SONG OF THE TREES

FLUTE, CLARINET, FIXED MEDIA AND
LIVE TRANSFORMATIONS

International Prize

IAWM Search for New Music 2015
Oliveros Prize for Electroacoustic Media

“A beautiful, but powerful overall soundworld"
PROFESSOR SIMON EMMERSON

“Magical – takes you to another place”
“Hauntingly beautiful, then eerie and sinister”
“Adored the instrumentals”
“Exhilarating piece”

Inspired by David Hockney’s giant series of paintings, The Woldgate Woods,
Song of the Trees hints at the mysticism of the ancient woodland as it fleetingly reveals it’s secret life-force.

It is scored for flute and clarinet with live processing (optional) and fixed media.  These woodwind instruments were specially chosen for their organic link to the theme of the piece, making use of extended techniques on both instruments.

The fixed media track of the whispering wind was created from transformed clarinet and bassoon samples
special thanks to clarinetist Gareth Stuart and bassoonist Sherry Rea.

All other sounds are created live with automated processing of the flute and clarinet, generating both
the floating magical touches in the melodic sections, where the translucent harmony emerges through the mist,
and the dramatic metamorphoses in the central sections.  These seemingly impossible powerful and
wild transformations transcend the original timbre of the flute and clarinet, whilst remaining firmly
rooted in the earthy spirituality of the forest.

World Premiere: 
Light and Sharpness Concert 2013

Song of the Trees

The Mumford Theatre, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK
Performed by Gareth Stuart (Clarinet) and Amanda Stuart (Flute

New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival 2015

Song of the Trees

The Playhouse, Abrons Art Center, New York
Performed by Margaret Lancaster (Flute) and Vaski Dukovski (Clarinet)

Leeds International Festival for Artistic Innovation 2015

Song of the Trees

Performed by Gareth Stuart (Clarinet) and Amanda Stuart (Flute)

PERCUSSION, PSALTERY, RECORDER,
LEAP GESTURE CONTROLLER,
FIXED MEDIA & LIVE TRANSFORMATIONS

This piece explores the feeling of being lost at difficult times

in our lives and the search to find our voice and inner peace. 

Translucent textures and dramatic metallic shards,

fragment a mystic landscape, full of vibrant dynamism and fluent lines. 

“A very dramatic journey, which ranges wildly
from quiet and intimate, to sections that are explosively aggressive ...”

ODILON MARCENARO - RWCMD
 

“A visceral and immersive sonic experience, with a compelling
structural arc and emotional depth.”

LAWRENCE WHITEHEAD
 

“Weird and Wonderful.”

JANE LLEWELYN

ONE-FOUR VOICES WITH FIXED MEDIA

A text-sound piece for 1-4 Voices and Fixed Media.  A setting of the poem by the artist, created using
sound transformations and word-painting of just the composer's voice.

IAWM (International Alliance for Women in Music) 
Pauline Oliveros Prize for Electroacoustic Media 2014
Honorary Mention for Not Missing You.

        "Not Missing You has a very delicate atmosphere, well sustained and a good mix of wonderful textures" - 

PROF SIMON EMMERSON

"It's as beautiful to look at as it is to hear"

AARON KEEBAUGH - BOSTON CLASSICAL REVIEW

PERFORMANCES

• Tilde New Music Festival, Melbourne, Australia 2015
• Boston New Music Initiative - Pickman Hall, Massachusetts 2014
• GLEAM Festival - Glasgow Electronic and Audiovisual Media Festival 2014
• International Festival for Artistic Innovation - Leeds College of Music 2014
• INTIME - Coventry University 2013
• SMAC/SMC The Royal College of Music, Stockholm
• Noises of Art - Aberystwyth University and The Courthauld Institute of Art (Sept 2013)
• Anglia Ruskin University - Light and Sharpness Concert - 2013 
• The Carnelian Exhibition, Cambridge 2013
• Understanding Visual Music 2013 - Buenos Aires - National University of Tres de Febrero

In Magnetosphere, the raw audio samples of the earth’s magnetic
radio waves are transformed into an evolving cosmic landscape,
with unfolding harmonics, static glitches and an
expanding aura of textural turmoil.

