Vast Ocean |
This piece was inspired by Stanislaw Lem's novel Solaris and Tarkovsky's and Soderbergh's cinematic versions of the novel. For me, the most interesting part of the story is that the Solaris, the ocean, gives different perspectives on a character's past experience. In this piece, the solo trombone is the main character (maybe Kelvin in the novel) and the live electronics which are directly related to the soloist's performance, the ocean. Gradually the electronics extend to the orchestras which are split in almost equal groups: stage right and stage left. I wrote the trombone part first, and then worked on the live electronics. I then tried to make the electro-acoustic dimension soak into the orchestras. These result in a sound world where the trombone plays, the electronics react to that material which is in turn imitated by the orchestra. Then part of the orchestral work is passed on to solo piano or viola. I tried creating a chain of musical relationships which pass between different the instrumental groups on stage and the speakers off stage. For the most part the two orchestras play contrasting material, although they play together with the electronics, but diagonally through the auditorium. For example, the music which enters auditorium right, is played together with the orchestra on stage right. Dai Fujikura (edited by Harry Ross) |