ICLC 2023 Catalogue PROOF VERSION

flux

Michele Samarotto

Was performed at:

Program Notes

flux treats ideas of “perceptual” displacement. The piece involves two apposite elements: the notorious Shepard-Risset glissando and continuously fluctuating rhythms. Ever-shifting anchor points amidst the sonic substance blur the lines between movement and stasis. Not aiming to create a general confusion of the senses nor to deconstruct 4-to-the-floor tropes, I would rather like to suggest immersive qualities.

As often the case in my live-coding practice, I start from minimal pre-written code in SuperCollider, constituting the basic skeleton of the composition/performance, designed to explore certain sonic areas of interest as well as to afford entering uncharted territory; in this sense I always liked Xenakis’ image of the composer (and here I include the notions of performer/improviser) as a pilot supervising “the controls of a cosmic vessel sailing in the space of sound” (Formalized Music).

Abstract


The abstract is displayed here for proof-reading and will only be part of the published proceedings, not of the final version of this web catalogue.

I would like to start with a little thought, relating to the main theme of this year’s conference, as to how powerful and wondrous an effect the sounding displacement of a medium’s particles may have on us. As obvious and naive as this may sound, it could perhaps provide cause for ample reflection.

flux treats ideas of “perceptual” displacement. The piece involves two apposite elements: the notorious Shepard-Risset glissando (*) and continuously fluctuating rhythms. Ever-shifting anchor points amidst the sonic substance blur the lines between movement and stasis. Not aiming to create a general confusion of the senses nor to deconstruct 4-to-the-floor tropes, I would rather like to suggest immersive qualities.

As often the case in my live-coding practice, I start from minimal pre-written code in SuperCollider, constituting the basic skeleton of the composition/performance, designed to explore certain sonic areas of interest as well as to afford entering uncharted territory; in this sense I always liked Xenakis’ image of the composer (and here I include the notions of performer/improviser) as a pilot supervising “the controls of a cosmic vessel sailing in the space of sound” (**).

(*) Thanks to Alberto de Campo for providing the sample-code in the SuperCollider examples.

(**) Quote from: Iannis Xenakis, Formalized Music