viola and fixed electronics (2012)
Mara Gearman, viola
Recorded at Jack Straw Studio, Seattle, WA
instrumentation
viola
stereo audio file
details
Duration: 9 minutes
Premiere: June 2, 2012
The Stone, New York, NY
purchase music
DIGITAL / PDF
Score + Audio File — $30
Performance materials will be sent via email within 1-3 days.
program note
In Seduction Involves Patience, my goal was to illuminate the powerful sound of the viola, extending it outward to fill the performance space. The live instrument dodges and weaves through the electronic part, created entirely from viola recordings, which repeatedly expands and contracts from thick walls of sound to delicate ripples. Sometimes the live viola plays in the foreground, but at other times it slips around behind the electronics or blends seamlessly into the texture. Because the range of the viola is similar to that of the human voice, it sounds to me as if it is singing a journey through a jagged mountain range in constantly changing weather.