a collection of new works for live performer with live electronics.

recorded live at the King Center in Denver, CO, on 10/16/2015

david e. farrell, live electronics
peter friesen, piano
sarah whitnah, violin
mark harris, saxophone
michelle diggs thompson, voice

composer's note:
The epic poems – and their contemporary descendants – share many qualities. They are large, serious works; works of high drama with high stakes that require heroism from their subjects. They recount a journey through diverse surroundings, often harrowing, whose outcome will be in doubt right until the end. You know these stories. Their patterns and tone are what inspired my work in EPIC.

EPIC: Works for acoustic + electronic sounds

recorded live at the King Center in Denver, CO, on 10/16/2015

david e. farrell, live electronics
michelle diggs thompson, voice

composer's note:
After Ten Thousand Years is the final work of the set. Light, resonant sounds from the electronics support the voice. The text borrows from diverse sources – fragments of Omar Khayyam, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Shakespeare, and Whitman. Uncertain memories of the journey remain.

The Bird of Time
is on the Wing.

I have been here before,
But … I cannot tell:
I know the grass beyond the door,
The sweet keen smell,
The sighing sound, the lights, the shore.

You have been mine before, --
How long ago…
But … I cannot tell.
Has this been, before?
The sweet sound, the shore?

She never told her love,
But let concealment, like a worm i' the bud,
Feed on her damask cheek.

She never told her love,
she pin’d in thought,
She sat like Patience on a monument,
Smiling at grief.

She never told her love,
Was not this love indeed?

This is thy hour, O Soul…
emerging, silent, gazing…
Night, sleep, death, stars.


Epic - After Ten Thousand Years

recorded live at the King Center in Denver, CO, on 10/16/2015

david e. farrell, live electronics
mark harris, saxophone

composer's note:

The Ravaging Hours contrasts the lyricism of the previous work; motorhythmic attacks relentlessly push the work forward. Snarling bass notes unfurl, tones twist and become distorted, percussive sounds clang out. The saxophone spirals through a series of recurring motives that contrast highly – the instrument bounces between long tones, melodic fragments, jagged hockets, and swirling runs on its travels.

Epic - The Ravaging Hours

recorded live at the King Center in Denver, CO, on 10/16/2015

david e. farrell, live electronics
sarah whitnah, violin

composer's note:

Sudden Light is the most lyrical of the works. The electronic accompaniment is subdued behind the expressive lines of the violin. The chordal sounds are complimented by recorded sounds of humanity – both individual breath and the rustling voices of a crowd. Subdued sounds transform into brilliant ones throughout the course of the work.

Epic - Sudden Light

recorded live at the King Center in Denver, CO, on 10/16/2015

david e. farrell, live electronics
peter friesen, piano

composer's note:

Flying Past 10,000 Suns evokes the sense of travel, at great speed, across great distance. The first half of the work is characterized by non-stop shimmering motion in both the piano and electronics, traveling quickly through different harmonic clouds. The movement finally transforms into a hovering stillness of slow, celestial counterpoint. When we begin to move again, the motion is irregular, and we quickly arrive at a subdued melodic finish, trailing off into the distance.

Epic - Sudden Light

David E Farrell