Science Group

Science Group is the project of Yugoslavia-born composer and pianist Stevan-Kovacs Tickmayer (1963, Hungary), who in 1991 relocated to France.

Among Tickmayer's early compositions are: Cantus Ad Infinitum (1985) for flute, prepared piano, vibraphone, double bass and string orchestra; Sonata (1985) for piano; Urban Music (1986) for eight improvisers and tape; Hymns & Rite (1986) for piano; Intellectual Cabaret (1986) for flute, clarinet, trombone, violin, cello and piano; Room Music (1986) for three flutes; Weltlichemusik (1986) for eight cellos; Melodie (1987) for fifteen improvisers; Music of Times Forgotten (1988) for oboe and eleven strings; Moments to Delight (1988) for ten improvisers, tape and slide projections; Spes (1988) for piano solo; Caspar David Friedrich Cycle (1988) for oboe, clarinet and bassoon; Heterophony (1989) for violin, viola, cello, prepared piano and tape manipulations; the five-movement string quartet The Old Music of Mute Stones (1989); Monodia (1990) for ten improvisers; Boogie for Morton Feldman (1990) for alto sax, trombone, viola, cello, double bass & drums (1991); Wild Motions And Silence (1990) for four saxophones and piano; Monodia (1990), his first major work, for ten improvisers; Non-Euclidian Dances (1991) for flute, clarinet, bassoon, trombone, viola, cello, piano and percussion; etc.

His early recordings were: the solo piano pieces of Spes (Musical Youth Of Vojvodina, 1988), the ensemble compositions of Urban Music (1988), the duets of piano and sax (Grencso Istvan) of Chamber Music (1990), the dance pieces of both Comedia Tempio (1991) and Wilhelm Dances (ReR, 1992).

Then Tickmayer formed the Science Group with Chris Cutler on drums and electronics, Amy Denio on vocals, Bob Drake on bass, Fred Frith on guitar, Claudio Puntin on clarinet, and Tickmayer himself on keyboards. This line-up released A Mere Coincidence (ReR, 1999), which includes pieces at the border between jazz and neoclassical such as Engineering, Chimera, There Must Be Something.

Other compositions of the decade were: Les Echelles D'Orphee (1992) for flute, clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, trombone, cello, piano, harmonium and percussion; L'Anatomie du Fauve (1994) for piano, drums and tape; Le Cri Du Cameleon (1995) for flute, clarinet, bassoon, trombone, viola, cello, keyboards and drums; Les Commentaires D'Habacuc (1996) for tape; Le Vent Dans Le Sac (1997) for tape; etc.

Pared down to a quartet (Tickmayer, Drake, Cutler and guitarist Mike Johnson of Thinking Plague), the Science Group released Spoors (ReR, 2003), a collection of all-instrumental pieces. They run the stylistic gamut from the frantic minimalism of Timeline 6 to the effervescent rock'n'roll and drum'n'bass of Timeline 5, from the piano avantgarde of Dispersants to the circus music of Marching Off (a bagatelle). It also includes Urban Music, eight minutes of chaotic and cryptic instrumental noise, brief melodic fragments, voices, random percussions, etc. Many compositions are mere fragments and hardly leave any impression. This is a survey of the composer's work, not an organic album, and thus loses much of its appeal when each style loses critical mass.

Steve Tickmayer's album Repetitive Selective Removal of One Protecting Group (ReR, 2005) represents a veritable encyclopedia of avantgarde techniques, running the gamut from chamber electroacoustic music to polyrhythmic atonal music. Pieces that are emblematic of the ebullient creativity of this collection include the dadaistic videogame-like ballets Critical Path, Restriction Fragment Length and Orderliness and the frantically swinging micro-piano concertos Non-Crossing Partition and The Mechanics Of Hope. But perhaps more potential is to be found in the stately string drones of Quiet Approaching and especially in the three ominous movements of the symphonic poem Our Framework Of Apocalypse. Extreme abstractions of progressive-rock such as Designative Codes and Remnant Structures are interesting diversions but don't seem to cohere with the rest. But then perhaps the goal was not to cohere at all. Unfortunately the tracks are too short to accurately deliver the vision of the composer. This is a transitional work, a tapestry of ideas to be further and better organized.

Stevan Tickmayer's major compositions of the new century were: El Jardin de los Senderos que se Bifurcan (2001) for string orchestra; The Forgotten Life Quartet (2002) for string quartet; Wild Motions Sextet (2003) for two violins, viola, cello, double bass and harpsichord; Crippled Tango Quintet (2003) for two violins, viola, cello, double bass, piano; Revisited Paths (2004) for flute, recorder, clarinet, bass clarinet, trumpet, two violins, viola da gamba, cello, double bass, harpsichord and percussions; Eight Hymns in Memoriam Andrei Tarkovsky (1986/2004) for violin solo, piano, vibraphone, tubular bells and string orchestra; Brettl Trio (2005) for violin, clarinet and piano; etc.

Stevan Tickmayer's Cold Peace (august 2006 - ReR, 2008) collects a few of his boldest compositions that employ samples and computer on top of live musicians.
The six-movement Concerto Grosso for keyboards, strings and computer erupts ferociously with cascades of clusters of dissonances, piano and percussion (I. Introduzione - Molto Nervoso) and an avalanche of brutal keyboard and percussion sounds (II. Passamezzo Ongaro). III. Polyostinato tempers the atmosphere with funk-jazz bass and horn samples, but IV. Bugle Counterpoint indulges in a jungle of frenzied slot-machine harpsichord and vulgar noises. V. Sempre Pulsato increases the pressure with demonic drumming and power-drill electronics. Nonetheless the concerto ends with a paradisiac adagio, VI. Les Adieux.
The Cold Peace Counterpoints (mostly composed in 1997) comprise the Zappa-esque E-Guitar Ostinato, the droning Troparion (an oasis of peace), and the festive Violin Ostinato.
Five Bagatelles For A Polyhistor are five vignettes that recycle old material and remain closer to the stereotypes of prog-rock and jazz-rock, despite detours on both sides of the spectrum (notably the closing square dance).

Stevan Tickmayer, multi-instrumentist Boric Kovac, bassist Milos Matic and drummer Lav Kovac recorded Ultima Armonia (july 2012), inspired by traditional folk music of the Balkans.

Tickmayer's Gaps Absences (july 2012) collects solo piano sessions recorded in a synagogue and later overdubbed in studio with prepared and upright piano, harmonium, double bass, violin, percussion, drums, Hungariun zither, citara bassa, bowed cymbals, mouth harmonica, melodica, alt-clarinet, sampler and field recordings.

Tickmayer's triple-disc boxset Essays (Hunnia, 2018) documents three lengthy suites: the 44-minute Waiting (recorded in august 2017), performed on electric piano, samplers and electronics with Istvan Grencso (saxes, clarinets and flute) and Barnabas Dukay (piano); the 44-minute Ritual Music (november 2016) performed by Dukay on organ and Grencso on saxes; and the 56-minute Two Visions Heard (november 2016), performed by Dukay, Grencso and Aurel Hollo (percussion).

The Stevan Kovacs Tickmayer trio with Istvan Grencso (tenor & soprano saxes, bass clarinet, flute) and Szilveszter Miklos (drums & percussion) is documented on Grencso - Tickmayer - Geroly (october 2013), From Dyonisian Sound Sparks To The Silence Of Passing (july 2016) and Cryptic Scattered Images Of Time Forgotten (august 2019).

Tickmayer’s Grind Structures & Monochromes (recorded between 2023 and 2024) is an 18-movement 41-minute suite for prepared piano, electric contrabass, computer, synthesizer and other electronics.