Spoerri Bruno
(16. 08. 1935)
Spoerri Bruno
Freiestr. 172
CH-8032 Zürich (ZH)
Schweiz
Tel: 41 (0)44 420 15 42
Fax: 41 (0)44 420 15 43
www.computerjazz.ch
Freiestr. 172
CH-8032 Zürich (ZH)
Schweiz
Tel: 41 (0)44 420 15 42
Fax: 41 (0)44 420 15 43
www.computerjazz.ch
Genre: Classical Music
Biography
* 16. 08. 1935.
Saxophonist, installation artist, composer and electronic and interactive music specialist Bruno Spoerri qualified initially as a psychologist following studies in Zurich and Freiburg im Breisgau. He simultaneously studied music in Basel, Zurich and Cologne but is, to a large extent, a musical autodidact.
As saxophonist or musical arranger Spoerri has worked with numerous jazz groups including the Metronome Quintet, the Modern Jazz Group Freiburg and his own bands. Spoerri later worked with the trumpeter Hans Kennel in the 'Jazz-Rock Experience', the first ever Swiss jazz-rock group and in the dialect-rock band 'Bode Bänd' with Walter Lietha.
He has worked as a professional musician since 1965, began improvising on electronic equipment in 1968 and developed Switzerland's first private electronic studio in 1970. Spoerri has produced music for over 500 advertisement spots, short films, industrial films, slide shows, documentaries, feature films and a musical. He has also recorded a complete series of LPs together with various Swiss jazz and folk-rock groups. Spoerri has been working on the development of an interactive computer music system for improvisational musicians since 1984 and has produced numerous computer music installations in various places. He has performed many solo and duo concerts using electronic equipment and concerted with the percussionist Reto Weber. From 1985 until 2000 he was the co-director and manager of the Swiss Centre for Computer Music in Oetwil am See and Geneva. He taught in the electronic music departments of the conservatories in Biel and Zurich and at the jazz school in Lucerne until 2005.
Saxophonist, installation artist, composer and electronic and interactive music specialist Bruno Spoerri qualified initially as a psychologist following studies in Zurich and Freiburg im Breisgau. He simultaneously studied music in Basel, Zurich and Cologne but is, to a large extent, a musical autodidact.
As saxophonist or musical arranger Spoerri has worked with numerous jazz groups including the Metronome Quintet, the Modern Jazz Group Freiburg and his own bands. Spoerri later worked with the trumpeter Hans Kennel in the 'Jazz-Rock Experience', the first ever Swiss jazz-rock group and in the dialect-rock band 'Bode Bänd' with Walter Lietha.
He has worked as a professional musician since 1965, began improvising on electronic equipment in 1968 and developed Switzerland's first private electronic studio in 1970. Spoerri has produced music for over 500 advertisement spots, short films, industrial films, slide shows, documentaries, feature films and a musical. He has also recorded a complete series of LPs together with various Swiss jazz and folk-rock groups. Spoerri has been working on the development of an interactive computer music system for improvisational musicians since 1984 and has produced numerous computer music installations in various places. He has performed many solo and duo concerts using electronic equipment and concerted with the percussionist Reto Weber. From 1985 until 2000 he was the co-director and manager of the Swiss Centre for Computer Music in Oetwil am See and Geneva. He taught in the electronic music departments of the conservatories in Biel and Zurich and at the jazz school in Lucerne until 2005.
Work list
Divertimento 76 (1976)
Instrumentation: for wind quintet and analogue electronics
Duration: 10' 00"
Manuscript
Waves of Montreux (1977/12)
Instrumentation: for synthesizer
Duration: 10' 00"
Manuscript
Playback (1990)
Instrumentation: for saxophone quartet and electronic tape
A piece about the situation of the playback musician in the sound studio.
Duration: 8' 20"
Manuscript
...for Cahill für obsolete Tasteninstrumente (1993)
Instrumentation: for synthsizer, hammond organ and fender piano
Duration: 16' 00"
Manuscript
Hausmusik (1995)
Instrumentation: for electronic tape
Integrated into this piece is a farewell to the house in which the Swiss Centre for Computer Music and other projects were born. Found and provocative sounds of the house and its environment are processed by a computer.
