In Fantasy

Lightlessness (2014)
1. Entrada
2. Prestississimo
3. Elegy
4. Fugue

While this string quartet traces a few narratives of my own, it is not a direct story. Entrada opens with a heartbeat, and small gestures bloom into the contrapuntal material that pervades the later movements. Prestississimo opens with the creepily out of tune melody from an antique musical samovar. It establishes its own pulse, but the cello quickly takes over and leads the eventual collapse into an out-of-control free-for-all on the original theme. Elegy attempts to pick up the pieces, but can’t seem to find a resting place without at least one dissenting voice. After Fugue’s fugue runs most of its course, it tries to regain some of the energy of the second movement, and this time it achieves a sort of synthesis. The final three chords are as if to say, yes, I meant to say that.

Performed 4/22/14 in Jordan Hall
Violin: Nancy Zhou, Ryan Shannon
Viola: Lu Yu
Cello: Sonia Mantell

2. Prestississimo

Lightlessness (2014)
1. Entrada
2. Prestississimo
3. Elegy
4. Fugue

The private narratives behind Lightlessness intersect with the common experiences of depression and loss of control. One reading of the piece is that the rules of traditional counterpoint keep failing, with one final attempt in the fugue of the last movement. Elegy is the emotional and lyrical core of the piece, trying to pick up after the collapse at the end of the second movement. It's about the moment in depression when there's enough feeling to know just how bad things feel, and the end of the movement seems to want a longer pause to let the emotions settle. But no, Fugue steps in to impose external order, and then as the energy picks up, other emotions and arguments jump in. The opening heartbeat, having repeatedly transformed, is finally able to speak out in the final three chords.

Violin: Nancy Zhou, Ryan Shannon
Viola: Lu Yu
Cello: Sonia Mantell
Performed in Jordan Hall, New England Conservatory, Boston

For score, recording, performance requests, and questions, email mattia@mattiamauree.com
www.mattiamauree.com

1. Entrada

Smackity
Bang Bang
Three-and-a
Four Or Or

(movements are performed attacca)

Premiered May 8th in Jordan Hall, Boston, by 4racas: pianists Shaoai Zhang and Nicholas Loh, and percussionists Miles Salerni and Robert O'Brien

Program notes: This is an intriguing instrumentation, because it has specific limits balanced with nearly unbounded timbral possibilities. While I'd been meaning to write more for percussion in general, Berio's Linea was my first encounter with this type of ensemble, and within about five seconds I was hooked. The Bartók was also an inspiration, especially in virtuosity for the percussionists. Smackity opens with varied rhythmic gestures strung together and tossed between the various keyboards. In Bang Bang, two repeated hits are slowed down and re-orchestrated, speeding up to reveal their original impetus. Three-and-a references the timber of Berio's opening, and stacks a lot of thirds without really taking the hint from the metronomic leading tones. In Four Or Or, everyone finally gets to dance, but they don't seem to be taking that hint, either.

