Paul Dolden: Seuil de silences: track detail

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electroradio

Seuil de silences

Paul Dolden

Seuil de silences

[Threshold of Silences]

empreintes DIGITALes | IMED 0369 | 2003

CD 25.00 CA$ [?]

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1. Below the Walls of Jericho (1988-89) 14m35s imed_0369-1.1 | 13940 | ISRC CAD500316670

MP3 Real

Composer: Paul Dolden

Premiere: November 12, 1989, The Banff Centre for the Arts (Banff, Alberta, Canada)

The title is only a loose reference to the story in the bible. What interests me about the story is the idea of a large mass of people knocking down a wall through the use of sound. The story gives credence to the notion of music as a catalyst for social change. Beyond the sheer physical impact that a large number of sounds contain, music is a form of language which is capable of stimulating thought. The power of music lies in the simultaneous physical and intellectual seduction of the listener.

In the composition, four hundred tracks of sound are often assembled to create the sense of a large mass. Three hundred and thirty-three tracks are created by dividing each of the seven octaves into forty-eight notes. Brass, string and wind instruments from the Western musical tradition and from other cultures are combined to create these textures. The remaining tracks are made from unpitched percussion instruments. This working method allows each track to have its own identity in terms of frequency and tempo. The relationship between each individual layer and the mass effect can act as a metaphor for the relationship between the individual and society. Beyond the music, the metaphor suggests questions of the nature of the walls we have to tear down in order for our culture to move forward.

Recorded musicians
Isaac Bull: bassoon, contrabassoon
Paul Steenhuisen: soprano, alto, and bass saxophones
Ian Crutchley: tenor saxophone
Lorne Buick: bass clarinet
Johanna Hauser: clarinet
Michelle Cheramy: piccolo, bass flute
Clemens Rettich: C-flute, soprano, tenor, alto, and bass recorders
Glee Devereaux: oboe, English horn
Mark Tynan: trombone
Jamie Croil: trumpet
Paul Fester: tuba
Gwyneth MacKenzie: French horn
Gary Sterle: French horn
Marc Crompton: timpani, tom-toms, cymbals, glockenspiel, temple blocks
Trevor Tureski: tom-toms, cymbals, vibraphone, marimba, hongos, congas, tablas, gongageng, kempeul, slenthem, sanon, snare, tenor snare
Paul Dolden: acoustic and electric guitars, double bass, cello, viola, violin, dulcimers, sitar, banjo, mandolin, piano.

Voices
Diana Ganske: soprano
Janis Clark: contralto
Nick Curalli: tenor
David Pay: baritone

 

Below the Walls of Jericho was realized in 1988-89 at the composer’s studio and was premiered on November 12th, 1989 during the CEC Electroacoustic Days, >convergence<, at the Margaret Greenham Theatre of The Banff Centre for the Arts—as the Berlin wall began to tumble down. The version of this work for percussion and tape, Luminous Hysteresis, was commissioned by percussionist Trevor Tureski with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts. Below the Walls of Jericho won 1st prize in the Electroacoustic category of the Bourges International Electroacoustic Music Competition (Bourges, France, 1990). This work was reprocessed, remixed and remastered in the composer’s studio in 2001-02.

2. Gravity’s Stillness. Resonance #6 (1996) 14m36s imed_0369-1.2 | 13941 | ISRC CAD500316680

violin (or viola), and tape

MP3 Real

Composer: Paul Dolden

Julie-Anne Derome: violin

Commission: Rivka Golani, with support from the CCA

Premiere: June 11, 1999, Salle Tudor (Montréal, Québec)

The work is based on fairy simple melodic and harmonic ideas. The interest for me in this type of work is to use the recording studio to create a series of distinct sound worlds, or orchestrations, based on these melodic and harmonic ideas. The tape becomes the catalyst for creating the changes in mood and tone. The live soloist repeatedly states the melodic ideas in a simple to very virtuosic manner.

