Talkback VIII “Sample & Hold” (2019)

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Instrumentation: timpani and live electronics

Duration: 7 minutes

World Premiere: Spring 2022, Makoto Aruga (timpani), presented by Tokyo to New York concert series at Tokyo Concert Lab, Tokyo, Japan.

Composer Note:
The eighth in a series of compositions for solo instruments and electronics, Talkback VIII “Sample & Hold” is a dialog between a timpanist and an electronic soundtrack made of “samples” from the timpani canon and is continuously manipulated by the live timpani sound.

With Talkback, I explore extended techniques, enhanced timbre, and other sonic features that are characteristic of the instrument by magnifying and amplifying otherwise subtle nuances and bringing them to the foreground.

Talkback, just like in online media, is a response to something more substantial: western tradition, the canon. It is smaller but often as significant as it is a sincere manifestation of the zeitgeist. Real-time interaction between the singer and her electronic incarnation, similar to forms of contemporary communication—posting, tweeting, blogging, etc.— is filtered, yet very real.