In the interest of adding something completely different to this category, these are excerpts from a piece that premiered a few months ago. As a few notes in addition to the composer's, based on...
In the interest of adding something completely different to this category, these are excerpts from a piece that premiered a few months ago.
As a few notes in addition to the composer's, based on my observations and questions: the work is microtonal and, basing the tuning off of the theories of Harry Partch, each controller is set to a (static) tonality diamond (with a central diagonal of $2/1$ instead of $1/1$). The visual elements of the performance are largely aesthetic except for obvious consequences of the arrangement: tile colors, unless I am mistaken, have no significance, but the shapes seen emerge at least somewhat out of what is being played, as performers press only lit tiles.
The piece as a whole was quite enjoyable; in their statement in the program, the piece was described as being somewhat like a sand mandala, and the analogy was apt, with both the visual and musical consisting of layers being repeatedly added into a complex arrangement and then deconstructed back into silence or simple tones.
At the same time, it felt as though there were a number of areas that Corral didn't explore in the performance. I was somewhat surprised that color was simply aesthetic, assuming that it would be used to denote function within the work or some other useful information; for example, with sufficient control of color and shape, the patterns on the controllers could themselves be complete, specific graphic scores for the piece, and the visual and musical performances could thus be far more closely linked. Similarly, that the piece was entirely predetermined and static seemed limiting as compared to the potential for the instrument arrangement. With feedback between the instruments and performers, the instruments could offer graphic scores that would allow constrained, coordinated improvisation for each performer, and the improvisational choices of the performers could then be used to modify the scores for subsequent sections. I'm reminded of the improvisation frameworks of Julius Eastman, which were significantly more technologically limited.
In the interest of adding something completely different to this category, these are excerpts from a piece that premiered a few months ago.
As a few notes in addition to the composer's, based on my observations and questions: the work is microtonal and, basing the tuning off of the theories of Harry Partch, each controller is set to a (static) tonality diamond (with a central diagonal of $2/1$ instead of $1/1$). The visual elements of the performance are largely aesthetic except for obvious consequences of the arrangement: tile colors, unless I am mistaken, have no significance, but the shapes seen emerge at least somewhat out of what is being played, as performers press only lit tiles.
The piece as a whole was quite enjoyable; in their statement in the program, the piece was described as being somewhat like a sand mandala, and the analogy was apt, with both the visual and musical consisting of layers being repeatedly added into a complex arrangement and then deconstructed back into silence or simple tones.
At the same time, it felt as though there were a number of areas that Corral didn't explore in the performance. I was somewhat surprised that color was simply aesthetic, assuming that it would be used to denote function within the work or some other useful information; for example, with sufficient control of color and shape, the patterns on the controllers could themselves be complete, specific graphic scores for the piece, and the visual and musical performances could thus be far more closely linked. Similarly, that the piece was entirely predetermined and static seemed limiting as compared to the potential for the instrument arrangement. With feedback between the instruments and performers, the instruments could offer graphic scores that would allow constrained, coordinated improvisation for each performer, and the improvisational choices of the performers could then be used to modify the scores for subsequent sections. I'm reminded of the improvisation frameworks of Julius Eastman, which were significantly more technologically limited.