The Sinister Glamour of Modernity

Full description

For two instruments.
​Dedicated to Dawn Bennett.
​
Premiered: Dawn Bennett (viola) and Diana Blom (piano), Curtin University April 2, 2013 with futher performances at University of Western Sydney and Edith Cowan University.
Vibraphone and viola version premiered by Pheobe Green and Leah Scholes in Melbourne, June 2016, with further performances at Griffith University and Sydney Conservatorium
​Laptop version premiered by Judy Curry at University of Centra Missouri, USA in November 2016.

..."an exceptionally creepy, spidery sound underpinning the viola’s drunken, careening lines." is Mathew Lorenzon, 2016 Partial Durations.

This piece for explores ways different instruments describe the tracing of memory. Can the things that happen in a place or time be somehow recorded or remembered if there is no 'physical' evidence of them? Using the performers aural skills to find and trace each others pitch and dynamic choices - not provided in the score - this work uses the concept of the sustained note as a parallel to a longterm memory etch. The work is inspired by Australian author Ross Gibson's book ' Seven Versions of an Australian Badlands', and the title is taken from one of the chapters of that book. E-bows are used on the piano to create ghost like sustained tones uncharacteristic of the piano.

To perform this piece, you will need the score file and the Decibel Score Player which you will need to read on an iPad. You can also read it a a video. A digital or hard copy of the score is available from Material Press.
Below is the score to this peice, a recording on viola and piano and a performance by a laptop performer.