Abyss (2015)

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for fixed media

8'30

Commissioned by the New Music Forum at Stellenbosch

Premiere: 28 May 2015. Slee Gallery, Stellenbosch, South Africa

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Abyss was composed for the Clocks and Clouds: A tribute to Ligeti event held at Slee Gallery in Stellenbosch in 2015. The work is a response to György Ligeti’s orchestral works Atmosphères and Apparitions. The slow-moving, cluster-driven character of Atmosphères lays the groundwork for my own piece, a patchwork of sounds from fingernails scratching on the strings of the piano and guitar, processed human screams, and synths. From Apparitions, I took, as inspiration, the impulsive music of that work’s ‘agitato’ second movement.For the premiere, artist Nicola Kaden created her own work in real-time in response to Abyss.