Keith HAMEL - "Faded Memories, Faded Jeans" (excerpt)

performed by the Vancouver New Music Ensemble, Owen Underhill, conductor

"In many respects, Faded Memories, Faded Jeans is the culmination of much of my thinking both in terms of compositional process and in terms of the interaction between acoustic and electoacoustic elements. The work was commissioned by IRCAM and was created in the IRCAM studios in Paris using the MAX-FTS environment; the composition was recently reconstructed to run on MAX/MSP. As well as live processing of the instruments, the piece includes a large number of vocal samples which are taken from a wide variety of sources: medieval chant, pop music, readings of Milton, nonsense speech, as well as single sung notes and short vocal articulations. The samples are mixed with the instrumental sounds using techniques such as envelope following, cross synthesis, and pitch tracking, so that the live instruments, at times, take on a vocal personae or character. One of the compositional objectives in Faded Memories, Faded Jeans is to present materials that initially might seem contrasting or contradictory, and to develop the composition in such a way that the materials work together and ultimately complement one another. This is accomplished either by focusing on and emphasizing the acoustic properties that are common to the contrasting materials, or by using common audio processing to merge the sounds sources. Faded Memories, Faded Jeans represents the realization that our lives are full of diverse experiences and influences - many of which are confusing, and we spend much of our lives trying to make sense of them; in a way, this piece describes the recollection and re-interpretation of an individual's past. The piece also tries to explore the entire spectrum of human emotions. As in our own existence, there are moments of beauty, of confusion, of sadness and, as well, there are moments of humour." K.H.

© Keith Hamel. All rights reserved

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Hamel
• AMP
• Contemporary Music
• New Music
• IRCAM
• Boulez
• electroacoustics