listening to this once a day before bed now

Fixed media electronic works

2013, fixed media

Over the last several years, I have worked to simplify my music as much as possible--at first from a desire to avoid cluttering it up with "extra notes," and increasingly out of an impulse to get down to the most basic, essential idea I can. Pentecost is one manifestation of that drive. Its genesis lies in the contemplation of a handmade tapestry I own, a deep blue field divided by two interlocking grids of white lines. My first quick sketches--wavering pencil on blank paper--tried to take in too much; but, as I pared it down, I came to a band of interweaving lines moving across the page, individual and yet one gesture.

The title Pentecost refers to both the event and the feast in Christian tradition: the descent of tongues of flame onto the heads of a waiting, wondering band of disciples. The weaving lines of my sketches circle and descend, a moment suspended in time, imagined in sound.

(the present version of Pentecost is a stereo remix based on an octophonic remix I did in February 2014, replacing the original stereo file from October 2013)

Pentecost

Pentecost (2013)

Abandon (2013)

Latest Mix: 6 November 2022

David D. McIntire: Berhinger 2600 + Erica SYNTRX

Things to See & Do in Svalbard (original version)

Put together using the multimedia controller software ianniX and an AM synth built in Max/MSP. Floating, bending layers of sound are mapped to a series of objects in ianniX's 2D space.

Miniature (2014)

CLOUDS, LIGHT is the fruit of a series of private improvisations I did in April 2016, throwing a variety of simple sounds through a tangled web of sixty-five or so delay lines to see what they would do (this we call “research”). I liked the results of one in particular enough to return to it sporadically over the next six months, pushing and pulling and prodding it until I figured it was really time to call it done and move on to the next big project. The thick haziness of the beginning gradually rises and clarifies until it gives way to a quiet, delicate, warm interlude. The work closes resubmerged in the dense murk, the brief glimmer of light through the clouds passed into memory.

This track is a stereo mix of the 8-channel version.

Clouds, Light (2016)

A simple, resonant gesture, bending heavenward. A plea.

Miniature (2016)

THE DEEPS articulates a single gesture divided into three contrasting sections, drawn from a recorded sample of boiling water. Though the source material is never completely obscured, it is filtered and altered in order to bring into super-real relief its contrasts and textural drama, evoking more profound imagery than its rather mundane beginnings might suggest.

This recording is a stereo mix of the 8-channel version.

The Deeps (2017)

Sextet by Makiah Heinzmann

An exceptional studio recording, by STELLAR violinist Yu-Fang Chen, of a piece written in Rome in 1989, as the Berlin wall was falling and Eastern Europe was experiencing a newfound freedom.  The opening and closing sections reflect the folk sound of these countries, while the scherzo-like middle section reflects the energy and optimism of a new era.

Soggiorno (for Violin And Fixed Media)

To hear with Richard Johnson's original video art:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAzwZweqzA8&feature=youtu.be

One of the most striking and defining visuals of the United States Deep South is that of the southern live oak tree (Quercus virginiana) shrouded in Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides). A tangled and bluish-grey flowering plant, Spanish moss can be seen draped from the sprawling, gnarled branches of oaks throughout the region, hanging ghost-like across its swampy landscape. Southern Specter adopts this poetic image as its subject and is comprised of two different kinds of music. The first is both representational and external, in that it seeks to be a musical embodiment of a moss-covered tree, depicting the delicate moss swaying in a gentle breeze and the tree’s appearance under various gradations of sunlight. The second kind of music is expressive and internal, seeking to convey the various thoughts and feelings one might have upon viewing such an image. Having grown up on the Gulf Coast of Texas, I could not help but channel my own emotional experiences which have ranged from serenity, solemnness, and nostalgia to gloom and ominousness. Richard Johnson’s accompanying film plays with analogous concerns on the visual front: perspective, representation versus abstraction, light and shadow, and ambiguity.

Special thanks to Jungle Gardens of Avery Island, Louisiana, for film footage and inspiration.

Performance on April 8, 2018, by Loop38
Douglas DeVries, flute
Jacob Schafer, violin
Sergein Yap, viola
Nathan Watts, cello
Yvonne Chen, piano

Southern Specter (2018)

This is the finished piece. Use headphones for the full effect.

