(2000) for piano, percussion (one or two players) and electronics, 50:00
instrumentation: piano, two percussion bowing the piano, two large bass drums + fixed media audio playback.
Signal Ruins (2000) was composed at the beginning of the 21st Century. With its glacial pacing and deterministic formal paths, Signal Ruins explores a type of sculptural ritual theater in concert music. The 45-minute composition, in two large sections, is scored for two or three players performing piano, noise generators, bass drums and crotales. For much of the composition, the players bow the piano using fishing lines woven between the piano strings. In the melodic final section, the pianist plays on the keyboard while the percussionist fills the interior of the piano with pieces of aluminum foil. Sonhors magazine describes Signal Ruins as “Dialogues, modulations, swirl, noise, dissonance, metallic roar, crackle: nothing can break the piece’s expressive unity. Signal Ruins plays with beauty, coolness and space. Halfway between chamber music and sound sculpture!” The work was premiered at the Darmstadt 2000 Summer Festival.
Signal Ruins (2000)
Performance materials include a PDF score and fixed media electronic track