DVD Program Notes
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DVD Program Notes Part One: Colby Leider, Curator Motivated by my interests both in mation artist Stephanie Maxwell, Curator’s Note multichannel composition and alter- maps and weaves an uncharted terri- nate controllers, this compilation is tory of sound and image that have built loosely around contrasting been subjected to physical manipula- To highlight some of the outstanding themes of the subtle stasis of audio- tion, even as it embraces relatively surround audio, multimedia work, visual ambience versus the biting simple building blocks of points, and new musical controllers being drive of jagged pointillism, of slow- lines, curves, and largely isolated created by members of the computer moving glaciers against pins and nee- events in both its visual and its mu- music community, the editors of dles. Simply stated, these works sical material. Computer Music Journal decided to speak to the intensity of experience Copper Islands, by composer and issue a two-hour DVD-Video disc to that can be created by either slow or video artist Kristine H. Burns, ex- accompany Volume 27. The disc is fast rates of change of materials. plores a delicate interplay between playable on any DVD-equipped com- Benjamin Broening’s (after) grace- sounds and abstract isomorphic tex- puter or commercial home-theater fully navigates through a referential tures. Consisting of relatively simple DVD player, and the built-in Dolby fantasy on works by John Dowland synthesized video and audio, the Digital decoder found on most home- and William Byrd. The result is a work exhibits an astonishing com- theater audio amplifiers will allow kind of blissful faded memory and a plexity of gestalt through the contin- many of the works to be heard in 5.1 powerful reminder of the computer’s uous yet subtle shift of audio-visual surround (Left, Center, Right, Left ability to help composers investigate, synchrony. Alicyn Warren’s evoca- Surround, Right Surround, Low- mold, and re-shape the past into an tive and poignant Molly, by contrast, Frequency Effects). When listening to altogether different present. The recounts a highly personal tale of surround-encoded works over stereo work comprises two movements. In companionship, love, age, and loss. playback, Dolby Digital will auto- a somewhat similar vein is Al Nur The minimally processed recorded matically downmix the audio tracks (La Luce) by Alessandro Cipriani, images and sounds draw in the lis- to two channels. The disc consists which creates an immensely rich tener/viewer to the narrative, as if of two parts: a curated portion of tapestry of transformed Islamic the composer were speaking directly invited compositions and a compen- chant, resulting in a carefully crafted to us in the same room. dium of sound examples to accom- pseudo-ritual that occupies a unique Several works feature composer- pany articles in Volume 27. I pro- cultural context within the electro- performers using alternate control- duced this compilation at my home acoustic idiom. This highly engaging lers to generate and transform sound studio in Homestead, Florida during work literally envelops the listener, in real time. Matthew Burtner’s June and July 2003. issuing an invitation to participate Noisegate 67 is the composer’s first The works represented fall into personally in the ritual. work for his metasaxophone control- roughly three categories. Audio-only Adrian Moore’s Resonant Image ler. Articulated as one large breath, compositions by Benjamin Broening traverses shades of audiovisual reso- the composition envelops the indi- (5.1), Matthew Burtner (stereo), Ales- nance as it highlights the ability of vidual breath of the performer into a sandro Cipriani (5.1), and Paul sound and image to interact with self-similar shape of structural inten- Koonce (5.0) are accompanied simply each other in an engaging way. The sity as it explores the musical nature by a blank screen on playback. Mul- piece presents a wonderfully psyche- of noise and tone, of breath and timedia works by Kristine H. Burns delic montage of fantastical dreams, sound. Paul Koonce’s Free Reeds (stereo), Manuel Rocha Iturbide (4.0), of continually changing and evolving demonstrates a reconstructed com- Dennis Miller (stereo), Adrian Moore events, and both sound and image puter meta-harmonica controlled by (stereo), Allan Schindler and Ste- echo in our memories after the the composer’s own hands—a virtual phanie Maxwell (stereo), and Alicyn work’s spirited conclusion. Dennis harmonica delightfully liberated Warren (stereo) feature synchronized Miller’s faktura navigates a syn- from the usual physics by which it images and audio. Finally, documen- thetic visual environment where tex- produces sound. Mr. Koonce grace- tation of an installation by Ted Apel tures—both aural and visual— fully shapes each partial of the re- and performance footage of the duo collide, forming an altogether new constructed harmonica into a interface