Audio Sample
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Performance by Geoffrey Morris from the CD Redror |
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CD
Redror / music of Michael Whiticker, performed by Libra Contemporary Ensemble.
Library shelf no. CD 332 [Available for loan]
Score
In prison air : for guitar and computer-realised tape / Michael Whiticker.
Library shelf no. Q 787.84/WHI 1 [Available for loan]
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Work Overview
The origins of In Prison Air can be found among a number
of sources. Not atypically the original inspirations for this
piece were put to one side as the music began to assume its own
life. I found in the early rehearsals with Swedish guitarist
Magnus Andersson that I was witnessing an unevenly weighted
contest between the guitar and computer-realised tape, as the
guitar fought to assert its identity, and in retrospect, even its
right to exist. The emotional response from all those who heard
the early 'workouts' was the same and it is captured, poignantly,
in a line taken from Oscar Wilde's The Ballad of Reading
Gaol, 'Bloom well in prison-air'.
The initial inspiration was an image of a massive expanse of
water upon which I pictured a man afloat in a small vessel. Water
has a quality of the eternal about it, a timelessness which I
have linked to the ancient music of Korea, a particular interest
of mine. Much of the music of this ancient culture has survived
virtually unchanged since the 15th century, and this, as much as
the sound of the music itself, suggests to me the ceaselessness
and regularity of an endless stream, an eternal current of
sound.
I wanted my piece to suggest that it might be part of a timeless
continuum with no beginning and no end. Yet I wanted it also to
be largely a virtuosic display for the soloist, a work with a
sense of progression, a build up and a release of tension, with
an introduction and climax, and all the dramatic qualities that
I, as a composer, enjoy manipulating.
Two of the traditional musical forms of Korea, Kasa, a narrative
song form, and Sanjo, a virtuosic solo instrumental form, were a
strong influence on this composition. The latter, usually
featuring the 12 string long-zither the Kayago, accompanied by
the hour-glass drum, the Changgo, is an improvisatory
six-sectioned form which gradually builds in speed and tension to
a very fast final movement. Kasa on the other hand, is a
virtuosic display by a male singer with accompaniment. It makes
much use of repeated melodic figures, falsetto tones, trills,
vibrato, microtonal ornamentation and glissandi. I was interested
in incorporating these techniques and features of traditional
Korean music and into my work, not merely as ornamentation but as
integral elements of style. The potential of the guitar is such
that it was not difficult to take these techniques and utilise
them. For example, I have re-tuned a number of the strings of the
guitar to take advantage of the possibilities microtonal tuning
offers.
Although the public reference to Korean music culture is
intentional on my part, it is not done lightly. In principle I
feel that it is more respectful to keep such responses to a
personal level, being very conscious of the sacred nature of many
traditional cultures. On reflection it seems relevant in the
light of the response people have had to In Prison Air
to reflect on Korea's long history of oppression, trapped as it
is between the might of the Asian continent and the ambitions of
the imperialists of Japan's history.
Work Details
Year: 1988
Instrumentation: Guitar, computer-realised tape.
Duration: 11 min.
Difficulty: Advanced
Commission note: Commissioned by Magnus Anderson with funds provided by Swedish Academy of Music.
First performance: Oct 88. Wollongong University
Performances of this work
Oct 88: Wollongong University
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