Multiplication of Machines for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, and computer. Charles Nichols

Transcription

1 Multiplication of Machines for flute clarinet violin cello piano and computer Charles Nichols

2 Commissioned by the Myrna Loy Center for Performing and Media Arts with support from the National Endowment for the Arts for the Third Angle Ensemble Flute Clarinet in Bb doubling Bass Clarinet Violin Cello Piano Interactive ComputerProcessing The springboard for Multiplication of Machines was a passage from Luigi Russolo s manifesto Larte dei Rumori The Art of Noises in which the Italian Futurist writes At first the art of music sought purity limpidity and sweetness of sound. Then different sounds were amalgamated care being taken however to caress the ear with gentle harmonies. Today music as it becomes continually more complicated strives to amalgamate the most dissonant strange and harsh sounds. In this way we come ever closer to noisesound. This musical evolution is paralleled by the multiplication of machines which collaborate with man on every front. In the six movements each for various combinations of flute clarinet violin cello and piano interactive computerprocessing is used to accompany or expand the timbral possibilities of the musical instruments at times recording and looping passages or modulating filtering and delaying instruments. Each movement is a musical machine in which the performer emulates the auditory expression of mechanical components such as pistons valves springs circuits gears and a pendulum; the performer brings to life the expressive potential of these machines. Multiplication of Machines was commissioned with support from the National Endowment for the Arts by the Myrna Loy Center for the Performing and Media Arts for the Third Angle Ensemble. For I. Pistons the solo violin is periodically recorded and looped at different speeds in four channels. In II. Valves the flute and clarinet are convolved with one another in two channels and with looped live recordings in two channels producing ringing effects. For III. Springs hocketing rhythms are progressively built in pattern gates in two channels that pulse the resonance of a reverb applied to the instruments. In IV. Circuits autowah and octave doubling are applied to all instruments separately and the effects increase throughout the movement. For V. Gears a tremolo that gradually increases in frequency a flanger that progressively changes depth and a delay that increases in speed are applied to the three instruments each effect corresponding to a different motive. In VI. Pendulum the solo clarinet is echoed at different speeds in four channels each speed corresponding to a different strata of the contrapuntal line. The sixmovement piece has been performed by the Third Angle Ensemble in Portland Helena and Missoula. The first movement was performed by Darragh Morgan at the International Computer Music Conference in Huddersfield and the third movement was performed by David Niethamer at the Third Practice Festival in Richmond and by Arianna Tieghi at the International Summer Arts Institute in Città di Castello and Rome.

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