Recorded musicians:
François Houle: E flat clarinet, clarinet, bass clarinet, soprano, alto, tenor and baritone saxophones
Allen Thorpe: bassoon, contrabassoon
David Owen: oboe, english horn
Kathryn Cernauskas: piccolo, flute, alto flute
Nancy Ruffer: flutes
Peter Hannan: soprano, alto and tenor recorders
John Korsrud: trumpet, flugelhorn
Brenda Chatman: french horn
Brad Muirhead: trombone
Ian McIntosh: tuba, digeridoo, jewsharp
Grace Yaginuma: piano
Mark Campbell: electric bass
Rob Maynard: drum kit
Dylan Van der Schyff: drum kit
Nick Apivor: vibes, marimba, timpani, bass drums, gamelan orchestra instruments, congas, bongos, jambays, surdo, talking drums, rainsticks, chimes, various shakers, various bells, woodblocks, maracas, guiros, rachets, and vibraslap
Paul Dolden: electric and acoustic guitar, sitar, violin, viola, cello, double bass, mouth harmonica, rubbed glass, breaking glass, hammering, sawing, and scrap metal
Voices
sopranos: Kim Hardy, Diana Ganske, Lorraine Reinhardt
altos: Karen Ydenberg, Liz Baker, Wendy Klein
tenors: Chris Givens, Jonathan Quick, Kieren MacMillan
basses: Peter Zaenker, Derrick Christian

 

Gravity’s Stillness. Resonance #6 was realized in 1996 at the composer’s studio and was premiered by Julie-Anne Derome on June 11th, 1999 during a concert of the Trio Fibonacci at Salle Tudor in Montreal. The work was commissioned by violist Rivka Golani with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts. This work was reprocessed, remixed and remastered in the composer’s studio in 2001-02.

3. Caught in an Octagon of Unaccustomed Light (1987-88) 16m01s imed_0369-1.3 | 13942 | ISRC CAD500316690

MP3 Real

Composer: Paul Dolden

Commission: David Olds / CKLN FM with the support from the Ontario Arts Council

Premiere: May 9, 1988, (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)

The composition continues the composer’s development of a musical language based on the colour of unusual or unaccustomed acoustic sounds. In this case, the predominant use of inharmonic timbres (metal, multiphonics, and a non-octave tuning system) creates the language that for the most part our musical tradition has ignored. A series of five sections, each of which is based on specific sound sources, has the listener “caught” by their interactions. Musical continuity is maintained by the reuse of similar gestures, colours and tuning system. Overall structural integrity is achieved through a palindromic ordering of the sections. For example, the first and fifth sections use the same sound world, and likewise the second and fourth sections use another sound world. The third or middle section contains aspects of both sound groupings.

Recorded musicians:
Andrew Czink: piano
Ken Newby: bassoon and oboe
Ross Curran: baritone saxophone and clarinet
Paul Dolden: electric and acoustic guitars, double bass, cello, cymbals, metal wheel rims, various metal sheets and poles, glass, rocks, coins, gongageng, gongsuwuken, kempeul, slenthem, sanon.

 

Caught in an Octagon of Unaccustomed Light was realized in 1987-88 at the composer’s studio and was premiered on May 9, 1988 on CKLN FM in Toronto. The concert premiere took place on May 15, 1988 at the Bathurst Street Theatre in Toronto, a concert produced by the artist thanks to the CAPAC Micheline Coulombe Saint-Marcoux Composition Competition which paid for a concert in the city of the composer’s choosing. The work was commissioned by David Olds (for Toronto’s CKLN FM program Transfigured Night) with the support of the Ontario Arts Council. Caught in an Octagon of Unaccustomed Light won the Prize of the Luigi Russolo International Competition (Varese, Italy, 1988). This work was reprocessed, remixed and remastered in the composer’s studio in 2001-02.

