oboe and electronics
ca 12 minutes
performed live here by Stephen Gorbos
2018
Listening:
About:
Mercurial Shadows (for Gideon) was commissioned by oboist Ben Buergel. I was deeply impressed with Ben’s ability to play with a live delay, so I decided to focus on that from the beginning of my creative process. Along with some atmospheric sounds, the electronics are made up of an intricate series of live echo effects. In addition to building counterpoint through the layered echo effects, I also wanted to explore some less-traditional ways that the oboe can speak. Slowly shifting multiphonics and noisier timbres are used alongside more traditionally lyrical approaches to tone production.
These echoes and timbral distortions suggested an analog with my daughter Gideon’s struggles in overcoming some significant hearing problems. Gideon’s compromised hearing, present from birth, distorted and silenced many important frequencies, particularly those in the spectrum where speech most clearly projects. This of course influenced behavior and development, and made me think a lot about perception, interior and exterior dialogue, imitation, and conformity.
