers of his generation that did not studied in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
or the United States and does not have an academic degree in composition. Later he studied indeed in Europe: Piano tuning
Piano tuning
Piano tuning is the act of making minute adjustments to the tensions of the strings of a piano to properly align the intervals between their tones so that the instrument is in tune. The meaning of the term in tune in the context of piano tuning is not simply a particular fixed set of pitches...
and building at the Bösendorfer Klavier Fabrik
Bösendorfer
Bösendorfer is an Austrian piano manufacturer, and a wholly owned subsidiary of Yamaha. The brand is known for producing pianos with a uniquely rich, singing, and sustaining tone...
in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
(1980-82). These studies ("and not the Vienna School
Vienna School
Vienna School may refer to:* First Viennese School, 18th century classical music composers in Vienna* Second Viennese School, 20th century composers in Vienna* Vienna School of Art History...
") changed his vision about music in general. His work has been premiered or exposed mostly in Germany but also in Mexico, USA, France and The Netherlands. He has been fellow of the SNCA
SNCA
SNCA may refer to:* Seoul National Capital Area, region in South Korea* Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Arte, Mexican culture organization* Alpha-synuclein, protein found in neural tissue...
(the highest Mexican Government recognition for Mexican artists) since 1999 with no interruption. He has been invited to countless activities and contemporary music festivals like Donaueschingen Musik Tage (1994, Germany), Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (2009, UK, festival´s highlight) and the Darmstadt Summer Courses (1990) in Germany, among others. He writes articles and essays on music and lately has been focused in the joint of music and video, "LIPS" being his last piece.
Early Work — Estradian-Xenakian period (1987-1990)
Carlos Sandoval has been exploring several ways of music making. Early works can be identified with Julio EstradaJulio Estrada
Julio Estrada Velasco was born in Mexico City, April 10, 1943. His family was exiled from Spain in 1941. He is a composer, theoretician, historian, pedagogue, and interpreter.-Life:...
's Techniques and the Xenakian
Xenakis
-People:* Constantin Xenakis , Greek artist* Francoise Xenakis , French novelist* Iannis Xenakis , Greek composer and architect* Thomas Xenakis , Greek gymnast- Other uses :...
school: Use of Cartesian
Cartesian coordinate system
A Cartesian coordinate system specifies each point uniquely in a plane by a pair of numerical coordinates, which are the signed distances from the point to two fixed perpendicular directed lines, measured in the same unit of length...
graphics representing sonic trajectories and its evolutions, multi parametrics (the use of several simultaneous performance and compositional resources in a single line or stave) and internal sonic imagination analysis. "Ginantria", for cello solo, 1990, is the best example of this period. Few out-of-cataloque pieces do belong also to this stage:
- "Traepes", 1985, 4:58", Glissandi studies, made before his studies). Chamula harp and tuning forks.
- "Filos", 1987-89, 12:00" Chamber concert, never premiered.
- "Lomos", 1989, 7:35" UPIC System
- "Ginantria", 1990, 12:05" Violoncello.
- "Homenaje", 1991, 7:39" UPIC system
Postmodern-Synthesis Period (1993-03)
In 1991 Sandoval get acquainted with Conlon NancarrowConlon Nancarrow
Conlon Nancarrow was a United States-born composer who lived and worked in Mexico for most of his life. He became a Mexican citizen in 1955.Nancarrow is best remembered for the pieces he wrote for the player piano...
. He works as his assistant (1991-94). In this period Sandoval expands and combines his resources. The influence of Nancarrow´s music is strong and some remains of the Xenakian school are also present. Sandoval´s musical thinking does begin to loose channelization
Channelization
Channelization may refer to:*Channelization *River engineering#Channelization...
. This lack of "school", "channelized impulse" or "Style" ("Style is just a super thin ham slice between your "freedom" and your own limitations (Sandoval, 2009)") is still a characteristic of his work and can be easily identified with a radical postmodern approach
Postmodern music
Postmodern music is either simply music of the postmodern era, or music that follows aesthetical and philosophical trends of postmodernism. As the name suggests, the postmodernist movement formed partly in reaction to modernism...
. Besides this, it took him almost 4 years to assimilate and sinthesize the extreme bipolar Estrada-Nancarrow influences. This situation not being new.. The list of 16 postmodern music characteristics defined by Kramer (Kramer 2002, 16–17) suite well to Sandoval's music from this period. Between 2002 and 2003, just about moving to Germany, Sandoval published two of his "manifestos": "Imaginación, análisis y posmodernismo" and "De la fenomenología al ejercicio estético, o una apología del cinismo".