4. The Vertigo of Ritualized Frenzy. Resonance #4 (1996) 13m17s imed_0369-1.4 | 13943 | ISRC CAD500316700

reed instrument and/or piano (or accordion), and tape

MP3 Real

Composer: Paul Dolden

François Houle, clarinet; Leslie Wyber, piano

Much of my work begins by using the tape medium to create musical situations and dialogues that would not be possible with a fixed live ensemble. In this case the live duo are confronted with jazz, rock or chamber music created by various string, metal, or wind orchestras. At times the live parts seem independent of the tape and at other times the two elements dissolve into each other. These different allusions to musical reality are based on a very simple melody which keeps coming back in an almost irritating manner.

 

Recorded musicians:
François Houle: E flat clarinet, clarinet, bass clarinet, soprano, alto, tenor and baritone saxophones
Allen Thorpe: bassoon, contrabassoon
David Owen: oboe, english horn
Kathryn Cernauskas: piccolo, flute, alto flute
Nancy Ruffer: flutes
Peter Hannan: soprano, alto and tenor recorders
John Korsrud: trumpet, flugelhorn
Brenda Chatman: french horn
Brad Muirhead: trombone
Ian McIntosh: tuba, digeridoo, jewsharp
Grace Yaginuma: piano
Mark Campbell: electric bass
Rob Maynard: drum kit
Dylan Van der Schyff: drum kit
Nick Apivor: vibes, marimba, timpani, bass drums, gamelan orchestra instruments, congas, bongos, jambays, surdo, talking drums, rainsticks, chimes, various shakers, various bells, woodblocks, maracas, guiros, rachets, and vibraslap
Paul Dolden: electric and acoustic guitar, sitar, violin, viola, cello, double bass, mouth harmonica, rubbed glass, breaking glass, hammering, sawing, and scrap metal
Voices
sopranos: Kim Hardy, Diana Ganske, Lorraine Reinhardt
altos: Karen Ydenberg, Liz Baker, Wendy Klein
tenors: Chris Givens, Jonathan Quick, Kieren MacMillan
basses: Peter Zaenker, Derrick Christian

5. In the Natural Doorway I Crouch (1986-87) 15m01s imed_0369-1.5 | 13944 | ISRC CAD500316710

Composer: Paul Dolden

Commission: GMEB

Premiere: January 31, 1988, En Torno a los Sonidos Electrónicos, Museo Rufino Tamayo (Mexico City, Mexico)

In the Natural Doorway I Crouch is inspired by the interaction of the two distinct sound worlds: plucked metal strings, and wind instruments. The composition is divided into three sections of 3, 5 and 7 minutes, each of which explores the relationship between the sound worlds as they are constantly changing. This movement in sound is evoked by the title which suggests the transformations from one state to another, as in a doorway that acts as a passageway between areas of sound. In most cases, the crouching is only momentary as we spring from one area to another. The tuning of the composition involves a system of Just Intonation, developed by the composer, in which the harmonics of the fundamental(s) are systematically changing register in relation to each other.

Recorded musicians:
Clemens Rettich: recorders
Ken Newby: oboe, bassoon, soprano saxophone
Paul Dolden: acoustic guitar, double bass, piano, percussion, tubular bells, vibraphone, slenthem, saron, marimba

 

In the Natural Doorway I Crouch was realized in 1986-87 at the composer’s studio and at the Sonic Research Studio of Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada. Research was completed in the Groupe de musique expérimentale de Bourges (GMEB — now IMEB — France) studios and at the EMS in Stockholm, Sweden. The work was premiered on January 31, 1988 during the international festival En Torno a Los Sonidos Electronicos in Mexico City (Mexico). The work was commissioned by the GMEB. A further commission from the Vancouver New Music Society resulted in Measured Opalescence, a mixed version of this work for piano, percussion and tape. In the Natural Doorway I Crouch won 1st prize in the Electroacoustic category of the Bourges International Electroacoustic Music Competition (Bourges, France, 1988). This work was reprocessed, remixed and remastered in the composer’s studio in 2001-02.

Paul Dolden: Seuil de silences: track detail

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