‘Lost Signals and Drifting Satellites’, 2004
Composition for violin and satellite sounds
(excerpt), 3'51
Lost Signals and Drifting Satellites was
developed with George Kentros, a violinist in
Stockholm. While researching the piece, I
learned how the Soviets captivated the world by
launching Sputnik, the first satellite, in
1958. People all over the globe watched a tiny
smudge drift across the horizon, and set up
bulky radio equipment in order to listen with
rapt attention to the abstract bleeps, blips,
and static that the satellite broadcast. The
piece is scored for violin, accompanied by
recordings of satellites, shortwaves and radio
transmissions, and is inspired by the image of
a listener lost in a night sky littered with
satellite noise. The static, sputter and
concealed melodies of these transmissions are
echoed by the violin, which drifts between
extended techniques and traditional writing for
the instrument.
Like a radio that is gradually losing and
gaining reception, the music shifts between
these two worlds, hovering between notes and
noise, and ultimately drifts into faraway
static.
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The excerpt you are listening to is performed by violinist George Kentros. The complete work is on the CD “Lost Signals and Drifting Satellites”, Tzadik #8007
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