A new instalment of the "Collages" series, this time written for the Nonclassical 10: Remix Contest. 

The “Collages” are an acclaimed series of experiments conducted to prove the digital capabilities of tone expansion in a single acoustic instrument. The technique consists in recording original performances of several works by celebrated composers from the past (for solo instruments), and reinventing the audio files de­constructing the pieces as a collage, using different and complex kinds of digital audio processes to create a post-modern electroacoustic version of the classical piece

No other samples than the provided piano piece ("Clock Watt" from Gabriel Prokofiev’s Piano Book No. 1) were used in the making of this recording. 

Juan Vasquez - The Nonclassical Collage (Clock Watt - Prokofiev Remix)

In 2014, the The Sibelius Birth Town Foundation, Sibhack and the Ateneum Museum (Finnish National Gallery) commissioned me to compose an electroacoustic rendition to Jean Sibelius’ Romance Op. 24 No.9, as part of the official 150th anniversary of the Finnish composer’s birth. The “Sibelius Collage” was premiered on October 2014 at the museum’s Auditorium. Here's the piece

"Sibelius Collage"

World Premiere of Fauna of Mirrors III, for pierrot ensemble and tape (2016). By Juan Carlos Vasquez. 

November 16, 2016. University of Helsinki, Finland.

Piece winner of the "Contemporary Music Grant 2016", Ministry of Culture of Colombia.

Flute: Kathy Hao, Piano: Anthony Hartono, Clarinet: Erle Kont, Cello: Anna Westerlund, Violin: Matilda Seppälä.

Producer: Heidi Hassinen (Korvat Auki / Ears Open Society and Synkooppi) and Janne Kivistö (Korvat Auki)

Ableton Live 9 used for live electronics.

Juan Carlos Vasquez – Fauna Of Mirrors III

The Precession of Simulacra, for piano and electronics (2017)
Piano: Juan Carlos Vasquez. 

" (...) The territory no longer precedes the map, nor survives it. Henceforth, it is the map that precedes the territory" - Jean Baudrillard

The electronics for this piece are performed with a provided Max (www.cycling74.com) application that plays pre-recorded sound files on certain moments (cues). In addition, it includes subtle reverberation.

Cues in the score are triggered by the piano player with a sustain MIDI pedal located to the left of the piano pedals. In certain indicated moments, the electronics are intended to partially mask the piano, making the piano undistinguishable from the electronic sounds.

"The Precession Of Simulacra" for piano and electronics

“A Chinese Triptych” was composed with recordings from an extensive sound documentary made by the artist in the Chinese cities of Hangzhou, Suzhou, Shanghai, Wuxi, Harbin, and Beijing during 2017. The piece overlaps sonic events from the rural, the industrial and the digital China in a single flowing musical discourse, attempting to represent the full range of highly contrasting ways of living in China. The piece lasts exactly 6 minutes, a number that in China is given the connotation of events “flowing smoothly”.

The form and proportion of the parts are inspired by the triptych, an art format comprised of three thematically-interrelated parts in which the middle panel is usually the largest. “A Chinese Triptych” features an experimental application in acousmatic music of the motivic-through composition technique, also known as thematic development.

A Chinese Triptych

“Threadbare” is a piece for cello, dancers, and electronics. It involves a radical re-imagining of Eugène Ysaÿe's "Sonata for Solo Cello, Op.28." The premiere, with choreography by Kim Brooks Mata, took place on November 2018 in Charlottesville, Virginia (USA). This audio file presents only the audio portion of the performance, featuring improvisations by Kevin Davis in the Cello and Juan Carlos Vasquez (the composer) in charge of the sound diffusion.

Threadbare

"A Landscape of Events" is a piece heavily influenced by Paul Virilio's homonymous book. Is a sonic reflection on how the perception of time is distorted by the pacing of life portrayed in contemporary media, always in constant acceleration. The piece, as the book, presents an amalgam of seemingly disjointed content, or "sets of contradictions in an accelerated and miniaturized world" (Moran, 2004)

A Landscape of Events by Juan Carlos Vasquez

"The Mirrors of Uqbar" for Viola da Gamba and live electronics. 
“The Mirrors of Uqbar” is a piece based on the metaphor of mirrors found in the short story "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius" by Jorge Luis Borges. In this story, Uqbar was a fictional society where mirrors were feared in an allegory to hyperrealism, aka. a simulation that takes over reality. In the piece “The Mirrors of Uqbar”, the electronics reflect and modify the melodic acoustic materials creating a progressively independent world. 

This recording was made on the 1st of March 2020 at the Old Cabell Hall, UVA of the University of Virginia, with support from the Virginia Center for Computer Music at the UVA McIntire Dept of Music.

Music composed by Juan Carlos Vasquez using Ableton Live and Max 8
Viola da Gamba performed by Kivie Cahn-Lipman (Science Ficta ensemble)
Recording Engineer: Travis Thatcher 
Camera: Heather Mease (thanks for this!)
Mixing, Mastering, and Video Editing: Juan Carlos Vasquez 
Special thanks also to Becky Brown for helping putting together the event

"The Mirrors Of Uqbar"

Eerie atmospheric bed produced using several complex waveform manipulations.

Eerie Background - Sound Design

Juan Carlos Vasquez is an award-winning composer, sound artist and researcher based in Helsinki, Finland. His work has been supported by the Nokia Research Center, the Ministry of Culture of Colombia, the Arts Promotion Centre in Finland and the CW+ in partnership with the Royal College of Music in London, UK. His electroacoustic music works are performed constantly around the world and have been premiered in 26 countries of America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Vasquez received his education at Sibelius Academy and Aalto University in Finland, and has taken courses with Andy Farnell, Miller Puckette, Marco Stroppa, Steven Stucky and Jonty Harrison, among others.

In 2014 his critically acclaimed series of electroacoustic pieces inspired on classical composers, “Collages”, was released by american label Important Records / Cassauna, selling out shortly afterwards. “Collages Vol 2” is set to be released in 2017. Vasquez currently works as a Researcher and Lecturer at the Media Lab Helsinki, Aalto University.

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