C0 note (16,35 Hz) — vibrating on liquid surface
D0 note (18.35 Hz) — vibrating on liquid surface
C0 note (16,35 Hz) — vibrating on liquid surface
F0 note (21.83 Hz) — vibrating on liquid surface
G0 note (24.50 Hz) — vibrating on liquid surface
A0 note (27.50 Hz) — vibrating on liquid surface
Piano in a field of recordings is a gently humorous utopian musical fantasy of a space where disparate sonic and cultural worlds of the classical concert hall (in the form of that most iconic classical instrument, a grand piano) and the open-air sounds of the non-human world (in the form of a hidden chorus of frogs) can sing independently and yet in harmony, as if aware of and at peace with each other’s presence.
Composed for Tamara-Anna Cislowska and WSU Music Department’s ‘Playing with Fire’ project. Field recordings made by the composer in Talbingo in Australia’s Snowy Mountains.
1 grand piano (preferably with a sostenuto pedal that un-damps the lower strings)
2. playback device for single stereo file (wav file provided, though other options possible).
3. sound system enabling the both left and right channels to be routed to more than one speaker. The playback device may be operated either by the performer or a separate FOH operator.
4. miscellaneous speakers - the exact number is open, though ideally the set-up should include at least 4, distributed on, under and around the piano pointing in divergent directions for maximum diffuseness of sound. Optimally these speakers should be of differing sizes and frequency characteristics. However, if only a matched speaker system is available, the speakers should be arranged in such a way as to avoid any sense of strongly-directional ‘proscenium arch’ sound image.
NB: the specifics are flexible, mirroring the diversity and porous and contingent nature of aural experience and the impossibility (even undesirability) of a completely controlled and uniform delivery of a work. (In my ideal world the ‘speakers’ might be a miscellany of portable FM radios, ranging in quality from the small and ‘tinny’ to the larger, more rounded and ‘bassy’, with an FM transmitter connected to the playback device sending the audio to the radios. This approach mirrors my improvising practice with field recordings and will enhance the aural fragility and visual ‘strangeness’ of the setting.)
NB2 - Playback recording available from https://www.dropbox.com/sh/guhkzio2o9y8paa/AABI6VakmxYRj9mK9-z1a-0ba?dl=0
Or, contact the composer directly.
International Society for Contemporary Music
