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A composition made up of the sounds of the New York Stock Exchange and the violin. A meeting of antithetical worlds: the violin a symbol of the world of European art music and the stock exchange, a powerful American symbol of the world whose business is business. But as Skibell uses the materials, distinctions blur and meanings get exchanged. Skibell used the Sun 3-based digital synthesis system at the Brooklyn College Center for Computer Music to analyze, process and organize the sounds of the exchange and the violin into a musical dialogues. Renowned violinist Rolf Schulte performed in this work. Commissioned by NEW AMERICAN RADIO.
More Harris SkibellBiographyHARRIS SKIBELL (New York, NY) is a composer, sound designer, and multimedia designer. As a composer he has gravitated towards use of computers and direct digital synthesis and analysis to process and produce recorded sound. He has been composer-in-residence at the Columbia University Computer Music Studios, the Center for Computer Music at Brooklyn College, and at Studio PASS in New York City. His works have been performed or broadcast internationally. Recently he contributed sound to the Voyager CD-ROM The Beat Experience (for the music production company Tomanandy) and is now working on sound design projects and musical machines for the Web. He has completed three works for NEW AMERICAN RADIO: Exchange, (1989), Watunna (The Telling) (1990), and Around (1993).
Other Radio WorksAround (1993)An interior musical and verbal monologue about psychic and physical wandering. Set in New York City, it chronicles a character's attempt to escape into the drama and energy of the city. As the piece progresses, the character's narrative begins to be projected onto surrounding sounds, and a structure begins to emerge from the act of wandering through the multiple ambiences of the city. Sounds for Around were composed from a guitar feedback algorithm, from the CB radios in New York City taxis, and from numerous city recordings. Created on the NeXT computer using CMIX, CSound, RT and other direct digital synthesis software packages. Commissioned by NEW AMERICAN RADIO. Watunna (The Telling) (1990)Text adapted by Susan Lepselter. A collaborative work that juxtaposes creation myths of the Makiritari culture in Venezuela -- the oldest known creation myths in the Americas -- with the musicalized sounds of New York City. Lepselter's narrative includes poetic adaptations of the original texts. The sounds of New York serve as the contemporary screen on which to view the text. And they illustrate the text in the same way that orchestral instruments illustrate the text of Peter and the Wolf. Created at the Columbia University Computer Music Studios. Reading by Lepselter. Commissioned by NEW AMERICAN RADIO. |