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electrothèque

Sub Terra Cycle

Natasha Barrett

Programme notes

The Sub Terra Cycle consists of a concert composition — Sub Terra — and three sound installations: Kongsberg Silver Mines, Under the Sea Floor (Coring and Strata), and Sand Island. Each installation focuses on sounds unique to three underground Norwegian locations, creating surreal semi-narrative journeys. The installation sites lead the visitor through underground or enclosed sound-worlds, where atmosphere and acoustics allow the sound to live, gradually closer to the concert space.

[xii-09]

The four works of the Sub Terra Cycle were realized in 2007-08 at the composer’s studio and premiered on the September 4, 2008 during the West Coast Festival of Numusic 2008 in Stavanger (Norway). The piece was commissioned by NyMusikk Rogaland with funds from the Norsk kulturråd (Arts Council Norway) and the Norsk Komponistforening (Norwegian Society of Composers).

Premiere

  • September 4, 2008, Numusic Festival 2008: Concert, Stavanger (Norway)
  • Composer(s): Natasha Barrett
  • Publisher(s): Ymx média
  • Commission: NyMusikk Rogaland with support from the Norsk Kulturråd and the Norsk Komponistforening

Works in this cycle

Sub Terra

The concert work Sub Terra crystallises into a musical form that which is most abstract from the installations of the Sub Terra Cycle. Under earth, the roar, the grate and the prickling delicacy of sound resounding beneath us.

[xii-09]

  • Year of composition: 2007-08
  • Cycle: Sub Terra Cycle
  • Duration: 16:26
  • Instrumentation: fixed medium
  • ISRC: CAD501010209

Kongsberg Silver Mines

Kongsberg Silver Mines is a journey on the old miner’s train used to transport silver ore and miners in and out of the silver mines of Kongsberg (Norway). The deafening sound and immense vibrations of the old trucks transport us finally into the depths of the mines. Here a guide drifts in and out with snippets of description and history.

[xii-09]

  • Year of composition: 2007-08
  • Cycle: Sub Terra Cycle
  • Duration: 7:16
  • Form: sound installation
  • Instrumentation: 4- / 6- / 8-channel fixed medium
  • ISRC: CAD501010218

Under the Sea Floor (Coring and Strata)

Under the Sea Floor (Coring and Strata) originated in a University of Oslo (Norway) research project where a 10-meter long core-sample was taken from a ‘pockmark’ in the Oslo fjord, 32 meters below sea level. For two days I hovered in the background on a research ship and on a drilling vessel, recording sounds from on deck, below water and on the sea-floor. From these recordings came one set of two sound-types used in the work. The second set of sounds originated from a seismic shot created by a large TNT blast in a quarry. This shot was recorded by an array of 2000 geophones spread over tens of kilometers. The sound on each geophone is about 15 seconds long, and records the response from the Earth’s crust and well into the mantle. This data was used to synthesise sounds and control the transformation of other materials. The two types of sound create two clear sections to the work. In the installation they play simultaneously in adjacent spaces. In this special remix they play consecutively.

[xii-09]

  • Year of composition: 2007-08
  • Cycle: Sub Terra Cycle
  • Duration: 6:30
  • Form: sound installation
  • Instrumentation: 10-channel fixed medium
  • ISRC: CAD501010219

Sand Island

Sand Islandis originally composed for headphone listening (using HRTF encoding) and later was realized for loudspeakers. A holiday sandy shore is transformed. Imagine telescoping down to the size of a sea snail. The lazy Norwegian tide and the soft golden sand take on a new perspective. Two hydrophones were buried under the sand in the tidal zone of a small bay on Søndre Sandøy in Hvaler (Norway). After some time the tide lifts the hydrophones out of the sand and carries them into a floating bed of seaweed.

[xii-09]

  • Year of composition: 2007-08
  • Cycle: Sub Terra Cycle
  • Duration: 5:22
  • Form: sound installation
  • Instrumentation: (HRTF) binaural fixed medium
  • ISRC: CAD501010220