Pocket Anxiety

Chiaroscuro [Hyperresonance II] (2007), for cello and electroacoustics. Craig Hultgren, cello.
For more information, visit:
http://mikelkuehn.com/index.php/works/83-work-sample/114-chiaroscuro

Chiaroscuro [Hyperresonance II] (2007, cello and electroacoustics)

One part of a larger cycle based on the Hero's Journey, a literary model that most stories follow, whether they are aware or not.

In this section, the hero has received the call to adventure, but is refusing that call.  The realization is setting in that the journey they are about to embark on is long and perilous, and it may be a while until it return home.  The nerves turn to fear, the fear turns to panic, and this panic boils over, until the hero manages to drift off to sleep.

Songs Of A Travelling Hero, Mvmt II

Unlocking the Keys (2021) is a fixed media Ambisonic work that explores three dimensional sonic space. The title serves as a metaphor for searching out (i.e., “unlocking”) the potential of sounds created from recorded piano sources, which start out abstract in nature and fully reveal themselves in the middle of the piece.  While the ideal listening experience for this piece is a periphonic sound system (a three dimensional configuration of speakers such as “dome” or 8-channel “cube”), the version provided here (stereo) preserves all of the musical material, mapping it down organically to a two dimensional listening space.

Songs Of A Travelling Hero, Mvmt II

Ethan Fegan

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