this moment four images for bassoon with digital delay and piano
Gregory C. Brown 2012
Current as of October 20, 2013 Versions before this date are inaccurate
Commissioned by and Dedicated to Ryan Romine
Program Note This is a piece about the performer as a canvas. Each movement from this work is based on a different photograph taken, by me, in the summer of 2012 using the mobile social media app, Instagram. The music represents the aesthetic of the photograph as well as the moment that the photo recalls in my memory. Digital delay is used in a myriad of fashions to directly imitate details of the photographs while the music uses these details to create a sound painting with a narrative structure. I want to encourage future performers of this work to choose their own photographs as a basis for creating a unique work in which he or she is personally and deeply invested. This piece is gratefully dedicated to Ryan Romine for being an excellent musician as well as an inspiring, comedic and humble soul. Performance Notes If possible, respective photographs should be projected with their accompanying movements, with all other lights in the space turned off. Projections should fade into one another just before the movement begins. Send an email to the composer (address listed below) to receive high-definition files of the original photographs. Digital delay patches can be triggered in the Apple application, Mainstage 2.2 or later, which can be purchased from the Apple App Store (patches included on attached CD). The bassoonist will trigger the patch changes using a footswitch, plugged into a MIDI controller connected to the laptop. A particular button or key on the MIDI controller should be assigned for the “tempo tap” function. The easiest, most effective method for performing the bassoon's delay processing would be to use a pickup from the instrument. A cable will run from this pickup into an audio interface, which is connected to the computer running Mainstage. A keyboard amplifier, such as a Roland KC-150, should be used, with a cable going from the audio interface's output into the amplifier. Make sure that in Mainstage's preferences that audio output and input are set to the audio interface. Mainstage is set to run easily from there. Feel free to email the composer at brown.gregoryc@gmail.com with any questions. Approximate performance time: 23’30”
1. Smoke (canon)
2. Structure (rondo)
3. Look (interlude)
4. AgapĂŠ (chorale und fantasy)