Dieter Mack

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Dieter Mack (*25th of August 1954 in Speyer, Germany) is a German composer, musician and ethnomusicologist with a focus on music from Indonesia, in particular Balinese gamelan music.

Biography

Dieter Mack grew up in the small town of Speyer (Rhineland-Palatinate), Germany. His first musical experiences took place in the experimental rock and jazz scenes. From 1970 to 1980 he studied piano, music theory and composition with Klaus Huber and Brian Ferneyhough at the University of Music in Freiburg, Germany.

Since 1980 he has been invited to give lectures on music theory and Balinese music, among others, at the University of Music Freiburg, Trossingen (Germany) and Basel (Switzerland). In 1986, he became professor for music theory and ear training at the University of Music, Freiburg and in 2003 for composition at the University of Music Lübeck, during which (2008-2011 and 2015-2019) he was vice-president for international affairs. Mack retired in the summer of 2021.

From 1977 to 1991 he was an assistant, as well as in 1981 a scholarship holder, at the Experimental Studio of the Heinrich-Strobel-Foundation of the Südwestrundfunk (SWR). In 1980 he joined the Stuttgart-based vocal Ensemble ExVoCo. Since 1978, Mack has actively pursued various research projects which brought him to southern India, Japan and in particular Indonesia. After a one-year research trip in Bali, Indonesia in 1981/82, he founded the Freiburg based gamelan ensemble “Anggur Jaya”, which also performed in Bali in 1998. During a concert tour in 1988 in Southeast Asia sponsored by the Goethe-Institut, he started his teaching career in Indonesia.

From 1992 to 1995 he was DAAD’s (German Academic Exchange Service) long-term-lecturer at UPI (Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia) in Bandung/Westjava and he was a member of the National Curriculum-Commission of Indonesia. From 1996 to 2007 he was a consultant of an educational research project at UPI-Bandung, sponsored by the Ford Foundation. A few years later, from 2011 to 2013, Mack resumed his work at UPI-Bandung, but this time as an advisor. From 2000 to 2004 he taught as a guest professor at the Art Academy ISI (Institut Seni Indonesia) in Surakarta. Apart from Indonesia, further guest lectureships brought him to the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, Malaysia and China. From 2003 to 2006 Mack was music advisor at the House of World Cultures in Berlin; 2007 to 2019 he was head of the DAAD music selection committee, and 2008 to 2016 head of the music advisory board of the Goethe Institut. Furthermore, Mack co-founded the Indonesian Composers Society and since 2008 he is a member of the Freie Akademie der Künste in Hamburg. In numerous texts and essays he discusses intercultural issues.

Composer and Ethnomusicologist

Besides learning classical piano at an early age, Mack was equally fascinated by pop and rock music. He gained experience in those fields on the electronic organ as well as synthesizer. He was predominantly influenced by the music of Frank Zappa and the German electronic (psychedelic) scene e.g. Tangerine Dream or Popol Vuh, and claims that those inspirations led him to the contemporary music scene (Neue Musik). During his compositional studies in Freiburg with Klaus Huber and Brain Ferneyhough he worked quite intensively in the field of electro-acoustic music and became an assistant in the Experimental Studio of the Heinrich-Strobel-Stiftung of the SWF (today SWR). A decisive turn in his artistic development was his first trip to Bali in 1978 and his first encounters with Indonesian music. Since then Indonesian music has played a central role in Mack’s artistic and educational work. One of the earliest examples of this can be found in his composition Kebyar (1980), in which the temporal and formal structures refer to Balinese models. Additionally, he says to have “processed” his first Indonesian experiences in Saba (1979), a work for vocal trio, tape and live-electronics, which was commissioned by pro musica nova, Bremen. However, the obvious parallels to gamelan pieces cannot be regarded as mere imitations, rather they are “the attempt to realize a special playing attitude with [Mack’s] own musical tools.” After his first visit to Bali, Mack turned away from electronic music. Since then, he composes primarily for large chamber ensembles, however solo pieces as well as works for choir and orchestra (Angin (1988, revised 1997), Ical (2014)), also continue to further his œvre.

Mack has also been active with projects in the field of music pedagogy. His engagement ranges from various school projects, to Jugend Komponiert, as well as projects working with youth in Southeast Asia as well as Japan.

“The encompassing occupation with the living and music practice in Bali and Japan added significantly to Mack’s process of finding his own culture.” In that process he composed music that was not at all folkloristic. But rather he searched for convincing solutions to work around a direct reproduction of folkloristic music by integrating his international cultural experiences into a music that strongly originates from Western thinking. This resulted in a genuine and authentic musical language. From a “subtle and respectful reception” he developed an “individual and personal music language”, where he desperately tried to avoid “a superficial and epigonal transfer of exotisms.” “The music of Dieter Mack does not take the comfortable and already beaten track to use non-European music cultures – for example the idioms of Balinese gamelan music – as the new refreshing cocktail for the exhausted European music”. Rather he uses “an intensive view on the foreign culture to achieve a foreign distanced view on one’s own culture.” That’s why the music of Dieter Mack is “completely free from Esoterism and Exotism.”

