Prelude and Impromptu
4-channel fixed media piece for Fairlight and field recordings (2016)
6′ 50”
Premiere: May 29, 2016, Crescendo Festival 2016, Foyer, Konzertsaal der UdK Berlin, Berlin, Germany
July 17, 2016, Studiosaal, Hanns Eisler Hochschule für Musik, Berlin, Germany
The Fairlight, from 1979, was the first digital synthesizer and sampler. A strong characteristic of the instrument is the way in which it handles synthesized sounds like samples, and loops them. I play with this function throughout the piece for its cyclicality and the phasing that results. The sounds created with the Fairlight, and the field recordings of church bells and cicadas, present a repeating cycle of meeting up, diverging, then meeting up again.
Evelyn Saylor 