Monadology XIVa, the first of the two Puccini-Variations, is based on the Overture to Madame Butterfly.
It uses Granular Analysis as the means of deconstructing the original score, implementing both cellular automata and granulators. The basic idea is the so called Virtual Remix, which means transferring the techniques of turntablism and of contemporary live electronics (looping, scratching) onto a musical score. The technique in itself was inspired by the cutting-techniques of experimental video artists as Raffael Montanez Ortiz and Martin Arnold.
Since Monadology XIII (Bruckner I.) the process implements microtonality using two interpolated instrumental groups.
The piece is dedicated to Petr Kotik.
Bernhard Lang, Wolfsberg
13 July 2011