Duration: 6' 50"
Manuscript
De- / In- / Formation (1995)
Instrumentation: for voice, electronic saxophone and computer
Duration: 9' 00"
Manuscript
Etude pour usines à fer (1996)
Homage to Pierre Schaeffer
Instrumentation: for electronic tape
In this ‘etude’ it was my intention to tease out elusive yet perceivable rhythms from short sound recordings taken in a steel foundry. I worked primarily with a computer programme, actually intended for use in the restoration of old LP recordings, whose undesired side effects interested me.
Duration: 7' 20"
Manuscript
Instrumentation: for electronic tape
In this ‘etude’ it was my intention to tease out elusive yet perceivable rhythms from short sound recordings taken in a steel foundry. I worked primarily with a computer programme, actually intended for use in the restoration of old LP recordings, whose undesired side effects interested me.
Duration: 7' 20"
Manuscript
Krebsgänge (1997)
for René Krebs
Instrumentation: for jazz musician (see snails, trumpet) and an interactive computer system
A dialogue between an improvising musician and two computer programmes whose reaction to the musician’s performance is partly predictable and partly unexpected. The movements of the musician are registered using a video camera and then used to control a recording and play-back apparatus. The sound material for this piece is extracted from the musician and is continuously transposed and transformed by the computer.
The predetermined musical structure is suggested to the improvisor by way of the computer’s reactions - s/he has the possibility, however, to override them.
Duration: 14' 00" ((variabel))
Manuscript
Instrumentation: for jazz musician (see snails, trumpet) and an interactive computer system
A dialogue between an improvising musician and two computer programmes whose reaction to the musician’s performance is partly predictable and partly unexpected. The movements of the musician are registered using a video camera and then used to control a recording and play-back apparatus. The sound material for this piece is extracted from the musician and is continuously transposed and transformed by the computer.
The predetermined musical structure is suggested to the improvisor by way of the computer’s reactions - s/he has the possibility, however, to override them.
Duration: 14' 00" ((variabel))
Manuscript
Not what it seems to be (1995-1998)
Instrumentation: for synthophone and live electronics
Duration: 12' 00"
Manuscript
Birds of Cochin (1998)
Instrumentation: for tape recorder
Duration: 4' 00"
Manuscript
Coalburner's Delight (1998)
Instrumentation: for tape recorder
Duration: 5' 00"
Manuscript
Dark Metal (1998)
Instrumentation: for tape recorder
Duration: 6' 00"
Manuscript
Hit the Mark (1998)
Instrumentation: for tape recorder
Duration: 4' 00"
Manuscript
Pannie's Afternoon (1998)
Instrumentation: for tape recorder
Duration: 6' 00"
Manuscript
Paradise Garden (1998)
Instrumentation: for tape recorder
Duration: 5' 00"
Manuscript
Stony Broke Night (1998)
Instrumentation: for tape recorder
Duration: 6' 00"
Manuscript
Bolghatty Dreams (1998)
Instrumentation: for electric saxophone, guitar, trombone, percussion and computer
Duration: 10' 00"
Manuscript
Tri-Van-Drumming (1998)
Instrumentation: for electronic saxophone, guitarre and percussion
Duration: 5' 00"
Manuscript
Quod licet für 4 (1999)
Instrumentation: for violin, violoncello, flute and clarinet
A piece of minimal music - easy to play and hard to interpret.
Duration: 4' 20"
Manuscript
Brouillard - débrouillé 2 (1999)
for Matthias Müller
Instrumentation: for bass clarinet and an interactive computer system
The beginning of this piece finds the player in the midst of an extremely dense ‘Brouillard’, a fog. Cautious groping or, depending on temperament, courageous interposition allows the player to explore their immediate environment. S/he is gradually ‘débrouillised’ and acquires a certain confidence in the handling of this environment. Diverse sound processes are provided by the background score hidden in the computer.
