Monodosis

Monodosis is the solo program of Christopher Dell. The program can appear – and has appeared over the years – in manifold forms such as live performance, recording, or performance lecture. In the oeuvre of Dell, Monodosis functions as a catapult for processes of real-time composition on solo vibraphone. The program constitutes research into the possibilities of rhythmic, harmonic, and melodic practice. This research has been carried out since 2002.

When Dell recorded Monodosis in 2004, ago, it was the second solo recording in his career. The first solo recording he did in 1996, performing Kartenspiele, a series of solo compositions by the German composer Barbara Heller. Regarding his own compositional work, Dell was long hesitant to record a solo program. He simply didn’t feel ready. It took until 2005 before he was conceptually prepared to record Monodosis. The formal concept that he came up with for this program is based on a structural blocking system of musical units, the Fonds. A Fond contains three categorial aspects: firstly, it is a formal block of a certain number of minutes (the recordings Monodosis and Monodosis II make serial use of restricted minute-formats such as 20 or 3 minutes respectively) ; secondly, it is a frame of time; thirdly, it is a structure in that it constitutes a serial musical unit in the program itself. In total, the program Monodosis consists of an ordering of Fonds in a series of formal blocks scaled in time. Functioning as serial units, the Fonds provide the formal foundation for the musical action, opening up possibilities of experience and appropriation for the player.