[Bernhard Living]
Bernhard Living is composer and former multi-instrumentalist (playing alto saxophone and flute). He was born in 1948 in Ely - Cambridgeshire - England - and lived for the first part of his life in Greenwich - London. He studied composition with the South African-born composer Stanley Glasser at Goldsmiths College - University of London - and philosophy at Middlesex University - London.
Bernhard Living’s digitally-based compositions share a formal ‘black square’ minimalist aesthetic - and have taken minimalistic compositional techniques to what he considers to be their logical conclusion - with his music being characterised by either sparse textures - glacial movement - long periods of silence - maximal repetition - minimal variation - or chord- or tone-lines that explore different aspects of Western harmony.
Living regards the relationship between music and mathematics as being an important one - and a number of his compositions have been based on different mathematical structures and number series - such as the Fibonacci Sequence or Pascal’s Triangle. Another important aspect of his work has been the utilisation of artificial intelligence in the creation of a wide range different harmonic structures - and to determine the order of different elements within a composition.
All of Living’s compositions have been reduced to their most basic and essential components - and are examples of what he calls ‘technological lessness’ - and explore what the architect and philosopher Buckminster Fuller called ‘post-industrial ephemeralisation’ - of doing more with less - of doing everything with nothing.
Bernhard Living’s digitally-based compositions share a formal ‘black square’ minimalist aesthetic - and have taken minimalistic compositional techniques to what he considers to be their logical conclusion - with his music being characterised by either sparse textures - glacial movement - long periods of silence - maximal repetition - minimal variation - or chord- or tone-lines that explore different aspects of Western harmony.
Living regards the relationship between music and mathematics as being an important one - and a number of his compositions have been based on different mathematical structures and number series - such as the Fibonacci Sequence or Pascal’s Triangle. Another important aspect of his work has been the utilisation of artificial intelligence in the creation of a wide range different harmonic structures - and to determine the order of different elements within a composition.
All of Living’s compositions have been reduced to their most basic and essential components - and are examples of what he calls ‘technological lessness’ - and explore what the architect and philosopher Buckminster Fuller called ‘post-industrial ephemeralisation’ - of doing more with less - of doing everything with nothing.
