Output details

Reflected Glory. Composition for cello solo, pre-recorded cello, film and costume. Commissioned by Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival/ Performing Rights Society. Premiered at HCMF, 19th November, 2012, Deirdre Cooper (cello). Score and DVD (film of live performance). URL and festival brochure evidence date of dissemination.

The main research imperative in this composition for live cello and life-sized filmed avatar relates to the fundamental research question: how can we perceive ‘real’ time events compared to an ‘artificial now’ manipulated through prerecorded sound? This interaction between present and projected past reality is the basic material of the piece. Core research processes related to the depiction of temporal stasis in the background elements, serving as a mechanism to create the illusion of‘suspended time. This narrative between foreground and background is embellished through the incorporation of an extrovert costume, and illusory lighting, which also significantly affects perceptions of temporality A life-sized figure emerges from utter darkness. The slow film speed and the depth of visual detail are an attempt to portray a 'moving painting' (Vermeer). The temporal dislocations reinforce ambiguity: is the musician ‘live’ or pre-recorded? The music attempts to define separate temporal planes. Stasis correlates with pitch permutations, which are manipulated, reinterpreted and, recontextualized through measured silence. Musical decisions effect the subsequent perception of foreground and background. Pitch boundaries are expanded downwards from E-C, counterpointing in defined opposition to the moving upper foreground line. The dramatic dialogue begins visually. The live performer’s stylize and costumed entrance personifies an overt theatricality, contrasted with the on-screen simplicity. The ‘live’ music is initially reserved, responding to established sonorities. Leading with a high harmonic, a time-manipulated harmonic progression is suspended. A foreground top-downward pedal-note underpins the harmonic direction of the invariant sonic filigree-like content beneath. Visual material and music is constructed in an overall arc-shape. The piece forces a type of cognitive analysis, focusing on the relationship between the ‘live’ and screened performer, creating perceptions of both reality and unreality. Collaborators: Chris Schmidt (film); Lou Stein (director); Alexander Ruth (costume).