Name: Dragon of the Nebula by marahelmuth
Duration: 8 min 34 s
Description: Dragon of the Nebula was created in 1991 around the time of the Gulf War, and depicts a stark dramatic space-scape of fiery formations. I created this piece with my new (at the time) Cmix stochastic granular synthesis instrument.

A piece of algorithmic music created in MaxMSP. The patch was largely based around chance and randomness, so the music output is unique with every performance.

MaxMSP Algorithmic Music

Rome Point: Becoming Dusk

Out of Range

for cello and live electronics. Commissioned and recorded by Craig Hultgren.

Deep beneath the surface of the Pacific lie hydrothermal vents that spew scalding water, laced with toxic minerals and gases, onto the near-freezing ocean floor. In the pitch-black depths, giant tube worms grow to a length of eight feet, protected from the harsh conditions by a tough outer shell. Having no mouth and no digestive tract, they host bacteria that convert minerals into food. The bacteria in turn receive food from the worm's blood-filled plumes, which exchange carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, and other compounds with the seawater. A worm has no eyes, but somehow it can sense vibrations, which cause it to retract the plume into its shell. Imagine that you are hearing these vibrations.

John Gibson is Assistant Professor of Composition at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. His instrumental and electroacoustic music has been performed worldwide and is available on the Centaur, Everglade, and SEAMUS labels. Significant awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, and the Paul Jacobs Memorial Fund Commission from the Tanglewood Music Center. He writes sound processing and synthesis software and has taught composition and computer music at the University of Virginia, Duke University, and the University of Louisville. He holds a Ph.D. in music from Princeton University.

Red Plumes

"(in)visible" by Aurie Hsu

El Tercer Fuego

Crumbs, for amplified percussion and electronics, is an aphoristic composition that explores delicate grains, sounds, and textures. The work was designed to be portable. The instruments and found objects used in the live-percussion part can easily fit inside a small box. 

The work comprises six short sections, each examining a unique set of small handheld percussion instruments and common household items. The work is centered around a 5:1 ratio, which controls the piece’s proportions and the distribution of the number of attacks per section. Each of the first five sections are composed of two gestures: 1 decelerating and 1 accelerating. Their weighted proportions gradually shift from a 5:1 to a 1:5 ratio. The 6th section is divided into 5 additional parts that mirror the largescale proportions in the piece. The work begins with small, bright, effervescent grains, and gradually incorporates larger, deeper, and more resonant textures.

Performance by I-Jen Fang.

Crumbs

Reverie is an acousmatic composition that leads the listener through an immersive fantasy centered around deconstructed music boxes. The work comprises eight sections that alternate between explorations of the music boxes’ gears and chimes. In the work, the music boxes’ sounds are pulled apart, exaggerated, expanded, and combined with other sounds whose timbres and textures are reminiscent of the original. As the piece unfolds, the timbres increase in spectral and textural density, and the associations become more and more fantastical. Gears are transformed into zippers, coins, chainsaws, motorcycles, and fireworks, and the chimes morph into rainstorms, all sizes of bells, pianos, and more. 

Reid composed the work during residencies at the Ucross Foundation and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. 

Reverie won First Prizes in the 6th International “New Vision” Composition Competition “Galaxies” in memory of Nicolaus Copernicus, the 8th KLANG! International Electroacoustic Composition Competition, and Musicworks' Electronic Music Composition Contest; Sound of the Year's “Composed with Sound Award”; and Second Prizes in both the Xenakis International Electronic Music Competition and the XIII° International Destellos Competition.

Reverie

For MIDI-controlled piano, laptop, Arduino, 3 pinwheels, and oscillating fan.

1. Light air
2. Fresh breeze
3. Rising gale

Tilting (live)

Dragon of the Nebula was created in 1991 around the time of the Gulf War, and depicts a stark dramatic space-scape of fiery formations. I created this piece with my new (at the time) Cmix stochastic granular synthesis instrument.

Dragon of the Nebula

marahelmuth

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