utuquq
Duration: ca 6'39"
Instrumentation: piano, kinect and interactive electronics
Composed: 2014
Details: The topographical arc of piano material (left hand only) is drawn from the ridge line of Mt. Huntington, part of the White Mountains in New Hampshire. This piano cell is repeated and unpacked over the course of the work. The right hand sculpts a complimentary electronic sound world controlling the electronics via a kinect sensor. In conjunction with synthesis, a recording of walruses made at Round Island Alaska (closed as of September 2014) is used as the basis for waveshaping. Akin to the unpacking of the piano material, the electronics evolve, increasingly probing layers and components of the sound mass. The break up of both the piano and electronic material over the course of the piece occur on different timescales. The processes both reflect an aesthetic point of departure. The piano unfolds in a very linear, if edited, method. The electronics evolve in an irregular fashion, expanding and contracting in a manner that suggests an external force, both unpredictable and irregular. The final statement posits an intertwined ebb and flow.
performance and commisioned by Keith Kirchoff