Output details

Austerity Measures II

First performed by Christopher Redgate (Howarth-Redgate oboe) and the Kreutzer Quartet, Wilton’s Music Hall, 12 June 2013.

Recording of first performance: http://soundcloud.com/davidgortonmusic/austerity-measures-ii

Austerity Measures II exists as a set of parts; there is no score. The oboe part is composed almost entirely of a new subcategory of ‘unstable’ multiphonics that was discovered on the new Howarth-Redgate oboe by Redgate and Gorton during a series of experimental workshops. Many of these have beating characteristics and can be varied significantly through subtle changes in the embouchure or through small transitional movements of the fingers on the keys. The multiphonics are notated using a tablature style notation in which groups of note-heads represent fingerings on the keys rather than resultant sounds. Rhythmic indications are mostly omitted from the oboe part, with the pacing of materials controlled by the use of barlines that represent the passing of approximately twenty seconds of clock-time, and a system of cues that maintains a loose but essential degree of ensemble coordination. The strings parts are the same as Gorton’s 3rd String Quartet, which itself is generated through the simultaneous performance of Passacaglia for violin and cello, and Cadence for violin and viola. The deliberate lack of strict temporal synchronicity between the parts allows for an improvisational approach to the production of the unstable oboe multiphonics within the large-scale structure.

Work on the piece was presented at the following conferences: Tracking the Creative Process in Music, Université de Montréal, 10-12 October 2013; Performance Studies Network Second International Conference, University of Cambridge, 4-7 April 2013; The (Re)sounding Experiment, Orpheus Instituut, Ghent, 20-21 February 2013.

The research processes are also described in the following book chapter: David Gorton and Christopher Redgate, ‘Austerity Measures and Rich Rewards’ in The (Re)Sounding Experiment, ed. Kathleen Coessens (Orpheus publications, Leuven University Press, forthcoming).