Speak
Composed by Joanne Cannon, software
by Stuart Favilla, this work for improviser/s and interactive
computer algorithms takes a performer/s and the audience through
a 17 year history of Joanne's leukemia. Players navigate a complex
map of musical events which document personal experiences of the
disease, desperate contingencies, treatment, and long lasting
effects. "This is a musical Tour deForce" Michael Kieran Harvey
Speak is an interactive sound-experience
piece for 2 to five chamber improvisers. The piece was inspired
by the game-style works of Stockhausen, Gelhard and Zorn and seeks
to immerse the participating musicians deep within the material/process
connecting to the experience of the subject matter.
Graphic Score, music, MAX software
and CD recording, US $110.00
[*available through mail or email
order only.]
Speak
A performance of "Speak" is constructed
from three structural components. These include the graphic score,
the sound experiences and the computer algorithms. The bassoonist/or
player/s, play the part of the patient/subject, whereas the computer
performed part/s represents the disease; either Leukemia or depression/anxiety
[which are stages of the disease once the patient enters remission].
The graphic score maps solutions for sequencing the sound experience
material. The score is read generally from the top left of the
page to the bottom right. Players begin at the red dot [top-left]
and either exit the piece at one of the three black death squares,
or alive; at the black dot [bottom right]. Red lines represent
having Leukemia. Black lines signify being in remission. The player
can travel any direction along a straight line, [either forward
or backwards]. The two bent lines represent ways a patient can
come out of remission: they can only be travelled backwards ie
from bottom right back up to the L1 square.
Sound experience locations on the
graphic score can be repeated, however they must be played as
new variations/extemporizations. The sound experiences constitute
a musical vocabulary for the piece. Sound experiences are fragments,
phrases etc with a corresponding text for interpretation and further
improvisation. They are composed specifically for the bassoon.
Other instruments should adapt/transpose etc. Bassoon multi-phonics
can be interpreted as either harmonic entities or beating dissonances.
Sound experiences are grouped into families relating to types
of events or stages within the history of my disease. Squares
represent pre-treatment, while Circles represent treatment stages
of the disease. Where dynamics are left out the player can choose
which dynamic the memory requires. Players should perform the
memories at suitable tempos of their choosing. Larger ensembles
should layer tempi. A MAX program performs pitch variations/echoes
of live performance. This material is then played on MIDI synthesisers
and the attack, duration and phrasing is assembled and performed
by a conductor/performer. Software is included with the score.
Review by
Michael Kieran Harvey
...."Every sound has been thought
about deeply and is meticulously catalogued and visualised. She
manages to combine improvisation with notation in a compelling
way - as opposed to the "go with the flow" failures of much work
in this area - no mean feat when the philosophical approaches
are so contrary. In this work I am reminded of Stravinsky's maxim
of infinite variation within strict parameters, however in this
case the strict parameters include an extra-musical element of
perhaps premature death after a life of assorted tortures, concepts
he never had to face. I am reminded of the transcendental and
magnanimous strivings of Liszt, Messiaen and Stockhausen in the
work of this young woman...that a person can seek expression of
their anguish and their ideals most effectively through music,
an abstracted if not higher form of human thought, something that
can transcend language, ideological and political boundaries.
I find this an affirmation both of the artform as something mysterious
and eternally sublime, and of the endless evolutionary capabilities
of certain gifted human beings. This work "Speak" is the essence
of real music, and of a real musician. Kind Regards, Michael Kieran
Harvey."
