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2022
22 min.
Alto Saxophone
Bass Clarinet
Bassoon
Clarinet
Oboe
More Details
- Program Notes
- metanym. A name that is rejected because a valid name (based on another member) already exists for the same group. Morton Feldman said of his friend Mark Rothko’s obsessively repetitive paintings: “Freedom is best understood by someone like Rothko, who was free to do only one thing—to make a Rothko—and did so over and over again.” For me, freedom to make only one thing came slowly until the covid-19 pandemic finally eroded internal pressures to recreate my style with every piece. “Feel free to do absolutely nothing!” we were told in the early months of the lockdown. It felt good to do nothing for awhile until the urge to make something grew organically and authentically. Without cultural and professional expectations—both real and imagined—I embraced the colors and textures that have swirled in my head since my formative years listening to Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, et al. The noisy style we called grunge is generated in part by electric guitars and effects pedals called dirt (i.e., distortion, overdrive, etc.). Grunge was low art, and mÆtAnŸm celebrates the low and noisy. What is more beautiful? The fixed media component was created using three primary sound sources: an electric guitar with reverb and other pedals, filtered white noise, and recorded fragments provided by the members of Akropolis. These sources were mixed into an immersive quadrophonic soundscape that serves as counterpoint to the live musicians on stage. Loops play a central role throughout, including looped guitar textures in the fixed media part and asynchronous loops in each player’s part. Each player’s part is identical—same notes and rhythms (the oboe performance score is shown here). Instructions are given on how to realize the performance with a set of rules that guide players’ choices. The result is swirling, ambient textures that change with every performance.
- Recording Notes
- Recorded live at Sweet Briar College in November 2022.
- Ensemble Name
- Akropolis Reed Quintet