Duration: 10' 00"
Manuscript
Instrumentation: for bass clarinet and an interactive computer system
The beginning of this piece finds the player in the midst of an extremely dense ‘Brouillard’, a fog. Cautious groping or, depending on temperament, courageous interposition allows the player to explore their immediate environment. S/he is gradually ‘débrouillised’ and acquires a certain confidence in the handling of this environment. Diverse sound processes are provided by the background score hidden in the computer.
Duration: 10' 00"
Manuscript
The Loose Blues Booze (2000)
Instrumentation: for jazz quartet
Duration: 4' 00"
Manuscript
Bruno Spoerri: (2002)
for Barb Wagner & Werner Bärtschi
Instrumentation: for two pianists and an interactive computer system
This piece consists of 15 periods, each with a duration of 48 seconds. The process of sound production follows a score ‘hidden’ in the computer, which, as with the score of the interpreters, is derived from the intervals of a twelve-tone series. The contrast between the incessant sequence of the computer controlled sound and the extensively defined yet inevitable variability in timing and detail in the action of the interpreters allows each performance to result in a new version of the piece.
Duration: 12' 00"
Manuscript
Instrumentation: for two pianists and an interactive computer system
This piece consists of 15 periods, each with a duration of 48 seconds. The process of sound production follows a score ‘hidden’ in the computer, which, as with the score of the interpreters, is derived from the intervals of a twelve-tone series. The contrast between the incessant sequence of the computer controlled sound and the extensively defined yet inevitable variability in timing and detail in the action of the interpreters allows each performance to result in a new version of the piece.
Duration: 12' 00"
Manuscript
Verklungen (2003)
Instrumentation: for electronic tape
The sound of my mothers violin has not been heard for a few years now: she died in 2000. During the course of her varied life her violin career repeatedly stagnated; in the last years of her life the afflictions of old age silenced her completely. I attempt to capture my memories of her in this piece.
The composition tells her story in a manner similar to that of the jazz improvisor doing a soli.
Associations, stray thoughts and suddenly increasing anxieties play an integral part.
Duration: 12' 00"
Manuscript
Klagelied (2004)
Instrumentation: for soprano, saxophone/synthophone and electronic
Duration: 20' 00"
Manuscript
Prepare for the Show (2008)
Instrumentation: for voice and synthesizer
Duration: 2' 00"
Manuscript
Singing in the closet (2008)
Instrumentation: for voice and synthesizer
Duration: 3' 00"
Manuscript
Singing in the dark (2008)
Instrumentation: for voice and synthesizer
Duration: 2' 00"
Manuscript
Dorine (2008)
Instrumentation: for jazz ensemble (3 brass, perc, db)
Duration: 7' 00"
Manuscript
Glückskugel - Title (2008)
Instrumentation: for synthesizer
Duration: 1' 00"
Manuscript
Walking (2008)
Instrumentation: for synthesizer
Duration: 1' 00"
Manuscript
Glückskugel - The Race (2008)
Instrumentation: for synthesizer
Duration: 2' 00"
Manuscript
Wer gwünnt? (who wins?) (2008)
Instrumentation: for synthesizer
Duration: 2' 00"
Manuscript
Going to Work (2008)
Instrumentation: for synthesizer and jazz combo
Duration: 2' 00"
Manuscript
Winding Down (2008)
Instrumentation: for synthesizer and jazz combo
Duration: 3' 00"
Manuscript
On the Way (2008)
Instrumentation: for synthesizer and jazz combo
[2008] 3', Ms.
