Trace

This work presents an electroacoustically extended sound-image of the saxophone. Samples were recorded with the Swedish saxophone virtuoso Jorgen Pettersson and the source material includes two basic types: multiphonics selected from Daniel Kientzy’s book Les Sons Multiples aux Saxophones, and more noisy improvised sounds made by Pettersson. The musical processes in the work depart from deconstruction of the characteristics of the instrument, such as noise attacks and individual spectral components of steady state sections of sound, which are recombined here to form new expressions of the instrument’s sonic and gestural signature. Formally, the work is designed as a series of episodes that share sounds developed in different ways and dimensions. The material in this piece was recorded for a work for live saxophone and electroacoustic sounds which will be a companion work to Trace. However, the initial hearing of these sounds presented so many fragile, uniquely subtle shapes captured through recording, that they tempted me into making an acousmatic work.