Where Sea Meets Sky 1

This piece was inspired by a plane journey from Sydney to Auckland on a particularly beautiful, clear day. One was conscious of drifting in a blue void as there was no distinction between the sky and the sea. Only when cloud formations appeared could a point of reference be determined.
The aspects of 'blue void' and cloud formations in their varying complexity provide the focal points of the piece which has several sections.
In its overall emotive aspect,  'Where Sea Meets Sky' is a musical image of these lines from Ian Wedde's poem 'Those Others':

The sea does not meet the sky. They kiss only
in our minds. They are priceless in that space
which recedes for ever
where we make them lovers
forever.

The poet himself recites these lines towards the end of the work.

A companion piece, Where Sea meets Sky 2     for instrumental ensemble, is an outgrowth of this electronic piece. 

Both pieces are dedicated to Douglas Lilburn.

Where Sea Meets Sky 1

People, Power And Pollution

'Pacific Soundscapes with Dancing' was composed in 1995 at the Computer Music facility, Centre  for the Arts, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver. The work is based on computer transformations of environmental sounds derived from the following:  sea with cicadas and stream,  bell birds and parrots  recorded on Little Barrier Island(Hauturu) and   volcanic activity on Whte Island (Whakaari) including ominous sounds from a vent in the side of  the main crater and delicate bubbling sulphur streams.  

The dancing referred to in the title is an electronic image of boisterous Pacific drumming ensembles  and  is derived from a tiny fragment of the opening of the composer's  "Composition 4 for Flute   and Electronic Sounds". These sounds are extended beyond their environmental settings by  granulation and time stretching.

Pacific Soundscapes With Dancing

White Island

AN INNER VOICE  

An Inner Voice was composed in the Composition Studios of the School of Music, University of Auckland in 1990 and 1991. The work also uses extra source material  from the Computer Music Facility at Simon Fraser University. 

The piece is based on the well known saying "you reap what you sow" and  uses a rich palette of sampled sounds including short wave radio, guitar and voices as well as computer-generated sounds. A feature of the work is the use of spatial elements- foreground and background, left and right and the contrast of different pitch registers.

Fleeting Images

An Inner Voice

BEYOND THE SAYING 

In this work the well-known saying " you reap what you sow" heard in 
An Inner Voice is transformed in such a way that the listener no 
longer hears the words and therefore comprehends their meaning but 
instead is transported into a dramatic and fantastic soundworld. In  
this musical environment speech becomes singing. 

Beyond The Saying uses five main types of sounds: 
1. A brush stroke-like gesture which is heard at the beginning and 
which articulates the beginning of new sections. It is later developed  
"into a series of comical gestures. 
2. Those which are based on the dipthongs of the text 'ou','ea', etc.
The sequences which use these sounds function in a similar way to  
the thematic material in a large scale work such as a symphony.
3. Displays of percussive consonants especially 'p', 't' and 's' from the  
words 'reap', 'what' and 'sow'. 
4. Arch shapes which consist of pure sine wave-like sonorities.
5. The stretching in time of individual words. Here the inflexions of 
the spoken voice are magnified up to one hundred times the original 
recording. This type is particularly noticeable in the final section  
where the composer's speech is transformed into a male voice choir. 

Beyond The Saying was composed in July and August 1990 at the 
Computer Music Facility, Centre for Arts, Simon Fraser University in 
Vancouver, Canada. The work uses a granular synthesis technique  
 developed by Barry Truax at SFU.

Beyond The Saying

A Vocalise for Einstein 

This piece is based on Einstein's famous saying about religion and science: 

"Religion without science is  blind
 Science without religion is lame."

and uses a granulation synthesis technique with the voice of the American soprano Neva Pilgrim, as the principal sound source. As part of  this technique, words are stretched in time to produce long moving sound arches each of which has many levels of perception. In addition, the spoken voice is highly coloured, an effect which is similar to that produced by  the well-known phase vocoder. 

The composition of A Vocalise for Einstein was begun at the Computer Music Facility of the Centre for the Arts, Simon Fraser University in Vancouver in August 1990 and the work was completed in the Composition Studios of the School of Music, University of Auckland in February 1991. The granulation synthesis technique was developed by Barry Truax.

A Vocalise For Einstein

Computer generated sounds using "Alchemy" iPad software.
The search for gold in medieval times inspired alchemists to investigate all manner of substances creating new chemistries but always falling short of the target.

Ancient Chemistry

A series of sonic reflections on Hokusai’s famous wood print “The Great Wave of Kanogawa”. These focus particularly on the delicate details of the print with added human aspects such as bell-like and sustained vocal sounds.  

This piece was completed in March 2019.

Hokusai Reflections

Fragments of dreams provide the stimulus for this short piece composed under lockdown in 2020; the sound of an oboe which has the resonance of a wine glass; a grandchild’s call to offer coffee; the sound of a cappuchino maker and distant voices. All these sound sources are contrasted by granular textures which suggest dying embers. These textures utilize some of the considerable resources of the Alchemy Synthesizer within Apple’s Logic program.

John Rimmer New Zealand Composer

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