Valley Flow
Denis Smalley
Programme notes
The formal shaping and sounding content of Valley Flow were influenced by the dramatic vistas of the Bow Valley in the Canadian Rockies. The work is founded on a basic flowing gesture. This motion is stretched to create airy, floating and flying contours or broad panoramic sweeps, and contracted to create stronger physical motions, for example the flinging out of textural materials. Spatial perspectives are important in an environmentally inspired work. The listener, gazing through the stereo window, can adopt changing vantage points
[ix-92]
Valley Flow was realized at The Banff Centre for the Arts (Canada) in 1991 and was completed at the composer’s studio in Norwich (UK) in 1992. It incorporates sounds created at Ircam in Paris (France) during a previous research period (1989) and further materials subsequently developed at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver (Canada) in 1991. Valley Flow premiered on February 27, 1992 in a concert broadcast live from BBC Pebble Mill Studios. This piece was commissioned by the Birmingham ElectroAcoustic Sound Theatre (BEAST) with funds provided by West Midlands Arts.
Premiere
- February 27, 1992, Seventh Barber Festival of Contemporary Music 1992
: BEAST — Music in Our Time, Pebble Mill Studios — British Broadcasting Corporation – Studio 1, Birmingham (England, UK)
Awards
- Honorable Mention, Computer Music, Prix Ars Electronica 1992, Linz (Austria)
About this sound recording
This version was mastered in 2004 by the composer.
- Composer(s): Denis Smalley
- Year of composition: 1991-92
- Duration: 16:50
- Instrumentation: stereo fixed medium
- Publisher(s): Ymx média
- Commission: BEAST with support from West Midlands Arts
- ISRC: CAD500418180