For Fixed Media - Stereo or 5.1 Surround Sound

Planet Earth naturally produces electromagnetic radio waves, which can be
converted to sound waves using a VLF (very low frequency) receiver
allowing us to hear this “Earth Song”.   

                                               The sounds are identified as:

Sferics and Tweeks (atmospherics emitted by lightning strokes).

Whistlers (originating from thunderstorms, meteorites or after earthquakes,
interacting with plasma particles in the radiation belts).

Dawn Chorus (Chorus waves generated near the magnetic equator,
peaking at local dawn, sounding like birds singing and called
“killer electrons”as they can cause damage to satellites and harm astronauts).

Hiss (low-frequency radio waves evolved from chorus waves which deflect speedy
particles in the earth’s upper atmosphere).

Original audio samples courtesy of CARISMA
(The Canadian Array for Realtime Investigations of Magnetic Activity,
operated by the University of Alberta and funded by the Canadian Space Agency)

LIGHT AND SHARPNESS

This electronic acousmatic piece was inspired by the painting "Light and Sharpness" by Paul Klee (1935). 
Klee analysed musical composition methods and translated them into "polyphony painting".  

In this piece I have reversed this process taking inspiration from the colours and shapes of his work
to directly effect the sounds and structure of this percussion piece.    

Special thanks to the Paul Klee Zentrum, Bern for permission to use the painting - 

(Paul Klee, das licht und die Scharfen, 1935, 102, The light and the sharpnesses,
Watercolour and pencil on paper on cardboard, 32 x 48 cm, Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern)

Recent performances include:

• World Premiere: CMMR 2012 International Conference (Queen Mary University of London), as part of the New Resonances 2012 Music Festival and performed at London's Wilton's Music Hall.  (See Gallery)
• Atmospheres Festival - Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Cardiff 2016
• International Computer Music Conference 2013 - Perth Australia
• New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival 2013.
• Sheffield Univeristy Conference: From Tape to Typedef Compositional Methods in Electroacoustic Music 2013
• Leeds International Music Festival For Innovations in Music Production and Composition 2012
• Anglia Ruskin University - Light and Sharpness Concert - 2013 
• Noises of Art - Aberystwyth University and The Courthauld Institute of Art 2013
• Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama as part of ReSound 2012

For 8 or more Performers from the Audience,
Live Bubble Transformations, Fixed Media
and Graphic Video Score

World Premiere: Light and Sharpness Concert - The Mumford Theatre, Anglia Ruskin University 2013

(See Gallery)

SOUND DESIGN

Complete soundtrack reimagined

Film and Fixed Media Soundscape

This piece was inspired Wilton’s Music Hall - the world’s oldest surviving grand music hall that first opened in 1828 at Grace's Alley, Cable Street, London.

The textures, colours and layers of the peeling paint on the walls demanded to have their hidden stories told.  The visuals were created by manipulating and transforming photographs of the building in its current state. 

The soundscape uses familiar sounds and songs of the music hall, which are subjected to both subtle and exaggerated sonic transformations.   The film conjures up an imaginary history of the hall, with the walls whispering their secrets and hinting at the dramatic happenings buried in their layers.  

With special thanks to Dave Ruddy for the vocals.

SCREENINGS 

• Atmospheres Festival - Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama 2016
• BEAST Feast: Music, Space, Architecture, Place - Birmingham University 2015
• Selected for International Computer Music Conference Athens 2014
• Art Experimenta Screening Vol.9 - Trispace Gallery, Bermondsey, London 2014
• World Premiere: Light and Sharpness Concert of Amanda's music at Mumford Theatre, Anglia Ruskin University, 2013

MUSIC & SOUND DESIGN

Complete soundtrack reimagined