Style

In his attempt to achieve personal and artistic independence, Mack’s developed musical language can hardly be related to the popular scenes of today’s contemporary music. Its extreme lively character is the result of significantly complex rhythmical concepts which roots go beyond the western cultural music. Consequently, percussion instruments play a significant role in most of his pieces. Their structural use and form marking qualities may be seen as a transformation of Mack’s experiences with Southeast Asian music as well as rock music from his early years. However, unlike in rock music, Mack applies percussion instruments through using them for highly complex patterns and to form rhythmically accentuated temporal structures. Mack himself explains that his “rhythmic complexity” is mainly derived from the “irregular rhythm of talking.” Mack’s deeper perception understands music as more than just mere sound. Its full strength can only be unfolded in a live performance, where the musicians are in direct contact with each other as well as with the respective audience. His compositions – which often demand a high technical standard from the interpreters – surprise European audiences because of their unusual sound colours. “The compositional driving force is a peculiar sound quality, always with surprising nuances.” Macks frequent use of unisono-passages (for example in “Quartett Nr. II”) exemplifies his individual sound quality. This is in part due to his instrumentation in which he strives to create new sound colours via creative combinations of instruments. “Full of energy and asking for utmost virtuosity, Mack composes for example parallel saxophone and percussion lines (e.g. in Tiga Kata) to create always changing sound constellations.” Dieter Mack also uses common “contemporary extended playing techniques, but he avoids exaggerated sound alienations of the instruments themselves. He strives to produce these unique sound colours, as mentioned above, by conventional playing techniques.” His model for sound and structure is not only influenced from Balinese gamelan, but rather also from classical European composers like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Maurice Ravel and Olivier Messiaen – the latter two regarding harmony and instrumentation. In addition to Mack’s interest in pop, rock and jazz music one can find several compositions for Bigband in his compositional œuvre as well.

Works (a selection)

• Saba for Vocaltrio, Tape und Live-Electronics (1979)
• Kebyar for Flute and Piano (1980)
• Cina for Vocaltrio with 3 Percussioninstruments (1982)
• Orgelzyklus (1984–87)
• Taro for 2 Pianos, Percussion, Flute (Picc.) and Bassclarinet (1987)
• Angin for Wind orchestra and 3 Percussionist (1988/rev. 2003)
• Wantilan I For Alto flute und Percussion (1988/rev. 2008)
• Kammermusik I – V for Ensemble (1991–2007)
• Rafting and Beyond for 2 Pianos und 2 Percussionist (1991)
• Kammermusik II for Ensemble (1991)
• Balungan for Vocalquartett (1993/94)
• Segara Variationen for Percussion Quartett (1998/99)
• Chedi for Piano solo (2000)
• Crosscurrents for 8 Percussionist (Gamelan Degung) and (sundanesische) Solo-Flute (2000)
• Vuh Konzert for Solo-Percussion, Wind orchestra and 3 Percussionists (2001)
• Selisih for Alto- and Bariton saxophone (2003)
• Kammermusik III for Ensemble (2002/04)
• Kammermusik IV for Ensemble und Soprano (2004)
• Tunjuk for large Orchestra (2006)
• Pamungkah for Orchestra (2006)
• Ramai I for Ensemble (2007)
• Kammermusik V for large Ensemble (2007)
• Terasi for Orchestra (2009)
• Voyage for Ensemble (2009/10)
• Sprachtanz for Bb clarinet (2010)
• Yonsei for Ensemble (2010)
• Dalang for Bass and Percussion (2011)
• Kokon for Gitarre and Harp (2011)
• Delta for Flute und Contrabass (2012)
• Wooden Conzert for Percussion and Orchestra (2012)
• Kebyar Baru I for Flute and Piano (2012)
• Luft for Ensemble (2012)
• Ramai II for Ensemble (2012)
• What About…? for Ensemble (2013)
• Ical for Choir and Orchestra (2014)
• Ngumbang-Ngisep for Ensemble (2014)
• Kebyar Baru II for Violin and Piano (2015)
• Klingende Fäden for Ensemble (2016)
• Ueno Rain I & II for Windquintett (2017)
• Trio VII for Violin, Oboe and Bass-Koto (2017)
• Foreign Voices, 5 Portraits for Bass and Piano (2017)
• The Time After – Reset for Gamelan pelog/slendro, Percussion and Fixed Media (2019/20)
• Pitu for Ensemble (2020)
• Salihara for Oboe and Percussion (2020)
• The Shining of Abyss and the Darkness of Light for Flute, Bass clarinet, Violin, Violoncello,
• Piano and Fixed Media (2020)
• Quartett Nr. III for Flute, Viola, Contrabass and Piano (2020)
• Those Were the Days for Ensemble (2021)
• The Rustling Viola for Viola and Piano (2021)
• Quartett Nr. IV for Percussion quartett (2021/22)

