for string quartet and electronics, premiered 09/27/2014 in Royaumont by Quatuor Diotima.

Divertimento - Veränderung an Oberflächen

'Afterwards' for choir, radios and percussion soloist (2014).

I think of this piece, Afterwards, as a kind of post-apocalyptic oceanic fantasy - a dream that holds together a collection of contradictory feelings about the world as it is. 

On the one hand there is the sense of release of the joyous cataclysm: looking back from beyond some unknown catastrophic event to see all the greed and inequality, the cruelty, the stupidity, and the building social, political and environmental tensions of our age, swept aside in one fell stroke; and that this sweeping away of human civilisation has left the rest of creation free of human meddling to roam and play across the airs and waters of this planet.  

On the other hand, there is the sense of loss. Where are we in this ecstatic post-human landscape?  The fragility of human lives and culture - all the richness of music, art and all forms of thought - now only detritus, ruins beneath the waters, with all manner of dangerous rubbish left behind, adrift on the waterways of the world. This cataclysm has set us free from the present troubles, but to what and where in a post-human landscape? 

Holding all these feelings together is the community of musicians who sing, play and propel us forward, continuing to celebrate the richness of this life. And there is a collection of analogue radios, a superseded domestic technology that to me perfectly symbolises the charming and fragile cacophony of our humanity. The sounds of radio transmissions still adrift on the airwaves provide random and improbable ghosts of our passing. 

Afterwards was commissioned by the Sydney Chamber Choir for the Cloudburst program. This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body.

Stephen Adams, 8 June 2014

Premiere performance by Sydney Chamber Choir and Claire Edwardes (percussion), conducted by Elizabeth Scott. 
22 June 2014. The Great Hall, University of Sydney
Recording by 2MBS Radio
Commissioned with support from The Music Board, Australia Council.

Afterwards

High Coast Bridge, Sweden
Recorded by Jodi Rose with Björn Eriksson & Nathalie Fougeras
Performance at Lab Gallery, 27th November, 2011
http://www.lab-gallery.com/soundplatform.html
Sounds are from under & inside the pylon, road & structure of this amazing bridge!
Thanks for the guided tour: 
Ove Andersson
Analysis, IT and monitoring
Högakustenbron
Swedish Transport Administration
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%B6ga_Kusten_Bridge
http://www.wspgroup.com/en/Welcome-to-WSP-Sweden/Sectors/All/Transport-and-Infrastructure/The-High-Coast-Bridge/

HighCoastBridge_Sweden

Composer and improviser. Interested in voice and incorporating field recordings and other sounds into music performance and radio. Also busy recording, talking about and writing about other people's music as a radio and web producer. 

Afterwards

texturetext

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