Smackity Bang Bang

Lead The Way

Hyper Charm

Already Dead

#	Track Title	Artist	Label	Remixer
1	Soul 440	Metric System aka Thomas P. Heckmann	Kontakt	Vril
2	Rough Escorts	Rene Wise	Moving Pressure	
3	SK - Zero	Mari Mattham	Unknown Territory	Alexskyspirit
4	Cold Sun	UFO95	Mord	
5	World Between Worlds	SND & RTN	Echo LTD	
6	Small Talk	Gentian	Sungate	
7	Tell Me If I Am Wrong	Ana Rs	Semantica Records	
8	Vortex	Psyk	Non Series	
9	Keep Digging	Joel Mull	Parabel	
10	(=o_o=)	Polygonia	Wisdom Teeth	
11	Disposed	Connor Wall	WSNWG - BACK TO ZERO	
12	Declare Me	Simina Grigoriu	DCLTD	
13	Pulse XV	Peverelist	Livity Sound Recordings	
14	Midnight Paseo	Al Wootton	TRULE	
15	Socialite	Mython, Vault Records	Vault Records (NL)	
16	Cold Mother	Maoh	Primal Instinct	
17	Orchid Mantis	Gentian	Sungate	
18	Populism Is Money	Chlär	Primal Instinct	
19	Cave	Rene Wise	Moving Pressure	
20	Prime Directive	Peter Van Hoesen	Reclaim Your City	
21	Solution	UFO95	Mord	
22	MOOG Hero	Joel Mull	Synthetik Sounds	
23	Silo Cybin	Rene Wise	Moving Pressure	
24	Outline	Blenk	Enemy Records	
25	Relax	Rene Wise	Moving Pressure	
26	The Right Calibre	Simina Grigoriu	DCLTD	
27	Chomp Chomp	Rene Wise	Moving Pressure	
28	Altitude	Chlär	Mote Evolver	
29	Drowning	Ana Rs	Semantica Records	
30	Iruka	Alaricø	Primal Instinct	
31	I Told You Twice	Kameliia	SK_Eleven	
32	The Raven	Temudo	KALT	
33	Serac	Chlär	Mote Evolver	
34	Nocturne	Tremor	MindTrip	
35	Variables Edit 1	Peter Van Hoesen	Reclaim Your City	
36	Rising From The Ashes	R.M.K	Fossil Archive	7XINS
37	Rotation	1morning	Character	
38	AF 97	Alarico	Klockworks	
39	Manic Room	Bailey Ibbs	Frenzy Recordings	
40	Rosna	NØRBAK	Hayes	
41	Endless Love	Vinicius Honorio, Theo Nasa	Figure	
42	Bevel	Mython, Vault Records	Vault Records (NL)	
43	All Day	Drumsauw	JAM	
44	Liminal Space	Yan Cook	Delsin Records	
45	AT6	Tensal, Amorphic	Mord	
46	Asset 2	Temudo	Sublunar	
47	Chauhattar feat. Tina Ramamurthy	Amotik, Tina Ramamurthy	Amotik	
48	Floresta	GiGi FM	Sea~rène	
49	XX 22 B2	Hugo Rolan	Molecular Recordings	
50	AT4 - The Sleepwalker	Tensal, Amorphic	Mord	
51	Oscillation 4	Yrsen, Linear  System	Edit Select	
52	Circular	Vakat	MindTrip	
53	Sinto	NØRBAK	Clergy	
54	Echoing Glade	Nadia Struiwigh	The Third Room	
55	Focusa	Mmolotsi Mabua	SCORDISCI	
56	Tribal Jack	Mark Williams	ANAOH	
57	Do It Right	Mark Broom	RAW.	
58	Virgo Space Acid	GiGi FM	Sea~rène	
59	Flanger	Mark Broom	Beard Man	
60	The Drumz	Gunjack	Planet Rhythm	
61	Thugs Prayer	Gene Richards Jr	Hardgroove	
62	808 Workout	Mark Broom	Beard Man	
63	Devotion	Planetary Assault Systems	Token	Truncate


I Choose Me

lyrics:

[sample from some wife swap reality show]

there's nothing wrong with me
there's something wrong with you
you stay locked in your mind
I am out of mine

I'm insane, can't you see?
I can't stay locked inside
this body just a cage
deep down I rage

chorus
sometimes I feel these people don't understand me
but I feel I get them pretty well
they stay locked up in their shell
trapped in their own hell

coming to understand
others is quite a task
if they choose to refuse
to take off their mask

chorus

there's nothing wrong with me
there's something wrong you x3

what's wrong with me?

a queer mind perturbed by exponentially increasing mad times; 
a neuro-discordant simulacrum // a collection of phantasms[preposterous styles]; 
ethereal chaos in temporal fragments // iridescent cascades of perplex transmutations

what's wrong with me?

bricemária