Still Air 3
for oboe, bass clarinet and electronics year: 2014 duration: 11:30 min studio: Harvard University
first performance: March 01, 2014
by Arthur Sato - oboe and Alejandro Acierto - bass clarinet , Fromm Players at Harvard Festival
Still Air 3 is part of a cycle for wind instruments and electronics. These compositions explore the sonorities of quiet, but complex sounds and blend the live instruments with prepared electronic sounds. As a stark contrast to many of my other compositions which explore speed and density, this cycle is meant to search for musical expression with very little activity.
Still Air 3 unites the two solo pieces:
Still Air 1 for bass clarinet and
Still Air 2 for oboe
Each musician has his own technical set-up.
- Both musicians play into an iPad, mounted on a microphone stand or music stand.
- Each iPad is connected to two small speakers, positioned on the floor behind the player.
- Both instruments should be very close to the devices microphone.
- While performing the duo version, the two IOS-devices synchronize to stay together.
- Both devices need to run iOS 7 or higher.
- The electronics in both pieces are composed of two layers.
- The first layer could be understood like a “tape” part, which is divided into 24 events.
- The second layer varies depending on the musicians amplitude. The iPad built-in microphone captures the instruments live sound and varies intensity and pitch of the prepared sound files.
- It is this interaction which creates a strong unity between the life player and the electronics.
video with Arthur Sato and Alejandro Acierto
score: