MUSIC Section in FAST FORWARD Calgary News Weekly

Thursday, September 12, 2002

by Paula Fayerman

A postmodern major general

Rule Britannia satirizes the rise and fall of the British empire

PREVIEW

RULE BRITANNIA

New Works Calgary

Friday, September 13, 2002

Eckhardt-GramattÈ Hall

"No shite, itπs feckin brilliant, like."

So sings Patrice Jegou in "Rule Britannia," Kenneth Doren's ambitious new composition for piano duo and voice that kicks off New Works Calgary's latest season of contemporary musical performances. The phrase doubles as an apt comment about the work itself – in "Rule Britannia," British classical compositions provide the source material for the music, while British texts, speeches and slang form the libretto, tracing the rise, fall and disintegration of British imperial glory.

Doren is fascinated by England, the last country to go through such a cycle of power. "Rule Britannia" shows the nasty side of the once dominant nation and speaks about the temporary nature of any nation's supremacy, which may encourage us to contemplate the current situation of our neighbours to the south. By chronicling changes that have happened in the past, Doren hopes that his music will give humanity strength to face its oppressors.

"I try to work with things that are about our culture and keep people engaged," he says. "I want the art to be about things in todayπs society that people care about."

One way he achieves this goal is through the use of multimedia, which is rare in classical music performance – in "Rule Britannia," for example, the pianos are played live, but the vocalist appears and sings via pre-recorded videotape (see sidebar). Doren is interested in rethinking, re-evaluating, and reworking traditional Western classical music, a concern that, oddly enough, comes from his do-it-yourself punk rock esthetic.

"I wasnπt trained as a classical composer... but I want to compose and work with classical music," he says. "Punk culture said, 'OK, we may not be able to play instruments, but we are going to do music anyway.' I like that attitude."

One example of Doren's desire to subvert prescribed authority in his compositions is his use of sampling and his manipulation of source material, techniques that are familiar to hip-hop and sound artists but infrequently applied to classical music. In "Rule Britannia," Doren has taken piano works by British composers, including Benjamin Britten and Handel (who was naturalized as British), and has reconfigured them.

"I took an intuitive approach to sampling sections, not being so specific about the note itself. It was a little free-form. I tried to work spiritually and trusting of the computers, allowing them to work and allowing me to work in a kind of symbiosis.... I allowed samples to sit together, combining them and reorganizing them, then making esthetic decisions of how they work together...."

The resulting piano duos are effective, referencing their sources but with a new, complex postmodern voice that moves in untraditional harmonies and rhythms. Doren has succeeded in composing music using the past as a foundation (he admits that Minimalism is a strong influence, as is famed composer Steve Reichπs use of phases), but he is obviously influenced by todayπs society and by contemporary composition as well.

To this end, Doren recruited Carl Ayling to write the libretto for "Rule Britannia," which reworks a variety of text sources, including Sex Pistols lyrics, speeches by Winston Churchill, newspaper articles, poems and current British slang. Popular culture and everyday experiences feature prominently. For example, Ayling developed characters who go to the bar, pick up guys and get shagged, while other portions of the piece are concerned with rave culture.

The libretto reflects Doren's cynicism, and he's clear about the fact that he didnπt want a sentimental approach.

"(The lyrics) are all about sex, violence – it is truly an opera!" Doren says. "There is the potty-mouthed singer all glammed up.... There is a lot of profanity – it is like the bawdy songs of yesteryear, like the old operas. The lyrics and presentation are funny, and there is humour in the piece, but to me, underneath it is not funny, it is horrifying. That is where we are at."

In making socially relevant art, Doren also creates a successful musical work and performance. He does not neglect the esthetics of music in his political explorations, but by subverting traditional ideas of classical music and the functions of the composer and performer, Doren makes strong, listenable and enjoyable music – "a bloody great time."