Advanced Composition Search: chamber orchestra

The Inevitable Wave(C) is the third work in a series, as it suffix suggests. It began life as an unaccompanied fixed media piece, which consisted of the sound of a single ocean wave breaking on a shore--about ten seconds long--that was ultimately stretched to be almost ten minutes long. [The wave was from a recording by Karen McCoy, made on the French Mediterranean coast in 2000.] The idea is of something that emerges from silence and grows ever louder, from a point where it is at first difficult to determine if there's even anything there or not, to a roaring, almost unbearable crescendo. That piece suggested that it should be further extended by the addition of live instruments.

Chamber Orchestra

Unusual chamber ensemble

Amadeus ex machina is a whimsical re-imagining of Mozart's 40th symphony from the perspective of a sophisticated - but somewhat disoriented - machine. Themes are mixed and matched in odd combinations, key centers are skewed in unexpected directions, and the entire composition is condensed into a ten-minute soundbite.

The resulting work can be experienced in a number of ways - as a study of contemporary society's relationship with its cultural heritage, as a commentary on the interaction of art and technology, or simply as an affectionate spoof of one of the greatest compositions in the Classical canon. The title comes from the deus ex machina - literally, "god from a machine" - a theatrical device in ancient Greece whereby a god was lowered to the stage in a crane to resolve seemingly hopeless plot complications.