Duration: 3' 00"
Manuscript
Seduction (2008)
Instrumentation: for synthesizer and jazz combo
Duration: 1' 00"
Manuscript
Soft Art Theme (2008)
Instrumentation: for synthesizer
Duration: 5' 00"
Manuscript
Strange Sounds (2008)
Instrumentation: for synthesizer
Duration: 5' 00"
Manuscript
The Dance (2008)
Instrumentation: for synthesizer and jazz combo
Duration: 5' 00"
Manuscript
The Train (2008)
Instrumentation: for synthesizer and jazz combo
Duration: 2' 00"
Manuscript
Drillin' (2008)
Instrumentation: for synthesizer
Duration: 3' 00"
Manuscript
Fanfare (2008)
Instrumentation: for synthesizer and jazz combo
Duration: 2' 00"
Manuscript
Colours (2009)
Instrumentation: for synthesizer
Duration: 1' 00"
Manuscript
Age of Cannons 2 (2010)
Instrumentation: for synthesizer
Duration: 2' 00"
Manuscript
Pannie's Afternoon (2010)
Instrumentation: for synthesizer
Duration: 6' 00"
Manuscript
Automation 1 & 2 (2010)
Instrumentation: for synthesizer
Duration: 3' 00"
Manuscript
Roll on (2010)
Instrumentation: for synthesizer
Duration: 2' 00"
Manuscript
Background Rhythm (2010)
Instrumentation: for 1-5 synthesizers
Duration: 9' 00"
Manuscript
Ballad on a Row (2010)
Instrumentation: for jazz combo
Duration: 5' 00"
Manuscript
Bicycle Ride (2010)
Instrumentation: for synthesizer
Duration: 1' 00"
Manuscript
Walkers (2010)
Instrumentation: for synthesizer
Duration: 3' 00"
Manuscript
Things are not (2011)
Instrumentation: for jazz ensemble (3 brass, perc, db)
Duration: 3' 00"
Manuscript
Doom's Blues (2011)
Instrumentation: for jazz ensemble (3 brass, perc, db)
Duration: 4' 00"
Manuscript
Sound horn (2011)
Instrumentation: for jazz ensemble (3 brass, perc, db)
Duration: 3' 00"
Manuscript
The Silliest Song (2012)
Instrumentation: for voice and synthesizer
Duration: 2' 00"
Manuscript
Age of Cannons 1 (2012)
Instrumentation: for synthesizer
Duration: 2' 00"
Manuscript
The Harp and the Whey (2013)
Instrumentation: for jazz ensemble, accordion and dulcimer
Duration: 1' 00"
Manuscript
Hommage au Fromage (2013)
Instrumentation: for jazz ensemble, accordion and dulcimer
Duration: 2' 00"
Manuscript
January 10th (2013)
Instrumentation: for jazz quartet
Manuscript
Song for Nana (2013)
Instrumentation: for jazz quartet
Duration: 4' 00"
Manuscript
Valse du Fromager (2013)
Instrumentation: for jazz ensemble, accordion and dulcimer
Duration: 2' 00"
Manuscript
Diskographie
Schweizerisches Zentrum für Computermusik (stv/asm Nr. 4, 1999)
Berger, Gary: im selben raum (1997)
Spoerri, Bruno: Etude pour usines à fer (1996)
Neukom, Martin: Studie 8.3 (1994)
Spoerri, Bruno: De- / In- / Formation (1995)
With more works of: Bruno Spoerri, Brigitte Schär, Harold Vasquez, Michael Horowitz, Simon Jaunin, Nicolas Sordet
Works:
Powell, Kit: Whale (1993)Berger, Gary: im selben raum (1997)
Spoerri, Bruno: Etude pour usines à fer (1996)
Neukom, Martin: Studie 8.3 (1994)
Spoerri, Bruno: De- / In- / Formation (1995)
With more works of: Bruno Spoerri, Brigitte Schär, Harold Vasquez, Michael Horowitz, Simon Jaunin, Nicolas Sordet
Info: www.fonoteca.ch
Bibliography
Spoerri, Bruno: Jazz in der Schweiz, Chronos Verlag, Zürich 2005
Spoerri, Bruno: Bruchstücke einer Geschichte der elektronischen Musik in der Schweiz, in: Dissonanz 93 (2006) [Internet]
Spoerri, Bruno: Musik aus dem Nichts. Die Geschichte der elektroakustischen Musikin der Schweiz, Chronos, Zürich 2010
Spoerri, Bruno: Portrait Hans Eugen Frischknecht, in: Musik aus dem Nichts – die Geschichte der elektroakustischen Musik in der Schweiz, Chronos 2010, S. 79-80