Thursday, January 17, 2013

My 2012 In Composition

If 2012 was a busier than usual year for performance, it was an insane year for composition... and not only for those works released in some sort of fixed format. I also had seven pieces (five new) played in exhibitions and festivals. I'll summarise them here -- read on for lots of listening!



"2003 UB313" was written some time ago following the discovery of this solar system's largest dwarf planet, Eris. Last year it was included in "the sublimated landscape" exhibition at Oboro, Montréal (3 March - 7 April). Curated by Helen Frosi (SoundFjord, London), Yann Novak (sound and video artist, Los Angeles) and France Jobin (sound artist, Montréal).

"Induction Ritual" is a piece for tabletop guitar that I created with certain specific ideas about the "rock guitar" in mind. I framed this as a 30 minute radio programme, complete with a self-interview. This was played 28 June on 88.4 FM, Lisbon, Portugal, as part of the annual RadiaLx international radio art festival. I hope to make this publicly available at some future time.



"Qarun Hydrophone" was created in 2010 as part of Mer-Wer, an online collaborative project, using original and manipulated sounds by John Kannenberg, Ola Saad, Simon Whetham, He Can Jog, Yara Mekawei, Michael Ruesenberg, and Mike Hallenbeck. It was played 20-22 July 2012 at the Hilltown New Music Festival, Ireland.

"Perturbation" was created for ISSTC 2012, the annual convocation of the Irish Sound, Science and Technology Association. It was played 2 August in Cork, Ireland. And as I mentioned in the last article, it was also released on a Gruenrekorder compilation, which you can download for free in its entirety.

60x60 is a project initiated by Robert Voisey of NYC, that is structured as "sixty musical works, 60 seconds or less, played in succession for a total of 60 minutes". It has grown over the years to encompass many different mixes; this year I was included in two, since I have the distinction of Canadian and European citizenship. If you have been reading along, you might notice that this brings to six the total number of one minute compositions I premièred in 2012. All of these were in answer to calls. So maybe it says something about diminishing attention spans? In any case, I obviously find the constraints to offer a worthwhile challenge, given the amount of time I dedicated to filling these briefs.



"Spinward And Falling" was selected by popular vote for the 60x60 Radio Request Extravaganza on WGDR 91.1 FM, Plainfield, Vermont (24 August). It was also selected by curator Robert Sazdov for the 60x60 Europe Mix. "Falling over in the kitchen" and "lovely clutter" are the two SoundCloud comments. I have such perceptive listeners!



"After Keem" was selected for the 60x60 Canada Mix and was played at both ends of that country. On 21 October it premièred at the Creative Hub, Vancouver. On 8 November it was played at the Suncor Energy Hall, St John's, Newfoundland. The piece is based on a field recording made at Keem beach, Achill Island, in County Mayo. It was drizzling rain and this combined with the surf for a very special sound. I am particularly delighted to export a bit of Ireland back to Canada.



I have already written about "Caged Birds (Augmentation)", so I will simply link you to that post. This was played 20 December as part of 100x John: A Global Salute to John Cage in Sound and Image in New York.

So that's it for my summary of the year just gone. Well, actually it doesn't include several projects that I initiated but which have not yet born fruit. One of these involved a three-week recording session in Canada. Another involves some collaboration closer to home.

Nonetheless, I somehow don't think 2013 will contain the same sheer number of projects -- I might not survive!

The majority of my music I make available to you without charge. If you wish to demonstrate your support for my activities, I encourage you to visit my publishing arm, Stolen Mirror, and purchase one of my limited edition CDs.

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1 comment:

robin said...

I forgot one! "The Second Silence", an 8.0 composition, premièred 2 May 2012 at the NoiseFloor Festival, Staffordshire University, UK. Unfortunately it sounds like nothing at all on only two speakers, so I don't have a stereo mix.

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