- "Slow piece for Player Piano", 1993, Player piano
- "Fast Piece for Player Piano", 1993, 6:23" Player piano
- "Fast Piece for computer controlled acoustical instruments", 1994, 6:23", pf., xil., barrel organ, vib. and acordion.
- "Negative Study for Sensible Hands", 1996, Sensors on Hands, first gloves prototype.
- "Suite Antimodem", 1997, 50:00", ETC-ETC Ensemble. Bio-energetics, disposition and improvisation.
- "Pf-01", 1998, 7:58", Piano,
- "Pf-02", 1999, 7:49", (Huitzilac period) Piano,
- "La Pasión Según la Gente", 1999, Indian Brass band, Cl, B.cl, percusión and tape
- "8to-01", 2000-01: Flute, G FLute, Cl., B. Cl., Pf and string quitent
- "CcPf-01", 2001, 7:49" (Huitzilac period) String Quartet and piano
- "CcPf-02", 2001, 7:49" (Huitzilac period) String Quartet and piano
- "FlClPf-01", 2001, 7:49"(Huitzilac period) Flute, Clarinet and Piano
- "FlClPf-02", 2001, 7:49" (Huitzilac period)Flute, Clarinet and Piano
- "FlCl-01", 2001, 7:49" (Huitzilac period) Flute, Clarinet
- "CcMd-01", 2002, 13:47" String quartet and CD. Premiered by the Arditti String Quartet.
- "Pf-03", 2002, 7:49" (Huitzilac period) , Piano
- "Bcl-01", 2002, 7:49" (Huitzilac period), Bass Clarinet
German Period 1 (2003-2007)
Carlos Sandoval moves to Berlin, Germany in September 2003. His first German project was "Mextoys", 2003-04, 80:00", premiered at the prestigious Hochschule für Musik und TheaterHochschule für Musik und Theater
Hochschule für Musik und Theater is the name of several German conservatories:* Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg, one of the larger universities of music in Germany...
in Hamburg, commissioned by the Festival Eigenarten and the Culture Ministry in Hamburg. This piece is a break-point in Sandoval's work, his first truly multimedia piece and a first attempt to join video and music into a single conceptual and constructive layer. In general, Sandoval begins to forsake traditional score writing and deterministic thinking to start developing either a "non-fictional" approach to music (as a result of countless acoustical and cultural sound-recordings made in Mexico), and a cognitive Piagetian
Jean Piaget
Jean Piaget was a French-speaking Swiss developmental psychologist and philosopher known for his epistemological studies with children. His theory of cognitive development and epistemological view are together called "genetic epistemology"....
one to animism
Animism
Animism refers to the belief that non-human entities are spiritual beings, or at least embody some kind of life-principle....
towards music and life in general: “A video camera is not just a tool, it is also an animal. If we animalize our tools, we will finally stop talking about them, in the academic sense of talking” Jean Piaget´s theories about language as an object and a cognitive inability to distinguish the external world from one's own psyche, made a strong impact in Sandoval's pieces in this period.
- "Mex-toys", 2003-04, three movements., 80:00", percussion, dance, video and tape. Video takes and concepts to be animated by performers in sequence at stage.
- "The Birth of a Ship", 2006, 25:00", Ships as living organisms and percussion instruments. Lange Nacht der Museen, Senatsverwaltung für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kultur, the Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin and the TU Studio Berlin.
- "Die Schaukel", 2007, 3:08:06" Improvised ritual, sound installation, stage actions and live electronics. Bauhaus Naunynstr. Interaktion Festival, Initiative Neue Music, The Tilt.
- "Petenera", 2004, 11:50”, guitar, toy guitar, tuning-fork, tape and stage action, in two movements. The guitarist becomes a mother, the toy guitar the baby.
- "Qu Vara", 2004, trombone, water, saliva, tape and stage actions
- "Qu Trompa", 2007, Trumpet, water, saliva, tape and stage actions
German Period 2 (2006-2010)
“The use of computers may allow scientists to better understand creative processes, but not always may allow artists to better understand science. The idealized joint science-artistic abstraction is a myth. Nevertheless, I believe in deterministic dreams and imaginary landscapes of rational thoughts.” In Berlin, Sandoval meets some computer-science specialists and starts developing his work with sensors. His third "manifesto", published in Germany in 2009 interpose cultural, artistic and political values to the pure act of sonificationSonification
Sonification, a form of auditory display, is the use of non-speech audio to convey information or perceptualize data. Auditory perception has high temporal and pressure resolution, which opens up possibilities for it as an alternative or complement to visualization techniques.For example, the...
using technology. His work with living trees with accelerometers and hands with tactile sensors are based on random-picking software, giving objective transduction of physical phenomena a "mystic" character. “The first time I used the gloves (…) I was analyzing continuous information coming from each tactile sensor and realized that, despite being "free", I had a "style", my own syntax expressed in patterns (…). The same way, the trees as “free” entities generate patterns since they are systemic too. Pattern-recognition, artificial intelligence, cliches and prejudgements belong to the same order, that's why I prefer just random picking instead of pattern recognition methodologies to generate musical materials."