Texts (a selection)

• Mack, D. (1998). Zur Übersetzbarkeit oder Un-Übersetzbarkeit von Kulturen – Musik und Mission in Indonesien. In B. Damshäuser & A. Kubin (Eds.), Orientierungen: Zeitschrift zur Kultur Ostasiens (Vol. 1). Veröffentlichungen des Ostasienseminars der Universität Bonn.
• Mack, D. (2001). Auf dem Weg zu einer eigenen Kultur. In K. H. Stahmer (Ed.), Neue Musik 2000 – Fünf Texte von Komponisten (Schriften der Hochschule für Musik Würzburg, Vol. 6, pp. 27–46). Hochschule für Musik Würzburg.
• Mack, D. (2004). Zeitgenössische Musik in Indonesien: Zwischen lokalen Traditionen, nationalen Verpflichtungen und internationalen Einflüssen. Georg Olms Verlag.
• Mack, D. (2003). Musik aus Bali und Westjava. Lugert-Verlag.
• Mack, D. (2003). Bali (Musik der Welt series). Lugert-Verlag.
• Mack, D. (2005). Skalen, Tonsymbolik und tonale Erscheinungen in neuerer balinesischer Gamelanmusik. In M. Stahnke (Ed.), Mikrotöne und Mehr – Auf György Ligetis Hamburger Pfaden. Bockel Verlag.
• Mack, D. (2006). Vom Sinn der Toleranz. KunstMUSIK, (6).
• Mack, D. (2008). Auf der Suche nach der eigenen Kultur: Komponieren im Spannungsfeld bi- oder multikultureller Erfahrungen. In J. P. Hiekel (Ed.), Darmstädter Diskurse 2 – Musik Kulturen. Pfau.
• Mack, D. (2010). Nyoman Windha’s “Catur Yuga”: A new concept of Balinese chamber music? In C. Utz (Ed.), Musiktheorie als interdisziplinäres Fach (Bericht zum 8. Kongress der Gesellschaft für Musiktheorie Graz 2008). Pfau.
• Mack, D. (2010). Gedanken, Vorschläge, Verwerfungen zum Begriff des Transkulturellen – und was macht das Geschichtsbewusstsein? KunstMUSIK, (13).
• Mack, D. (2016). Südostasien. In J. P. Hiekel & C. Utz (Eds.), Lexikon Neue Musik. Metzler.
• Mack, D. (2021). Remarks on music in Indonesia: Dilemmas and misunderstandings but also challenges in an emerging country with a multi-ethnic society. In A. Reid, N. Peres da Costa, & J. Carrigan (Eds.), Creative research in music: Informed practice, innovation and transcendence (pp. 141–150). Routledge.
• Mack, D. (2022). Zwischen den Kulturen: Schriften und Vorträge zur Musik 1983–2021 (O. Korte, Ed.; Schriften der Musikhochschule Lübeck, Vol. 4). Georg Olms Verlag. ISBN 978-3-487-16179-2.

Literatur (selection)

• Wells, A. (1991/1992). Dieter Mack: German individualist. Music in New Zealand, (15), 23–28.
• Weber, B. (2006). Dieter Mack. In H.-W. Heister & W.-W. Sparrer (Eds.), Komponisten der Gegenwart. Edition Text + Kritik.
• Stahmer, K. H. (2002). Dieter Mack – ein Portrait des Komponisten. Flöte Aktuell, (3), 35–39.
• Zander, M. (2004). Musik als zeitgemäßes Ritual: Der Komponist Dieter Mack und seine kulturpolitische Arbeit in Indonesien. Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, (5).
• Möller, T. (Ed.). (2008). Wenn A ist, ist A – Der Komponist Dieter Mack. Pfau.
• Schott, C. (2009, August 9). German composer lets music speak between cultures. The Jakarta Post.
• Mack, D. (2012). Dieter Mack. In W. Ruf (Ed.), Riemann Musik-Lexikon (13th ed., Vol. 3). Schott. ISBN 978-3-7957-0006-5.

Weblinks

• https://www.discogs.com/de/artist/898419
• Literatur von und über Dieter Mack im Katalog der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek: https://portal.dnb.de/opac.htm?method=simpleSearch&query=128914882
• Website von Dieter Mack https://www.dieter-mack.de/en
• Werkkatalog Verlag Neue Musik https://www.verlag-neue-musik.de/verlag/index.php?manufacturers_id=571&XTCsid=863e5957edda6475941022e303c44728/
• Dieter Mack beim Living Composers Project https://composers21.com/compdocs/mackd.htm
• Deutschlandfunk (DLF) Zwischentöne. Musik und Fragen zur Person vom 19. August 2018 https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/musik-und-fragen-zur-person-der-komponist-dieter-mack-100.html

References

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