'London Triptych' (2015-2018), for object performers, performative electronics, fixed media and projected video (36’)
- Submitting institution
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Royal Northern College of Music
- Unit of assessment
- 33 - Music, Drama, Dance, Performing Arts, Film and Screen Studies
- Output identifier
- 42A
- Type
- J - Composition
- Month
- -
- Year
- 2018
- 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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1 - Composition
- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- London Triptych’ consists of multimedia compositions ‘Not One Can Pass Away’ (2015, rev. 2018, 10’), ‘Untitled Valley of Fear’ (2016, rev. 2018, 12’) and ‘The Great Inundation’ (2017, rev. 2018, 14’).
‘London Triptych’ is a psycho-geographical exploration of the lives and works of three London visionaries, inspired by the writings of Iain Sinclair and Peter Ackroyd: William Blake, Austin Osman Spare, and Nicholas Hawksmoor. Ambisonic audio / video recordings made at sites of significance in the lives of each artist form the basis of this project.
These pieces, my first score-based works for performers, arose from the desire to integrate elements of live performance into my existing, purely electronic, compositional practice.
'Devised instruments' (amplified objects and surfaces, resonated using transducers) are combined with 'performative electronics' (performer-controlled live electronic sound-making), and audiovisual elements, such as film shot on location and procedural animation. These works represent a deliberate move away from the 'conductor' model used in most contemporary music, in which electronic elements are centralised and controlled by an off-stage engineer. Instead, each musician has direct control of the electronic component of their sound-making.
These works therefore extend instrumental performance practice and challenge traditional notions of virtuosity. My notational and technical strategies are indebted to the practice of Hanna Hartman and Steven Kazuo Takasugi, amongst many other composers with whom I have worked in my role as co-artistic director of Distractfold Ensemble.
Works from the Triptych have received over 20 performances by five ensembles and been broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and SWR2. This project has had a measurable long-term impact on my own work as a composer, audiovisual artist and curator, directly informing subsequent works (‘The Lovers’, ‘The Tower’, ‘Midlands’ etc).
An album version of ‘London Triptych’ will be released by Distractfold in June 2021 via their dFolds label.
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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