Realising Daphne Oram’s Still Point (1948)
- Submitting institution
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Goldsmiths' College
- Unit of assessment
- 33 - Music, Drama, Dance, Performing Arts, Film and Screen Studies
- Output identifier
- 2452
- Type
- I - Performance
- Venue(s)
- Royal Albert Hall, London, United Kingdom
- Open access status
- -
- Month of first performance
- -
- Year of first performance
- 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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0
- Research group(s)
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M - Music
- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- In 1948, Daphne Oram created a piece for double orchestra, turntable and live electronics, Still Point. This was long thought of as the earliest composition to include real-time electronic transformation of instrumental sounds, yet it had never been performed, and was considered lost. Having located fragmentary sketches in the Oram archive (held at Goldsmiths, University of London), in early 2016 I researched and co-composed a reconstruction with turntablist Shiva Feshareki. _x000D_
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In December 2016 I found the full ‘lost’ score among the personal belongings of the composer Hugh Davies. The score contained only bare indications of how the electronic elements should be realised, and, as well as relying on redundant technologies, it described processes and effects that were conflicted, or impossible to achieve in live performance. The project’s driving research questions then became: what kind of soundworld did Oram envisage? And how could this be created in live performance?_x000D_
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Following the discovery of the lost score, a BBC Proms performance was commissioned in March 2018. Intensive Practice Research – only possible during the 3-week pre-concert window during which we had access to BBC resources – was required in order to stage the performance. Taking place throughout July 2018, this included: design and testing of echo techniques to realise Oram’s stipulated effects; pre-recording of the orchestral music, using historically appropriate techniques, and the creation of 78rpm discs for use by Feshareki in performance; the creation of a live electronics score and performance method, based on Oram’s sparse and fragmentary notation and notes on the work made by the composer later in life; collaboration with conductor and sound technicians to create a live electronics and double-orchestra mix. _x000D_
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Still Point was performed by Feshareki, Bulley, and the London Contemporary Orchestra on 23 July 2018 at the Royal Albert Hall.
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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