Doppelganger (2011) from Simon Hutchinson on Vimeo.
Aaron Pergram, bassoon
When composing for soloist and electronics, I often approach pieces as concerti, with the live performer conversing with an electronic “ensemble.” Traditionally, this genre has given composers the opportunity to explore the relationship between an individual and society as well as provide discourse on the importance of both individual and social expression and contentment. The introduction of the soloist’s doppelgänger, a supernatural duplicate, turns this piece into a kind of double concerto, with the soloist faced not only with society but with the implications of the spectral double, supporting or undermining the efforts of the individual to find a place in the social world.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Hyerim Choi, Ajaeng
In preparing to write PulseStream, my first piece for the ajaeng, I requested some audio samples of the instrument from the performer in Korea. Upon hearing these I was immediately struck by the combination of the continuous bowed sound and deep vibrato, and I decided that this had to be the focus of my piece. Since this is an electronic piece, I chose the title “Pulse Stream”, the name a computational technique that uses uneven streams of electricity for processing, but also a term that suits these arco vibrato pulses perfectly.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Sarah Ogmundson, Flute; Seth Stewart, Guitar
“While thinking about a composition to complete the concert this evening, I originally planned to write a large piece, enlisting all of our instrumentalists. Recently, however, I have been particularly inspired by the melody of the Northern Japanese folk song, Nanbu Umagata Bushi, which depicts a leisurely ride on horseback, enjoying the natural scenery of Iwate Prefecture. I hope this last piece, a re-imagining of that song, will be a dulcet conclusion to this program.”
Jeremy Schropp, Jenifer Jaseau, Simon Hutchinson, Chi (Iris) Wang, Jon Bellona
“Canned!” written for the Oregon Electronic Device Orchestra (OEDO), was inspired by the sounds one can make with a can of soda.
Although not necessarily pertinent to the piece, here three things I discovered in preparing these performance notes:
1. The average American drinks two cans of soda a day, for a total of 50 gallons a year.
2. There are 40.5 grams of sugar in a 12 oz can of Coke. The recommended sugar intake is no more than 40 grams per day for a 2000 calorie diet.
3. Soda is delicious.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
stereo reduction of 8-channel audio
Some of my favorite experiences when I visit Japan are the local festivals. These matsuri are wonderful displays of community through music and dance that do not really have analogs in modern US culture. Despite my love of these festivals, though, I often have a great sense of alienation when I attend, because, at a matsuri, I begin to feel my own “foreignness” more acutely than at any other time, as I am often alone in groups of hundreds from the local community.
Thinking about this tension, I composed this piece, 21-st Century Matsuri, as a kind of electronic concerto, playing with this interaction of the individual and society.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Flute and Trumpet
The sound of fuurin, Japanese wind chimes, is associated with summer, and many people say that hearing these chimes ring helps one to feel cooler in the sweltering, humid days of summer.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Flute, Electric Guitar, Piano, Upright Bass
“Limitation in the possibility of an enjoyment raises the value of the enjoyment. It was incomprehensible, I declared, that the thought of the transience of beauty should interfere with our joy in it. As regards the beauty of Nature, each time it is destroyed by winter it comes again next year, so that in relation to the length of our lives it can in fact be regarded as eternal.” – Sigmund Freud