- "Sotavento", 2006 , no duration. International network of sounding trees. Tree installation in Florence, Italy, Berlin, Germany and San Luis Potosi, Mexico. With the support of the TU electronic studio, Berlin, the GSLI in Florence and the Festival de San Luis in Mexico.
- "Baumberauschen", 2007, No duration. Three networked trees. Commissioned by the Europan Union's "Soziale Stadt" program, throughout the "Kunst : Identität" project.
- "The body", 2007 Gloves with sensors and a female body as a musical instrument, Ca 20:00”
- "Mosaicos” 1 and 2", 2008, Ca. 20:00“ Chamber ensemble, any instruments and gloves with tactile sensors.
- "Die basta-Zeiten sind vorbei", 2008 , Ca. 22:00“ Chamber ensemble, any instruments and gloves with tactile sensors.
- "Baumberauschen 2", 2009, Sound installation. Trees with accelerometers.
- "Klangkaskaden", 2010, Sound installation. Trees with accelerometers.
Video works
- "Lips" (Video, Color, HD, 13:57", edited and modified voice improvisations by Almut Khüne, Germany 2011).
- "Hidden 2" (Video, Color, HD, 4:57", featuring Charlote Grude, Germany 2011).
- "Ursula" (Video, Color & BW, HD, 30:00", Germany, 2010).
- "Hidden 1" (3:29", Color, Video HD, Mexico-Germany, 2010).
- "Doña Soco, her Mother and the chicken. Three non-fiction portraits" (16:05", Video, Color, Mexico-Germany, 2003-09).
- "Dream" (6:05", Video, Mexico-Germany, 2001-2009).
- "La Pasión según la gente" (18:05", video, Color, Mexico 2001-2003).
- "Mextoys 1" (5:00", video, Color, Mexico 2004).
- "Mextoys 2" (5:00", video, color, Mexico 2004).
Discography
- "Fast Piece", 1994, in Donaueschinger MusikTage 1994, Col Legno Produktion, WWE-3CD-31882, track 1, Germany.
- "Homenaje", in De vez en vez, 2002,SACM, Quindecim, track 4, Mexico
- "La Pasión Según la Gente", 2002, in "La Pasión según la gente y otras obras", Quindecim, PACMyC, Sireña, monographic CD, México
- "Chillida", 2004, continuous loop, electroacoustic piece using a never-repeating simultaneous 2-CDs looping, in Danilo Veras, puntos Comas Acentos Palabras , DVD, Facultad de Arquitectura, Palmera Films, Universidad Veracruzana.
- "PfMd 01, por piano et band", 2009, in 17 Mars 2009, Théâtre d'Orléans, Concours International de piano d'Orleans.
- "Liz-Mix" Electroacoustic piece, 2009, in Ready Media: hacia una arqueologia de los medios y la invencion en Mexico, Laboratorio de Arte Alameda, Mexico City,
- "Petenera", 2011, in Pages acoustiques, Christelle Sery, Guitar. SACM, XTL001/1, France.
Writings
- "Heimat? Identität?" Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, 1 - 2009 p.p. 40-45. The German translation of "Composición y Colonialismo hoy?
- "Composición y colonialismo hoy?" Pauta, Music Magazine, 2008.
- "Música electrónica en vivo: gesto, inexpresividad y cinismo en la música del siglo XXI" Pauta, 100, p.p. 37-47, 2006.
- "De la fenomenología al ejercicio estético, o una apología del cinismo" Artelugio 2002, versión revisada y publicada en Pauta, 2005.
- "Imaginación, análisis y posmodernismo" Artelugio 2002; (versión revisada, Pauta, 2005).
- "Suena el tambor, ladran los perros", in La pasión según la gente, booklet, 2001, Quindecim Recordings
External links
- Carlos Sandoval 's personal website With catalog, activities, sound-examples and video.
- Nature, Art and Technology Music with trees and sensors
- Gloves with sensors Development, images, video, sound-examples.
- Audio-portrait of Carlos Sandoval Produced by CastYourArt.com
- Carlos Sandoval's Nancarrow´s site Specific information on Nancarrow's studio, music library (databased) and other very specific issues regarding his work with Conlon Nancarrow.