Strings & Shadows
Åke Parmerud
Programme notes
In Strings & Shadows the strings of the harp act like gates that open up and let out a variety of other instrumental, quasi-instrumental and, sometimes, vocal sounds that flows in a constant stream of transformations. These timbral ‘shadows’ are complemented with mirroring of the harp using a variety of synthezeised string sounds. There is however also another kind of musical shadow present
The poetic vision of the piece is an image of an old dying actress, drawn into a last flowing sequence of dance through the shadows of her past, while death slowly appears as her partner in the last pas de deux.
Strings & Shadows was realized in 1993 at the composer’s studio and premiered on September 22, 1994 at the Stockholm Electronic Music Festival. It was commissioned by Nordiska Musikkommittén (NOMUS) for harpist Sofia Asunción Claro. Strings & Shadows received a Distinction at the Prix Ars Electronica (Linz, Austria, 1994). Strings & Shadows was first recorded by Sofia Asunción Claro for the 1996 Centaur CD Music for Harp and Tape (CRC 2284)
Premiere
- September 22, 1994, Sofia Asunción Claro, harp • The Stockholm Electronic Music Festival
: Harp & Winners, Studio 2 — Radiohuset, Stockholm (Sweden)
Awards
- Composer(s): Åke Parmerud
- Year of composition: 1993
- Duration: 10:04
- Instrumentation: harp and stereo fixed medium
- Publisher(s): Ymx média
- Commission: Nordiska Musikkommitén (NOMUS), for harpist Sofia Asunción Claro
- ISRC: CAD500316500
