tin birds (2014) is a four-channel generative audio installation.  All of the sounds comprising the piece are being synthesized and controlled in real-time.  Each moment's sonic makeup is determined by a complex network of math and signal routing, but at the core of the work, there are two instruments making sound: one which generally sings like a miniature Hammond organ, high and contemplative, but prone to occasional fits; and one which is continually winding itself up and down – Sisyphus on a bicycle.

This is a five-minute, stereo excerpt which displays a swath of various textures and timbres the installation has the ability to create.

Created by Warren Enstrom with Plogue Bidule.

tin birds (sample)

When we read, we're not reading the paper.  We're reading the ink.  But what does the paper say?

Rene Edelstein, clarinet; Michelle McKenzie, violin.
Composed by Warren Enstrom.

the paper ones (clarinet + violin)

keen

mvt. V from prussian blue

For voice and piano.

prussian blue: mvt. V: intermission

mvt. III: luther from prussian blue

For voice, bass trombone, and electronics.

prussian blue: mvt. III: luther

mvt. II: ink from prussian blue

For bassoon, bass trombone, and piano.

prussian blue: mvt. II: ink

mvt. I: ink from prussian blue

For four voices, paper shredder, and electronics.

prussian blue: mvt. I: opening

mvt. VI: whiteboard from prussian blue

For bassoon, bass trombone, and two performers.

prussian blue: mvt. VI: whiteboard

mvt. IV: brian from prussian blue

For voice, bassoon, bass trombone, and piano.

Based on electronics by Brian Lynch, which can be heard here:
https://soundcloud.com/noisehead/for-warren

prussian blue: mvt. IV: brian

mvt. VII: piano from prussian blue

For piano and electronics.

prussian blue: mvt. VII: piano

mvts. VIII - IX: fractal - closing

fractal: for voice, bassoon, and bass trombone.
closing: for voice, bassoon, bass trombone, and piano.

prussian blue: mvts. VIII - IX: fractal - closing

Study for Cymbals was inspired by a movement in Kate Soper’s Voices from the Killing Jar, in which the vocalist, after playing the piano, clarinet, and doing a myriad of other non-singing things, sits down to a cymbal and begins to caress the surface, teasing out delicate, intimate sounds from an instrument often
associated only with noise.

Though the entire piece is wonderful, that scene in particular stood out to me, I was enamoured by the evocative manner in which the cymbal was played. As my ideas developed, I started to realize the piece (as well as the technique used within) was all about gesture, so I developed a score that would best reflect the gestural ideas that I was starting to imagine.

Study for Cymbals was written for the UWM Percussion Ensemble for the Wisconsin Percussive Arts Society's Days of Percussion and was premiered on January 24, 2015.

Warren Enström

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