James Wood : 'Autumn Voices' for violin and live electronics

Abstract

The project originated from my PhD research in which I investigated the potential of the violin in contemporary music and identified the collaboration with electronics as one of the critical points. While my PhD focussed on the concepts of timbre in contemporary music, I conceived the collaboration with electronics specifically to investigate possibilities of expanding the timbral range of the instrument. Given the expert knowledge and experience of James Wood in the fields of electronics and spectral music, I approached him and the BBC for a new work for violin and electronics. Thus, much of the preparation for composition consisted of taking samples of my violin sound and analysing them; the result was fed into composition (the samples and data informed the material and structure of the piece) and performance (the samples were developed to become the electronics part – all of which was made from the sampled violin sounds). The work employed IRCAM’s Spatialiser and the violinist and 8 speakers surrounded the audience. The performance experimented with ways of coordinating the electronics with violin, including a system to ‘trigger’ sequences, the use of a microphone to amplify and spatialise the live violin sound, and the use of a light box. The work is based on birdsongs and the violin and electronics create a homogenous sound world – a meta-instrument that is a synthesis between violin and electronics.