and Perry Cook, all down- world of experience. The work terra mesmerizing toccata of gesture, mel- mixed to stereo, complete the cur- incognita, a collaboration between ody, and harmony. Performance foot- ated portion of the disc. composer Allan Schindler and ani- age by the performance duo known DVD Program Notes 121 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/014892603322730541 by guest on 28 September 2021 as interface (Curtis Bahn and Dan sound heard from each plate is a Sound exhibit in Chico, California; Trueman) along with Perry Cook combination of the resonant char- the Sinusoidal Sound Art Show at rounds out this musical tour of re- acteristics of the plate and the San Francisco State University; the cent alternate controllers by illus- computer’s processing of the elec- Audio Art Festival in Krakow, Po- trating the beautiful mystery by tronic signal. land; and the Sound Symposium in which improvising performers can I originally began experimenting St. John’s, Newfoundland. He was efficiently and effectively communi- with metal plates as an attempt to twice a prizewinner at the Bourges cate with each other in concert. As introduce ‘‘extra-sonic’’ elements International Electroacoustic Music they improvise on various instru- into electronic music composition. Competition for his sound installa- ments of their own design, Mr. Cook By ‘‘extra-sonic,’’ I am referring to tions, and his sound installation re- and interface reveal a wonderfully or- those elements—physical, cultural, ceived an honorary mention at the ganic shaping of their materials. (For personal—that are often absent Prix Ars Electronica 2001. a review of the new recording by in- when one listens to a piece of tape Ted Apel studied electroacoustic terface, please see Computer Music music. What began as a response music at Dartmouth College with Journal 27[1]:100–101.) to a specific problem in electronic Jon Appleton and Larry Polansky. He Although originally presented as music (the lack of contextual ele- is currently the Technical Director an installation, Manuel Rocha Itur- ments) has evolved into my of the Center for Research in Com- bide’s Rebicycling was reconstructed broader interest in investigating puting in the Arts (CRCA) at the by the composer as a separate work the relationship between the vi- University of California, San Diego. for projected images and quadra- sual and sonic elements of sound phonic tape. Haunting in its juxtapo- sculpture. By refocusing attention sition of image and sound, the work onto the sounding object itself, questions our notions of waste and this installation prompts us to 2. (after)—Benjamin Broening neglect while challenging the peace- consider the factors of temporality 1. Night’s Black Bird (after ful coexistence of stasis and motion. and mutability involved in its cy- Dowland) For several years, Ted Apel has been clical and continual processes. 2. Beata Viscera (after Byrd) making elegant, minimalist sound Surface Osculations (1998) in- sculptures that explore the physical volves a dialog between the rich These two movements are the first transduction of sound. The present sonic and visual textures of the in a series of pieces that re-imagine footage from his sound sculpture plates. The viewer/listener’s per- the music of my youth in light of Surface Osculations subtly under- ception is formed as the visual and my current musical life. I came to scores the physical nature of sound aural senses inform one another. these pieces at an early age, while as two large suspended plates, in The timbre of the sounds may be growing up as a singer interested feedback with a computer that is perceived as ‘‘metallic’’ and ‘‘dif- in early music. Although my love processing the sound each plate fuse’’; these perceptions are en- for singing and early music eventu- makes, gently begin to push each hanced by one’s understanding of ally gave way to composition, this other back and forth. the physical qualities of the plate, music remains close to my heart. such as the characteristics of its In re-imagining these pieces, I size and surface. The visual ele- wanted to stay close to the me- 1. Surface Osculations— ments can be thought of as medi- lodic outlines and harmonic mo- Ted Apel ating the sounds and the human tion of the originals—to be able to cognition of the sounds. Two large, sound-producing metal sing along—while exploring a plates are suspended from the ceil- Ted Apel is a sound artist whose sound world unavailable in 16th- ing. Viewers/listeners move freely sculptures and installations focus on and 17th-century England. Major around and between the plates to the audio transducing element as the points of structural articulation are experience a constantly changing source of visual and sonic material. preserved, as are many local de- sonic and visual environment. He has exhibited his work at sound tails, but other passages are, per- Sound from each plate is transmit- art festivals and exhibits including haps, more hazily recalled.