“Mallets are personal,” says Budapest multi-percussionist Dániel Janca, who will be packing up his mallets to fly to Taiwan. He will perform on May 25th in the prestigious 11th Taiwan International Percussion Convention, whose subtitle is “Stay true. Embrace change.”
As a mallet instrument specialist, Janca’s musical predilections embody those bywords, as his adaptations of baroque chorales for marimba and vibraphone attest, as do his unconventional, theatrically choreographed pieces. ‘True…change’ are appropriate words for almost all percussionists these days, as what has developed for those artists is an exponential growth in what novel elements they can add to their performance spectrum.
Janca, who just recently gave his Diploma Concert at the Liszt Academy in partial fulfilment of his Doctorate degree, clued me in on what’s been happening in the percussion world since I once attempted to play tympani back in my conservatory days.
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– Your diploma recital at the Academy reminded me of a percussion ensemble I heard in Istanbul around 10 years ago: they incorporated electronic devices, found objects, choreography, and vocalisms. Then just recently at Müpa, Martin Grubinger’s tour-de-force performance with 30+ instruments indicated to me that the performance spectrum is becoming limitless for percussionists now. True?
– Well, my Diploma concert’s title was “Extended Percussion Music” because not only was I using instruments, but I added live and pre-recorded effects. I performed four compositions: the first, “Cricket tala” by Aurél Holló, displayed a host of different relationships, as even the artist is producing electronic sounds too (triggering pre-recorded sound samples with a MIDI-keybord) and in some sections plays an accompanying role to pre-recorded spoken konnakol rhythms.
The second piece (by O’Halloran) had no pre-recorded material; instead, the electronic layer consists of the special live digital delay effect applied to the marimba — so in a sense, the machine reacts to the human player.
The third piece was a mime [where the artist catches and throws an invisible ball]. The fact that I’m often merely mimicking the sounds creates an entirely new relationship with the electronic material. It’s as if one is only illustrating the other. Its French title is a fun take on René Magritte’s 1929 painting “C’est-ci n’est pas une pipe,” changing the last word to “balle.”
The fourth piece was a part of a longer piece, DANIMO, which I wrote with my father. The electronic component is based on the Fibonacci Code and each rhythmic motif will resemble these notes. The software softens the entrance of the noise and often makes them sound like strings rather than something percussive. I improvise, so the connection is reversed from what we’ve seen in the second piece: this time the human reacts to the machine.
– The Taiwan International Percussion Convention — how did they find you?
– It’s organized by Ju Percussion, a large group who are quite famous. I met them nine years ago here in Budapest. I performed with them and alongside others here at Müpa. In January, they emailed me and asked me to perform in Taiwan on May 25th. It will be a split concert: my solo show will be followed by the well-known Polish percussionist and teacher Marta Klimasara.
– How do percussion players travel or tour — I mean, all those instruments!
– I need to pack only my mallets and a few small instruments that can fit in a carry-on because the halls have their own collection of instruments that we can use. For Taiwan, I sent them three pages of instrument requests.
– How many mallets are in your travel pack?
– Eight pairs, which is a very low amount. For a typical orchestral concert, 15-12 is typical. Mallets are personal and unique to each player, because they can be different on so many levels. Length, size, materials (like cork, wood, rubber, or plastic), and the heads are unique to each field. Some guys make their own, but I’ve found ones that I like. They’re made of natural materials so they have slight differences.
– What will you play in Taiwan?
– I’ll play a longer version of what I played in the Liszt Academy. The final piece, DANIMO, will be extended by another 9 minutes. In this piece I wanted a birdsong to be included on the pre-recorded tape as a reference to Respighi’s “Pini di Roma,” being a very early – if not the earliest – example of combining pre-recorded audio with acoustic instruments. If it’s indeed the earliest, then, at the exact moment of the birdsong appearance in our new piece, this birdsong is the completion of both the first and the last electroacoustic music in history. I always enjoyed playing electroacoustic music, maybe because my early experience of playing along to my favorite music on drumset.
– What are other examples of the addition of pre-recorded audio to live acoustic instruments?
– Although the pieces I’ll pay in Taiwan are recently composed, others have appeared in the last few years. Aside from a few classical percussion pieces, those others are interesting because the technology has actually been around for 80 years. But “Pini di Roma” dates back to 1924. Its third movement’s nightingale song: Respighi exactly determined it with a playback device. I found a score, “Music for Carillon,” from 1938; it has a feedback effect with mics which is usually avoided. Then in the mid-20th century, it started to explode: Xenakis, Ligeti, Stockhausen, Cage, and others started experimenting with combining acoustic and amplified because of overtone compatibility.
– Since there are so many percussion instruments to choose from, which is your favorite?
– It would be varied, especially for a solo program, but I love mallet instruments, like vibraphone because of its ability to sustain, and marimba, which has a larger range.
– What do you hope to accomplish in your Taiwan experience, as the only representative from Hungary?
– My goal is to create a lot of fun for the audience, and my hope is that it will be a valuable experience for them. I think it’s a very colorful program. Each piece has a different relationship with electronic instruments, especially the ‘dulcimer tremolo’ with the vibraphone. The multi-setup with pre-recorded music, involving computers and microphones is in the center, but the focus is on the player.
I wouldn’t say I represent the playing style of [all] Hungarian percussionists; however, of course, I’m absolutely thrilled to represent the Hungarian percussion music by playing two Hungarian pieces – DANIMO and “Cricket Tala.” I think Aurél’s piece is genius and I think that our piece is at least really unique.
