Juraj Kojs

Solitary Gardens (2002)

for female voice and tape

This composition combines computer-synthesized and human voice sonorities. A number of vowels were designed in SuperCollider to create a communicational bridge between the real and virtual voice sound. The extended techniques are the principal sonic set of the vocal part. The voice floats surrealistically on the surface of the techno pulsating tape part.

Solitary Gardens may be performed by any female voice. The three-line notation indicates the registers rather than concrete pitch locations. The bottom line suggests the low, the middle line the middle, and the top line the high register. The score is organized in the following manner: The vertical axis specifies the pitch, and the horizontal axis shows the time.

The piece was completed in Miami in the spring of 2002. It is a portion of a large-scale multimedia composition Letters to Wakantanka. The following original poem was used in the piece:

“Solitary gardens
I shall not leave
without a granite stone
from your salty pathways…”

The composition was premiered by Virginia Hill on the Earth Concert (University of Virginia) on April 22, 2003.
Duration: 5’35”

Audio Example (1.4MB)

Virginia Hill, voice

Score examples: