Paul Dolden: The Threshold of Deafening Silence: track detail

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electroradio

The Threshold of Deafening Silence
CD out of print

1. Below the Walls of Jericho (1988-89) 14m33s trd_0190-1.1 | 13940 |

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. Caught in an Octagon of Unaccustomed Light (1987-88) 15m56s trd_0190-1.2 | 13942 |

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.

3. In the Natural Doorway I Crouch (1986-87) 14m56s trd_0190-1.3 | 13944 |

Composer: Paul Dolden

Commission: GMEB

Premiere: January 31, 1988, (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.

4. The Melting Voice Through Mazes Running (1984) 20m59s trd_0190-1.4 | 18126 |

Composer: Paul Dolden

The composition derives its overall direction from the title, which possible evokes visions of travelling through a maze, a maze which has had different meaning throughout time; the most famous being the Greek myth of Daedalus’ Labrynth. Another example is the outdoor mazes in England which were used by Church patrons to walk around on their knees as a symbolic journey. In both cases, the maze acts as a social ritual in which elements of danger and suspense are experienced. The possibility of freedom is only through escaping the maze.

The title also refers to the dynamic relationship that exists between the electronic and acoustic sound sources. Whereas the computer tracks tend to act as a constant maze of rhythm, the acoustic sounds exhibit a more sustained and often voice-like quality.

The overall development of the composition is based on the escalation of intensity, and is reflected in the pacing of the music; for example, the increasing density of material — the latter part of the work uses on average 330 notes per second — and the change in sound from harmonic to inharmonic.

The composidon was done using the facilities at Simon Fraser University including the POD computer music system and the Sonic Research Studio. All computer sounds and electronic manipulation realized by Paul Dolden.

Paul Dolden: The Threshold of Deafening Silence: track detail

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