Hapsis is a word in latin from Greek origin that means orbits, curve, arch, bow, hoop. Everything round. This piece explores the spaces between orbital/cyclical motion.  Composed and mastered at the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA), Stanford University, USA.


Hapsis

The Tower of Hanoi is a mathematical game, consisting on several rods and disks of different sizes that can be put on any rod following some simple instructions. The smallest rods should be at the top, forming conical shapes on each tower. As the number of added disks increases, the graph representation of the game will resemble a fractal figure, the Sierpiński triangle. Composed in home studio and mastered at LATEM studio, Music Institute, Campus Oriente, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA), Stanford University, USA.

The Tower of Hanoi

War of the Currents is a four-movement work inspired on the actual war of the same name that took place in the late 1880s, where George Westinghouse and Thomas Edison became adversaries due to Edison's promotion of direct current (DC) for electric power distribution against alternating current (AC), invented by Nikola Tesla. This work revolves around the idea of the encounter of two of the probably most attractive geniuses of all times: Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla. The piece is structured in four movements. The first one provides a sonic interpretation of Tesla’s creation of AC, which was backed by Westinghouse Electric Company. The second presents the invention of Edison’s DC, developed by Edison Electric Light Company, later known as General Electric. The third movement refers to the practice of “Westing-housing”, brutal attempts by Edison’s side to question the safety of AC by electrocuting animals such and dogs and horses. Finally, the fourth movement refers to the fact that, in May 1892, Westinghouse Electric managed to underbid General Electric on a contract to build an AC station, by electrifying the World’s Columbian Exposition in the city of Chicago, where it was demonstrated that AC was a superior alternative to DC for power stations and electricity distribution.

The movements of the piece are:

I. Tesla
II. Edison
III.Westing-housing
IV. Chicago

War of the Currents

Imber explores several characteristics and possibilities of water as a sound source. Imber is a Latin word that can be translated as rain, precipitation or storm. I invite you to get wet!

Imber

Surrogata is a latin word that could be translated as surrogacy or substitution. In the field of electroacoustic music, composer Denis Smalley coined the term surrogacy in the context of hearing sound objects, as that characteristic of the auditory system that tries to assign source to every sound, even if substitute or imagined, especially when the original source is not recognizable. In some sense, this is an opposite way of listening to Schaeffer’s reduced listening. As the degree of surrogacy increases, the more imagined or abstract are the sources. In Surrogata, this way of listening by substitution is deliberately sought and emphasized by the usage of solely pure synthetic sounds in the whole composition. As there are no recorded or natural sounds in the piece, surrogacy appears as the only possible listening strategy.

Surrogata

Vox Populi is a musical work inspired by the sounds of the social uprising in Chile, specifically those that I was able to capture while simply leaving my office and walking out to different places in Santiago during the times of the social revolt in late 2019. The sounds of marches, demonstrations, pot-bangings, shouts, dances, street vendors, vehicles, drums, and honking horns become the protagonists of this work that seeks to reflect the anger, discontent, confusion, and struggle of the Chilean people, whose silence had been accumulating since the times of the military dictatorship in the 1970s. The work is structured in a series of soundscapes that seek to recreate the atmosphere of the streets of Santiago during the social uprising. It was impressive for me to listen to a Chile that I had never heard with such force in my entire life. Through an elaborate montage of binaurally recorded sounds, I seek to generate an immersive acousmatic experience that allows the listener to dive into this chaotic and visceral environment and experience sonorously what it was like to go out into the streets in those times, without any elaborated effects or processing. The work aims to generate a reflection on the importance of sound in our perception of reality, as well as on the role of music and art in moments of social crisis.

Vox Populi

Ars Suita (the art of the suite) is an acousmatic work that revisits the panegyric trio suite "Concert instrumental sous le titre d`Apothéose de Monsieur de Lully", composed by François Couperin (1668-1733) and published in Paris in 1735. This suite serves as an homage to the French composer Jean-Baptiste Lully, who was one of the most important composers of the French Baroque era. As the music director of the royal court of France, Lully's compositions had a significant impact on French musical style.
Couperin's "Apotheosis" is a suite of pieces that includes a prelude, several dances, and a final chaconne. The suite showcases Couperin's skill in composing for a variety of instrumental combinations, including strings, winds, and continuo. Its graceful melodies, refined harmonies, and intricate counterpoint are all characteristic of the French Baroque style.
Ars Suita is structured in nine movements that follow the same structure as the original piece by Couperin. The material for each of the movements is derived from an audio recording of the original "Apotheosis" with early music instruments. Each movement uses a different sound processing technique, creating a particular sonic character for each part of this acousmatic suite.
Like many Baroque composers, Couperin paid tribute to his predecessors and contemporaries through his music. In the same spirit, Ars Suita is a small homage to Couperin, and indirectly to Lully.

Ars Suita

Iterum Vivere is a work dedicated to the UC Early Music Study (EMA), thanks to a Artistic Culture and Creation Grant from the Arts and Culture Office Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. The title, coming from Latin, can be translated as revive or live again. The idea of the piece is to give new life to the work “Concert instrumental sous le titre d`Apotheose de Monsieur de Lully” by François Couperin, a series of three trio sonatas dedicated to Jean-Baptiste Lully. The aim is to revive this work through a procedure that preserves intact the entire rhythmic structure of the work, and completely alters the pitches and harmonies. Thus, the original work is revived in a contemporary format, also accompanied by electronic music made from a recording made by the EMA of the original work.

Iterum Vivere

Iterum Revocare

Chiral explores the concept of chirality: a property whereby an object cannot be superimposed on its mirror image, as is the case with certain crystals or with human hands, essential protagonists in piano performance. In this sense, Chiral invites us to perceive music as an interaction between sonic reflections that never fully align, generating a dynamic and continuous tension between the two pianos.

The piece is structured in twelve brief movements, each delving into ring modulation as a technique for manipulating pitch material. Inspired by Mantra by Karlheinz Stockhausen, Chiral uses ring modulation not merely as a technical resource but as a fundamental element that shapes the texture and sonic color of each movement. This technique enables sounds to fuse and transform, producing a spectrum of harmonics and complex timbres that resonate and contrast with each other, generating interference patterns that evoke the idea of a "misaligned reflection."

The structure of the piece allows for an exploration of the boundaries between symmetry and asymmetry, taking the listener on a sonic journey in which each movement reflects and distorts the previous one. The pianists, engaged in a perpetual dialogue, create a space where chirality becomes tangible, blurring the line between original material and its transformation.


Chiral

Rodrigo F. Cádiz is a composer, multimedia artist, and engineer whose research and music bridge the realms of sound, technology, and performance.

Chiral

Rodrigo F. Cádiz

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