Browse Items · COMPEL Omeka Dev

Traces (December 9, 2019)

Traces

Interactive multichannel work that uses D4 spatialization library and the Locus motion-tracking-based glove controller. Utilizes 8,000 channels of audio and mixes them down to 130 physical channels with sub-20ms latency.

Traces/Huellas

Centered around the story of the “hero’s quest” (inspired by Joseph Campbell’s writings on the subject) this open-structured, five-movement quadraphonic work relays the musical journey of a hero and her inner/outer struggles.

Touché

Touché is a single movement duo-concertante in a toccata style. Two clarinet soloists are united in a musical contest, between themselves and together in opposition to an ensemble of synthetic clarinets automated from computer software. The toccata paradigm emphasizes the immediacy of touch upon the instruments, which traditionally serves to allow idioms of virtuosic performance to take the lead in determining musical form. Touché also takes the idea of musical touch to a yet more detailed level, that of articulation, the specific qualities of attack upon and the subsequent shaping of the musical tones. Here, therefore, the emphasis is on how the tones themselves are touched. The synthetic clarinets in particular emphasize these articulations, being made artificially sharp and separated, or more rarely, artificially dulled. There are also important shaping gestures, such as sudden swellings of tone with pointed conclusions, that suggest the rhythmic interchange of swordplay, notably fencing—en-garde.

TNT (Turetzky'n'Tape)

In 1987 I saw Bert Turetzky perform Kenneth Gaburo’s ‘INSIDE’ and Tom Johnson’s ‘FAILING’ at a contemporary music festival. I remember hoping at the time that I would one day get the opportunity to write for Bert. I also remember being impressed not only with his bass playing but also with his ability to control the bass and his voice at the same time. When he asked me, some years later, to compose him a piece, I decided to incorporate vocal sounds into the fabric of the piece, though in a rather different way from the two pieces I had heard. As a result, TNT (Tureztky ‘N’ Tape) uses both vocal and bass sounds to make the tape part, and calls upon the performer to use both instrument and voice simultaneously, with extensive and intricate interaction between soloist and tape, especially in the rhythmic “groove” sections. In these, soloist and tape participate in the formation of, or improvisation over multi-layered grooves that might be at home in a jazz or latin sound. The tape part was constructed entirely of bass and vocal sounds, collected, edited, and mixed using Csound software on a NextStation computer. It was performed by Bert Turetzky as a work-in-progress in 1997, then revised, remixed, and completed for premiere performance by bassist Robert Black in Estonia in 2001, with a recording on the CDCM series.

Tintinnabuli: an algorithm

This Max/MSP patch has been designed to commemorate Arvo Pärt on his 80th birthday. The “tintinnabuli” style that Pärt has become known for has had a lasting impression on me as a composer, especially in “rule-based” or algorithmic composition.