iris ter schiphorst

Composition commissioned by Musica viva

WP: 07.06.2002, München, Musica viva

Interview: Go Guitars Electric Guitar Music: Meret Forster in conversation with Iris ter Schiphorst on the premiere of "My Sweet Latin Lover" at Musica Viva 07.06.2002 Munich 2002

Meret Forster: Expressive possibilities between the media, the styles, between writing and sound, hearing andseeing, in short: the >in-between< appealed to you. To what extent have you once again explored in-between spaces in the piece "My Sweet Latin Lover" have you once again explored in-between spaces?

Iris ter Schiphorst : In this piece, I was less interested in a border area between the media than in this very strange instrumentation: a guitar quintet, a flute, two drummers, who incidentally play drums in a very unspecific way, and a keyboard, which is still an interface to new media.The keyboard player plays pre-produced samples that are more predictable than the guitar sound, because the electric guitar is an absolute chameleon as an instrument, as each guitarist has their own electric guitar, their own sound and their own amplifier. If you write for five electric guitars - in other words, for a big chameleon - the result can be something completely different from what you initially imagined. In this respect, the score remains relatively open, even if everything is precisely notated.

Forster: Was the mutual exchange with the performers therefore particularly important to you from the outset?

ter Schiphorst: Collaboration is important in any case. But I wanted to write a piece that would stimulate the guitarists' imagination and not have them desperately searching for the 125th tenth of a second of some delay sound. The musicians are explicitly asked to imagine the sound I might have intended and to create it with their own artistic imagination. You simply can't >predict< the sound of these instruments well enough to find exactly the right notation.

Forster: Did popular music backgrounds play a role in your conception of sound?

ter Schiphorst : I used to have a lot to do with electric guitar in rock music. This instrument has a very special function and a very unique sound. Now I wanted to find other ways of expressing myself, i.e. avoid exactly what usually comes easily to electric guitarists: shrill and violent effects. Everything here should be very quiet and delicate, but above all extremely whimsical, so that you can perhaps imagine the sound of an alienated orchestra.

Forster: So was your main aim to musically debunk the cliché of the "Latin lover"?

ter Schiphorst: Oh, yes! The flautist speaks or sings a text in places, a little crazy love song. That in itself is an ironic kind of minstrelsy. In the end, it would be all too strange if you actually expected Latin American music from five electric guitarists!

Forster: The flautist whispers "my sweet Latin lover, someone is waiting for you", then "my sweet Latin lover,someone is playing with you" etc. Did you base the piece on a story?

ter Schiphorst: Yes, there is a story. The flautist speaks this text like a singer, and there are also two old English love poems by Thomas Moore and William Blake.
But I don't want to give away the outcome of the story beforehand. The text "Lösch die Lupinen Schnür Deine Schuh" is called up from the tape at the touch of a button. It is a short quotation from the poem Die gestundete Zeit by Ingeborg Bachmann. I have always loved this text and actually find it far too dramatic in this context.
far too dramatic in this context. But the Latin lover story is, at best, an ironic story that hides a completely different face.

Forster: It has become a very delicate piece that fades into uncertainty. Nevertheless, there isan acceleration in the last thirdwith unison scales. Can you identify a formal overall plan?

ter Schiphorst : It's always incredibly difficult for me to talk about a formal concept when I look at my own work. I wanted to have a progression here and at some point these unison runs with lots of guitars, in other words a structure that leads from very quiet gestures at the beginning to the scales and is driven by the Latin lover story.
There is also a kind of culmination point, but I don't want the lyrical content to become overpowering. Otherwise there's talk of setting it to music.

Forster: So the form develops spontaneously out of the material?

ter Schiphorst : It varies from piece to piece. I usually just start, and often the beginning remains a key part of the overall process. The result is a kind of material logic that conveys what
I feel beforehand. I always start work with a basic feeling and certain sound ideas.
The latin lover storyactually first came to me while I was composing the piece; it sounds banal, but when I woke up one morning, I knew that the piece had to be called "latin lover". And after some back and forth, I decided in favour of this theme. Then I went in search of a text, whereby I was never interested in a text illustration, but rather in a certain atmosphere. The instrumental line-up alone is completely absurd and really amuses me. I hope that it stays that way
that it stays that way the first time I listen to it...

The interview was conducted by Meret Forster on 11.05.2002