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Solo
2022
Fixed Media Audio
Violin
- Program Notes
- Quartertonal harmony has always had a quality of saturated sweetness to my ears, a somewhat sickly feeling of overindulgence, due to the richness and resonance of its close beating patterns. For my first piece properly engaging with quartertonal writing, the topic of sugar therefore seemed a suitable starting point. Our relationship with sugar has a complex history, from its medicinal use in the ancient world, the wealth it generated as a luxury spice, or the terrible and bloody history of its production on cane sugar plantations. Its ubiquity in modern times has increased our awareness of its effects on us: we are warned with bright red symbols of high sugar content in our food, informed of its addictive, drug-like qualities, and conscious of the profound effects that over-consumption or withdrawal of sugar can have on our mental state. The structure of Rusted Sugar loosely follows a chemical process: the stages of burning sucrose sugar until its molecules break down and separate, leaving only carbon behind. The musical relationship between the violin and electronics vacillates between coalescence and disintegration, moments of harmonic or metric unity dissolving into friction before aligning again.
- Recording Notes
Performed by Larissa O'Grady and recorded by Farpoint Recordings
- Record Label
- Farpoint Recordings
- Performer Credits
- Larissa O'Grady