Topophilia
[Acousmatic composition / fixed media, 5.1]
Available in
Micro-lieux, (2019), CD, Montréal, Québec: Empreintes DIGITALes.
Métamorphoses 2016 (2016), CD, Ohain, Belgium: Musiques & Recherches
Date and Location of First Performance: 8 October 2016, Visiones Sonoras 12 — 2016, International Conference of Electroacoustic CIME/ICEM 2016: Concierto CIME 2, Escuela Nacional de Estudios Superiores, Morelia (Mexico)
- Submitting institution
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Leeds Beckett University
- Unit of assessment
- 33 - Music, Drama, Dance, Performing Arts, Film and Screen Studies
- Output identifier
- 52
- Type
- J - Composition
- Month
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- Year
- 2016
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
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- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
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- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
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- Additional information
- Τοpophilia is a 5.1 acousmatic work composed using new techniques for capturing aural spatiality in micro-space, defined by Stavropoulos as an area of acoustic space which cannot be inhabited by a listener due to physical constraints, relating to size. Aural architecture in this case is inaccessible unless mediated by recording technology. The compositional practice employed in Topophilia attempts to work with the aural architecture of micro-space by unifying spatiomorphology and spectromorphology in the workflow; to consider those in conjunction with each other during the development and arrangement stages of the compositional process. The signification of the musical text appears to have benefited through discernibly increased tangibility of sound materials employed here as a direct result of this approach.
The recording of micro-space aural architecture was achieved by scaling of a Polyhymnia pentagon array down to a circumference of a few centimetres. Initial tests led to the development of a 3D printed casing to host five omnidirectional capsules. Original recordings were processed using plugins catering for multichannel sources in order to embed the characteristics of the sources’ acoustic space in the development of new materials. This is not to say that the acoustic space captured in the recordings is retained in the processed sound materials but rather that it inoculated the resulting spatiomorphologies.
Topophilia has secured awards in six international composition competitions including: 1st prize, Fixed medium, 9th Destellos Competition, (2016, Argentina); ICST Residence Prize, Fixed medium, Monaco International Electroacoustic Composition Competition, (2016, Monaco); 1st prize, Iannis Xenakis International Electroacoustic Composition Competition, (2017, Greece); 2nd prize, Klang, Montpellier (2017, France); and Electronic Music Prize, USF New-Music Consortium Competition, (2017, USA). Topophilia has been performed in at least 24 concerts in 10 different countries, appeared in 11 radio broadcasts in the UK and America, and has been streamed over 3000 times.
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
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- English abstract
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