Radiolaria
Composition for 12 musicians by Elliott Sharp
May 20, 2000
Premiered at the 42 St. Whitney Museum in December ’99, RADIOLARIA is the latest of E#’s algorithmic compositions.
Based on biological models of growth and reproduction, the 12-piece ensemble of winds, brass, samplers, and percussion plus real-time computer processing, uses sets of simple instructions to manipulate a variety of composed cores, creating structures in a mode analogous to that of organisms such as “radiolaria,” a kind of aquatic, single-celled protozoa. These structures are not just ordered in time but also in acoustic space, with the stacked overtones of the interacting instruments manifesting difference tone effects and “ghost instruments.” This effect is enhanced by the live computer processing of the massed sound of the ensemble to extract overtones and subharmonics fed back into the mix.
The group includes: Frank London and Eric Shanfield (trumpets), Ned Rothenberg and Sam Furnace (alto saxes), Evan Spritzer and Tim Smith (bass clarinets), Steve Swell and Julie Kalu (trombones), Zeena Parkins and David Weinstein (samplers), and Jim Pugliese (percussion.) E#: soprano sax, Powerbook
RADIOLARIA was commissioned for Orchestra Carbon as part of the national series of works from Meet The Composer/Arts Endowment Commissioning Music USA, with support from the Helen F. Whitaker Fund.
The latest Orchestra Carbon CD, SyndaKit, is now out on the zOaR label and available from Downtown Music Gallery (dmg@panix.com)