Very nice sound. This guitar is tuned in just intonation?

"The Days Long" from Duane Pitre's new solo album "Omniscient Voices" - Out Nov 19th, 2021 on IMPREC.

Pre-order available via Imprec.com

Duane Pitre returns to Imprec with Omniscient Voices, an articulate, intense and emotionally resonant set of five pieces for justly tuned piano and electronics.

Omniscient Voices is a uniquely distinct work that follows Pitre's trilogy of releases which culminated with 2015’s Bayou Electric and included the critically acclaimed Feel Free (2012) and Bridges (2013) albums. Where those albums were rooted in long form pieces, Omniscient Voices is a collection of shorter pieces, offering more harmonic variety than previous works, with a unique sound and feel that is still unmistakably the work of Duane Pitre.

In 2019, after a five year period where Pitre did not focus on outward facing music, but instead on his own personal practice, a small idea in the form of a question came to him: would the combination of his latest computer- and electronic-based experiments, used in conjunction with justly tuned piano, produce interesting results; simply put, would it “work”? Concurrently, Pitre was studying a handful of Morton Feldman scores for their focus on tonal clusters, reading a book on Arvo Pärt’s life and work, and contemplating the pulse-based rhythms of Steve Reich and Phillip Glass.

In 2020, with no intention of making a new album, the composer tried to answer this question. The results would spawn five pieces that would become Omniscient Voices. On this new work, Pitre finds himself giving equal priority to both piano and electronics, utilizing his Max/MSP-based generative network to real-time convert precomposed piano motifs, into data, which is then used to communicate with two polyphonic, microtonal hardware synthesizers whose patches Pitre authored; this process generates the electronic component of the album. Pitre also utilizes controlled improvisation to interact with the piano-reactive electronics in a spontaneous and inspired manner, going back and forth between these two pianistic approaches. In all, this approach creates a “musical feedback loop” of sorts.

Despite Omniscient Voices being the culmination of 15 years of hard work and inspiration, this beautiful album somehow materialized in a natural, intuitive and effortless way (like any artist's best work.)

Mastered and cut by Golden and pressed at RTI for maximum fidelity.

Artist's statement:
“When making the pieces that would become Omniscient Voices, I often viewed the piano as human action, a single note becoming a single gesture that has the potential to change the electronic environment, the electronics becoming the environment surrounding that human in the natural world, who then has the power to change their actions based on their surroundings. All actions have consequences. The interconnectedness of everything. Single actions making waves of change.”

RIYL: Arvo Pärt, Morton Feldman, Steve Reich, Phillip Glass

Duane Pitre - The Days Long - from Omniscient Voices - Pre-Order Available

Elodie Lauten passed away yesterday. I am dedicating this to her.

http://youtu.be/3IoWvCUGPgU

Music for Interference Patterns (2014)

Preview from split LP w/ Eleh

"Feel Free" is a composition by Duane Pitre that currently has three possible manifestations: solo performance, group performance, and sound installation (sample above). At the core of all of them is the pillar of the work, an open yet orderly system whose intention is to produce potentially infinite variations of self-generating rhythm and melody. This system is created in part by a Max/MSP patch, designed by the composer, which consists of two (unprocessed) sound sources: guitar harmonics and simple-timbre electronic tones (in the solo/group versions, the latter are performed by the composer). 

Where the solo and group versions find the work following a sequence of movements (each embodying a varying feeling) that consist of different pitches and rules/methods for the group to execute them, this “installation version” is void of any performers and is meant to embody a certain stillness. And while the listener may become familiar with what seem to be recurring patterns, no sounds are ever looped, but are rather continually moving forward, yet still remain suspended.

The DP side of the split (sample above) is simply a fixed, 20-minute recording of the potentially infinite (variations and duration) Feel Free Installation.

Feel Free Installation (excerpt)

Who doesn't love the sweet, sweetness a bottle of pop and the meat, meatiness of a hot dog. Mmmmm-mmmmm! Let's sing about it in a rock and roll song as it's a tried and true way of celebrating wieners and coke.

HOT DOG AND BOTTLE OF POP

AN AIRING OF GRIEVANCES

Liquid Light Forms will be released Tuesday, March 5th, the initial 100 copies available on translucent yellow vinyl.

"Battenkill" is the first of 3 compositions named after and influenced by rivers in upstate, New York. The album focuses almost entirely on electronic pieces utilizing predominantly voltage controlled modular synthesizers and sequencers. Liquid Light Forms radiates with pulsating, dense rhythmic patterns that morph and emerge as they compound on themselves. The result is a hypnotic and truly psychedelic listening experience that proves to be one of Koen's most captivating recordings yet.

Koen Holtkamp - "Battenkill" (from the album Liquid Light Forms)

"Varolius Study"
composed by Duane Pitre for Tectonics Festival website
mastered by Turk Dietrich
Zinc & Copper - well tuned brass

Composer Duane Pitre is currently working in conjunction with Zinc & Copper on a performance piece, titled "Pons," for justly tuned horn, trombone, microtonal tuba and electronics. The relaxed pace of this project has allowed Pitre to simultaneously work on additional, related material, such as "Varolius Study," which is a demo of what is to be a companion piece to "Pons." While the latter will be performed from a score, "Varolius Study" is being constructed in Pitre's studio using audio editing techniques that utilize recordings from "Pons" rehearsal sessions. Both pieces share the same instrumentation and just intonation tuning, which were designed by the composer.

Duane Pitre - Varolius Study

electroacoustic composition for string quartet, bowed electric guitar and processed field recordings of a variety of chirping insects. 

Alex Waterman - Cello
Amy Cimini - Viola
Laura Ortman - Violin
Eli Spindel - Violin
Zach Layton - Bowed electric guitar

Recorded 4/11/13 at the Old Stone House,
Musical Ecologies series 
http://www.musicalecologies.net/

Stridulitrum - for String Quartet, Bowed Electric Guitar and Insect Chorus

Quiet Sun, Indian Summer; from the 2008 Period.Tapes release These Feathers Have Plumes

Quiet Sun, Indian Summer

Portal, from the 2010 release on Tartaruga Records

Portal

DUANE PITRE is an American experimental composer and musician. His work often focuses on the interaction between electronic sound and acoustic instrumentation and also explores the balance between chaos and discipline. Pitre utilizes alternate tuning schemes (with a large focus on Just Intonation), enabling him to explore unaccustomed musical intervals. He works in a solo/ensemble capacity and with Turk Dietrich (Second Woman, Belong) as the duo First Tone.

He has presented and performed his live works across the U.S., U.K., and Europe at spaces such as Cafe OTO (UK), Roulette (NYC), The Stone (NYC), Muziekhuis Utrecht (NL), MoMA's P.S.1 (NYC), The Cube (UK), GRIM (FR), NK (DE), Elaine Gallery (CH), O' (IT), St. Ann's Cathedral (NYC), and ISSUE Project Room (NYC), where he was artist in residency in spring 2009. More than 100 different musicians from around the world have taken part in the performances of his works.

Pitre has been featured in publications such as The Wire, The Village Voice, The New York Times, The Creators Project  (a Vice/Intel collaboration), Pitchfork, Dusted, Skug: Journal for Music (Austria), and NewMusicBox. He has released over a dozen albums on labels such as Important Records, Type Records, and Root Strata.

Feel Free Installation (excerpt)

Duane Pitre

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