ReCycle
Jonty Harrison
Programme notes
ReCycle is a series of four works based loosely on the four Greek classical elements
ReCycle premiered in its complete form as a series of 4 works on May 25, 2007 during the Klangfest festival produced by BEAST at the CBSO Centre in Birmingham (UK).
Premiere
- May 25, 2007, Klangfest
: Concert 2 — ReCycle, CBSO Centre, Birmingham (England, UK)
- Composer(s): Jonty Harrison
- Instrumentation: 8-channel fixed medium
- Publisher(s): Ymx média
Works in this cycle
Rock ’n’ Roll
To my wife Ali
When we moved house, we inherited a heavy garden roller with a concrete wheel and a rusting steel tyre. Rolling this around the garden pathways proved sonically interesting, as did its tendency to demolish various bits of wall and other stonework. I’m not much of a gardener
In the studio, my attention became more focused on the ‘rock’ sounds than on the roller sounds which had originally caught my ear. In particular, I became preoccupied with getting as close as possible to the rocks (possibly even ‘inside’ them), in contrast to the more open, spacious and ‘environmental’ use of the roller and the garden ambience. The multichannel format allowed a further exaggeration of this contrast, using stereo speakers for the close material and a surround array for the ambience.
Rock ’n’ Roll is dedicated to my wife, Ali, who did the energetic bit of the recordings while I just held the microphones and yelled instructions
Rock ’n’ Roll was realized in 2004 at the composer’s studio and in the Electroacoustic Music Studios of the University of Birmingham (UK) premiered on June 12, 2004 at the Sonic Arts Network (SAN) Conference in Leicester (UK). Thanks to Pete Batchelor for special adaptations of his Max patches. •• Rock ’n’ Roll is the work #1 of 4 that make up ReCycle which premiered in its complete form on May 25, 2007 during the Klangfest festival produced by BEAST at the CBSO Centre in Birmingham (UK).
Premiere
- June 12, 2004, SoundCircus — Sonic Arts Network Conference 2004
: Concert, Phoenix Cinema and Art Centre, Leicester (England, UK)
- Year of composition: 2004
- Cycle: ReCycle
- Duration: 11:43
- ISRC: CAD500721420
Internal Combustion
I would like to think that the overt use of the sounds of car engines in Internal Combustion is an ironic underlining of the theme of environmental concern which lurks in the background of all the works in ReCycle — but I must confess to a dilemma here. The fact is I like cars, even though I fully acknowledge the damage they inflict on the environment.
In addition to recordings of car engines (many made using accelerometers as well as air microphones), other forms of transport (trains, planes, ships, bicycles, motorbikes and a Basel tram) are sonically present in Internal Combustion. The work is in four sections (echoing the intake-compression-ignition-exhaust cycle of the 4-stroke internal combustion engine), separated by dramatic ‘arrivals’ and ‘departures,’ and framed by more ‘environmental’ scenes (including traffic as an unavoidable part of our everyday experience).
Internal Combustion was realized in 2005-06 at the composer’s studio and the Elektronisches Studio Basel (ESB) of the Musik-Akademie Basel (Basel, Switzerland), and premiered on November 17, 2006 at the Museum Tinguely in Basel (Switzerland). Thanks to the University of Birmingham and to the Arts and the Humanities Research Council (UK) for Study Leave support
Premiere
- November 17, 2006, Concert, Museum Tinguely, Basel (Switzerland)
Awards
- Year of composition: 2005-06
- Cycle: ReCycle
- Duration: 11:43
- ISRC: CAD500721430
Free Fall
Free Fall is the shortest piece of the four works which make up ReCycle and, perhaps partly also because of its position in the cycle as a whole, functions as a kind of scherzo.
The image in my mind when composing the piece was that of falling through space — akin to the ‘sport’ of free fall parachute jumping — dropping unavoidably towards the earth, with occasional swirls and tumbles as the jumper is buffeted around by passing gusts of air. No sum of money in the world would be sufficient to induce me to jump out of an aircraft, so I have had to try to (re)create the sensation purely by means of sound and its rapid movement past the listener. Some of the material which flies past in this manner and which we hear only fleetingly is drawn from sources which we might well expect to behave in this way of its own accord. However (and this may also contribute to the scherzo-like character of the work), brief moments from the other three pieces in ReCycle also come flying past our ears, some of which (waves breaking on the shore, the rattle of stones and the revving of car engines) are unlikely to feature prominently during the average parachute jump
Free Fall was realized in 2006 at the composer’s studio and the Elektronisches Studio Basel (ESB) of the Musik-Akademie Basel (Basel, Switzerland), and was revised and re-mixed at the Métamorphoses d’Orphée studio of Musiques & Recherches in Ohain (Belgium). The piece premiered on October 20, 2006 during the 13th International Acousmatic Festival L’Espace du son (Brussels, Belgium). Thanks to the University of Birmingham and to the Arts and the Humanities Research Council (UK) for Study Leave support
Premiere
- October 20, 2006, L’Espace du son 2006
: Carte blanche et concert portrait: Jonty Harrison, Théâtre Marni, Brussels (Belgium)
- Year of composition: 2006
- Cycle: ReCycle
- Duration: 7:54
- ISRC: CAD500721440
Streams
The image evoked most immediately is, of course, that of water — turbulent, troubled, restless, at the mercy of wind and terrain, flowing onward to the sea — itself turbulent and in constant motion. Evaporation, clouds and rainfall complete the cycle which is always renewing, always moving…
The primary sound sources for Streams are drawn from the turbulent points of confluence of water, earth and air (liquid, solid, gas)
Streams of data, of consciousness and, most importantly, of perception — the ability to link often disparate elements together and to understand, to ‘hear,’ that they are part of one line, one ‘stream of thought,’ distinct from other (possibly coexisting) parallel or contrapuntal streams. The multichannel medium (which I used here for the first time in a work for tape alone) assists in the streaming processes, and also emphasizes the agitation of relentless motion…
[xi-00]
Streams was realized in 1999 in the Electroacoustic Music Studios of the University of Birmingham (UK) and premiered on May 4, 1999 in Queen’s University’s Harty Room during the Sonorities Festival (Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK). The piece was commissioned by the Sonorities Festival with funds from the National Lottery and Sonorities. •• Streams is the work #4 of 4 that make up ReCycle which premiered in its complete form on May 25, 2007 during the Klangfest festival produced by BEAST at the CBSO Centre in Birmingham (UK).
Premiere
- May 4, 1999, Concert, Harty Room — Music Building — Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast (Northern Ireland, UK)
- Year of composition: 1999
- Cycle: ReCycle
- Duration: 16:12
- Commission: Sonorities Festival with support from the National Lottery through the Arts Council of Northern Ireland
- ISRC: CAD500014180, CAD500721450
