Action can define, guide and inform all aspects of compositional process and foster musical expression. For example, a circular gesture framed on a body of an instrument can suggest a pitch sequence, temporal progression and dynamic curve as well as the mode of how to notate such gesture. Gesture iterations may lead to a formation of phrases and sentences and even to a construction of an action-based musical language. Composers such as John Cage, Mauricio Kagel and Helmut Lachenmann have investigated areas of such language. Works included in this collection explore the territory of actions in the acoustic and electroacoustic domains. In the electroacoustic pieces, the physical models predominantly contribute to a creation of partnership with their physical doubles. Physical modeling syntheses, in fact form an excellent vehicle for conceptualization of actions and instruments in the digital domain. Compositional and theoretical principles of action-based musical practice are further described in my articles The Language of Action and Cyberaction-based Music: Theory and Practice [pdf] and Notating Action-Based Music [pdf].

The project features Ensemble Pamplemousse, a performer/composer collective devoted to presenting the works of its members and other like-minded composers.

• Year composed: 2006-2013
• Year released: 2015
• DVD available on Pink Pamphlet
• Instrumentation: flute, violin, cello and piano +/- electronics
• Duration: 67’21”

VIII (2009) for piano.

David Broome, piano.

A collection of eight piano miniatures in which actions play the principal role for creating musical content.

Duration: 16’40”

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Concealed (2006; rev. 2013) for flute and electronics

Natacha Diels, flute

Concealed belongs to a series of pieces inspired by poetry of St. John of Cross. In Concealed-which is based on the Dark Night’s second verse, the flute predominantly produces colored noise. The pitches derived from the letters of the poem are concealed and are heard mostly via timbral manifestations. The electronic part uses recordings of Dan Trueman’s MAX/MSP implementation of the flute physical model designed by Perry Cook and Gary Scavone (originally ported in STK). The model augments the registral and textural areas of the physical flute. A continuously deforming tube model from Ableton Live’s Corpus engine also appears in this updated version.

Duration: 7’06”

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To Where He Waited (2006; rev. 2013) for flute and electronics

Jessie Marino, cello

To Where He Waited also belongs to the series of pieces inspired by St. John of Cross’s Dark Night, in this case its fourth stanza. The selected vowels and consonants from the poem are concealed in the pitch world that is predominantly heard as color. The cello part is indeed structured to highlight beauty suppressed in the residual string and body sonorities. The cello signal excites two string physical models from Ableton Live’s Corpus and Stefania Serafin’s MAX/MSP implementation of a singing bowl model.

Duration: 6’52”

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Adventures of an Annihilated Mirror (2012) for flute, violin, cello and piano

Ensemble Pamplemousse: Natacha Diels, flute, Kiku Enomoto, violin, Jessie Marino, cello and David Broome, piano.

Structurally developed into sections based on an original poem, this work explores a wide range of physical gestures as musical expressions. The musical terrain emerges from highly virtuosic sounding and silent actions. Some parts call for emotional and musical decisions, enabling the musicians to leave a personal imprint in the creative performance.

Thousand years I sought you
over and above
“Widen, widen the place!”
Passing in perpetual exaltation
like a tortured lion in the deep abyss
Shouting, illumining
what remained…within herself.

Duration: 16’28”

The composition was commissioned by and is dedicated to the Ensemble Pamplemousse.

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The Guiding Night (2007, rev. 2013) for violin and electronics

Kiku Enomoto, violin

The Guiding Night also belongs to the series of pieces inspired by poetry of St. John of Cross. It is based on the fifth verse of his Dark Night. Similarly to To Where He Waited, the instrument presents string actions that result in the sonorities of colored noise. The pitches (derived from the letters of the poem) are concealed and manifests itself in the timbral residual. The electronic part uses the MAX/MSP implementation of the bowed and plucked string physical models designed by Stefania Serafin. The models augment sonorities of the physical violin through extending its registral and textural areas. The violin signal additionally functions to tune the models in real time. The digital processing is further accentuated in Ableton Live via the MAX for Live bridge.

Duration: 10’25”

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All Forgotten (2006, rev. 2013) for piano and electronics

David Broome, piano

All Forgotten is the last from the the series of pieces inspired St. John of Cross’s Dark Night poem, in particular its eighth verse. The pianist bows the strings with his fingers inside the instrument to release their inner musical potential. The howling strings colorize the limited pitch space. Ableton Live’s Corpus tube models and a MAX/MSP implementation of the marimba physical model designed by Stefania Serafin generate the electronic part. The piano and marimba pitches correspond with the ‘musical’ letters extracted from the poem. Rhythmically, the composition explores the hendecasyllabic meter of Dark Night.

Duration: 9’50”

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