Beneath The Subconscious

Pre-release mix of my new spatial audio work Transfiguration, the final version of which will be included on an upcoming release from Irritable Hedgehog Music, "Pentecost."


Transfiguration is the second of a planned triptych of meditations on the interactions, the comings-and goings-and-union, between the tangible and spiritual worlds. The gospels relate the Transfiguration as the visible illumination of the depth of reality veiled in flesh in the person of Jesus: “his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light.”

Like its companion piece, Pentecost, Transfiguration is crafted from a simple sound source (in this case, a one-second contrabassoon sample). Following a pen-and-paper sketch, the work blooms from muted simplicity to a rich, layered texture before returning to a single tone, now flush with the afterglow of its brief metamorphosis.

Transfiguration

Transfiguration (2018) PRE-RELEASE

a glimpse of the truth in the shadowstorm

Sonata for Oboe and Piano (3rd movement)
https://composerjim.com/works/sonata-oboe/

(total) duration: 15′

program notes by the composer:

In the winter of 2014, I was asked to step in and guest-conduct a local youth orchestra. In the effort to familiarize the young musicians with the concept that “all composers are not dead”, I shared with them the fact that I was a real-life, full-time composer, who actually makes his living staying at home and writing music all day. As expected (with youngsters), there were no “oohs” nor “aahs”, nor any sign of light-bulbs going on, so we just continued on with our work and the task at hand.

However, upon completion of the rehearsal, I was approached by one of the parents, who was sitting in the back of the room, and we struck up a conversation. Apparently he had been listening to my story, and was curious about my life as a composer. As an professional inventor himself, we shared similarities in our life’s passions.

The conversation with Mr. Doug Williams went even further, and imagine my surprise and delight when he approached me with the idea of writing a new work.  The project was so compelling (to me, at least), that I immediately agreed to it, and the idea of the oboe sonata was born. The piece was to be for his daughter, as a gift upon her graduation from Juilliard.  As a parent myself, I could not think of a better gift to a child. This piece is dedicated, with pleasure, to Doug Williams, and his daughter, Lauren. Thank you for your unique and giving spirit, and for furthering the idea of new music being invented!

About the music:

The sonata is similar in form to that of the Poulenc oboe sonata (one of Doug’s favorites): slow-fast-slow. The first movement itself, however, has an internal form of slow-fast-slow, mirroring the larger picture. An octave-leap motif initiates the piece, and becomes a central figure throughout the work. In mirror-image to the first movement, the second movement has an internal structure of fast-slow-fast. The movement is a showcase for both players – as sonatas ought to be – and is meant to highlight both the technical and lyrical attributes of the soloists. The third movement is a chorale-like dirge. It is marked “funereal” – mainly for purposes of tempo. It is not as morbid as the tempo-marking suggests, but certainly carries a sense of longing. It finally resolves in E major – a key suggested throughout, but never fully realized.

Jim Stephenson; April, 2014

Sonata for Oboe and Piano - 3rd movement

Galactic Peace is the third track on "Symbiotique", the debut album of Davis & Eaton

Since 2017, Seth Andrew Davis & Michael Eaton have been organizing and playing together in Second Nature Ensemble and Social Ecology Project, exploring group improvisation and composition. With “Symbiotique”, Davis & Eaton play as a duo. “Symbiotique” consists of 8 tracks where Davis & Eaton explore each other's compositional and improvisational voices, ranging from free improvisation to heavily processed electro-acoustic explorations.


“Symbiotique” is the inaugural release of Davis & Eaton’s record label Mother Brain Records. Mother Brain Records is a Kansas City based label focusing on improvised and experimental musics.

releases May 1, 2020

Seth Andrew Davis - electric guitar/FX
Michael Eaton - woodwinds

Recorded at Parcheesi Studio in Huntington, NY
Recorded by Bob Stander at Parcheesi Studios
Mixed & Mastered by Seth Andrew Davis

Galactic Peace - Davis & Eaton

Composer, percussionist, and guitarist. Ears wide open. Recently a professor of composition and music theory at Washington State University, currently catching my breath.

Lots more here: linktr.ee/scottblasco

Pentecost (2013)

scottblasco

Recent comments

Kirill Polyanskiy

davisghill

Brian Padavic

Related tracks