Browse Items (868 total)

• Transfigurations

  For ages, the orchestra served as the most advanced tone generator available to the musical art. The history of the orchestra has been one of continual development toward a diversity of timbre, loudness, and register. The computer is the only musical instrument capable of making all sounds discernible by the human ear; it is logical then to bring the computer into the orchestral tradition. Transfigurations combines the vast musical forces provided by these two mediums. All the sounds one hears originate in the orchestra itself live during the performance, except for the last sound. The computer processes these sounds in real time – manipulating, augmenting, and reinventing the performance. As with human musicians, no two iterations of the computer realization are exactly alike.

  The piece comprises five sections. The first is a fast-paced interplay between the orchestra and the computer, filled with counterpoint and rising to a dark and threatening culmination. In the second part, the flute, clarinet, and computer intermingle and untangle again with interjections from the rest of the full ensemble. The third portion of the work is a hopeful adagio, expanded in color by the computer, which ends in a triumphant outburst. The fourth section is dominated by solo violin and percussion. Both are manipulated to create an dense, metallic texture with threatening interjections from the rest of the ensemble. In the final section, the orchestra takes off at brisk pace, as if trying to outpace the ever-increasing effect of the digital manipulation. It is finally overtaken in a moment of music controlled by the computer and completely transformed from the live performance. As this music fades away, the only sounds not manipulated directly from the orchestra are heard. These chime-like tones are determined stochastically by the computer from the notes of the opening chordal motive. As these play softly fading into the distance, the orchestra enters once again for a final weary statement.

  Score and Pd patch available at www.vidiksis.com.

• Travelscapes

  Travelscapes is an ongoing series of short fixed media works containing material recorded during vacations, weekend journeys, and day trips. The pieces may be grouped together in any fashion and can also be performed separately. The works not only function as aural snapshots for the composer but also as captured sound moments when technology was absent. On a daily basis, we are surrounded by a sensory overload of technology that we have come to not only tolerate but, embrace. Just as cell phones have made our ability to remember phone numbers obsolete, I wonder if by constantly being bombarded with sound pollution, Muzak, and incessant advertisement we are losing some of our refined listening abilities as a species. I hope in listening to these works, you will find the peace that I attained during the process of recording and realize that listening, in your everyday lives, is a rewarding activity in which to engage.

• Traversing Eternity (Exploration of Stars)

  This work is a collection of 12 movements that are comprised of all the zodiac symbols for any given month notated. The computer part is subtle and is used to alter the timbre of the instruments in real time to make a “hyper” instrument. The composition does not have to be played with all 12 movements. The ensemble can pick their birthday months or randomly choose.

• Trefoil Knots (総角)

  SCORE AND ELECTRONICS AVAILABLE BY REQUEST – jacob.sudol@gmail.com

  stereo and quad versions available.

  “Trefoil Knots (総角)” (2014 – 15) is the second work in a series of four works based on the ancient Japanese novel “The Tale of Genji.” The last three works of this series, of which this is the first, are each based on one chapter from the final third of the book – often referred to as the Uji Chapters. Rather than directly drawing narrative from these chapters I am more interested in reflecting on the complexity of the crossed relationships and consistently denied passion in these chapters.

  The work is my second piece for cello and electronics for cellist Jason Calloway. It was premiered at the ISCM New Music Miami Festival on January 29, 2015.

• TREMENDOUS!!

• Trying to Connect

  For PLOrk (the Princeton Laptop Orchestra). Performed with one hemispherical speaker per laptop, but the audio is in stereo. Feel free to contact me for performance materials.

• Turtles All The Way Up

  Composed for New Music On The Point 2017 festival.

• Two drones: Kaleida and Threnos

  For the podcast “StaticMusic/Drones” of the New York Miniaturist Ensemble, 2007.

• Un Jardin

  for fixed media with optional video

• Unstrung

  Acousmatic Work
  
  As a guitarist, I spend what seems like an inordinate amount of time changing strings. Unlike those found on a bowed string instrument, guitar strings are relatively brittle and need to be changed often. While spending countless hours going through the familiar ritual, I became interested in the sound world created through the act of clipping and removing strings from a guitar. These sounds were both alien and somehow instantly recognizable, the product of an instrument being manipulated in a way that is seldom seen in a performance setting. In part, this opposition is created by the dual nature of the act itself, being both destructive and violent in the removal of the strings, as well as promising renewed creation with the installation of new ones. “Unstrung” utilizes recordings of a steel string acoustic guitar to explore all manner of unexpected and peculiar sounds created through the process of changing strings.