S&V is a work in two movements for amplified saxophone, violin and ECG signals. It was commissioned by saxophonist Franziska Schroeder and violinist Gascia Ouzounian. This piece develops explores non-real time usage of biosignals to generate musical materials as well as live interaction. In S&V, ECG signals are not only employed as an instrument to directly produce or manipulate sounds, but pre-recorded data sets of ECG signals are used to generate musical materials such as melodic and rhythmic patterns. This was to explore these signals in a more structured way, whilst still using the heart as an instrument in real time.
Category: Works
Dentro
Miguel Ortiz from Casa Sociacusia on Vimeo.
Dentro is a work composed for Brainwaves and Heartbeats. It is an homage to Alvin Lucier’s Music for Solo Performer. Throughout the piece, the performer goes through several emotional and cognitive states in order to perform the piece. It starts from a natural stressed state brought in by the context of performing in front of an audience without any means for direct control apart from the direct sonification of the performer’s physiological signals. As the piece progresses, the performer must travel through a series of emotional memories before achieving a relaxed state that ends the piece.
This work was possible thanks to the support of the Fondo Nacional Para la Cultura y las Artes, Programa Jovenes Creadores 2009-2010.
Impia Tortorum
Acousmatic work for 48 speakers.
Impia Tortorum is based on Edgar Allan Poe’s short story The pit and the pendulum. It is a sonic narrative of the main character’s experience as described by Poe’s tale.
Carne
Carne is written for amplified (or electric) violoncello and EMG sensors. The piece is loosely inspired by Terry Bison’s 1991 short story They’re made out of meat. In Bison’s story, two apparently alien beings meet to discuss a shocking discovery about the beings on planet earth, the fact that they are made out of meat. The idea of sentient, thinking and singing meat seams both unthinkable and unbearable for these characters. I took this idea of looking at the human body simply as ‘meat’ and imagining all hand and finger movements as the simple grinding and sliding of meat pieces.
Dementiæ
Wind Quintet mp3