ReTouR, for piano, video and electronics.

A return—but also a reversal (of fortune)—ReTouR stems from an inquiry into the narrative shape of love gained and lost, mediated and articulated by music.  The myth of Orpheus is a archetype of such a narrative.  In itself the myth has a symmetrical structure: growing love interrupted by the death of Eurydice, followed by Orpheus’ descent to Hades, his stay there and intense negotiation with the powers that be; his  ascent back toward light with his love regained, only to loose her again forever.  The piece’s shape and structure—a quasi palindrome—explore the abstract narrative of loss in the liminal and negotiated space between the metaphors of dream and reality. 

The pianist states the struggle of the tangible world while the disembodied electronic sound world challenges the performer’s—and Orpheus’—persuasive use of beauty. 

Vox Populi, for timpani and electronics.

Vox populi is the voice of the people.  It expresses our basic feelings, emotions, or demands.  It is something we share spontaneously--something raw, intuitive but also capable of subtle changes.  The tape represents these collective voices.  The timpani matches the raw power of the voice and the sonic dimension of the tape.  They cover a wide emotional range.  The drums also have a ritualistic framing function bringing order to human utterances.

EXCERPT:

Flux, for flute, multi-percussion, and electronics.

Music by Bruno Louchouarn

Text by Carl Sandburg

        In Flux I sought to explore the shift of meaning between the clear denotation of the spoken words and their transformation into “music.” The process moves from the indexical nature of words to the corporeality of speech.  The players embody that performative aspect of music-speech.

        This piece was conceived in layers generating each other centrifugally:  “Flux,” the short poem by Carl Sandburg, has the alliterative simplicity needed for semantic and formal sonic manipulations.  The 15 second reading is actually the seed from which everything is derived. The motives in the electronic layer are generated form the pitches and rhythm of the prosody.  In this layer all sounds--melodic, spectral and percussive--were performed acoustically on the viola and then overlaid.

        On the outside looking (listening)-in the two performers gravitate, sometimes applying light touches to the texture, sometimes overtaking it.  With some degree of freedom in their parts they counterbalance the immutability of the tape.

EXCERPT: