2022
Premiered 11.02.2022
Barnes Concert Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY
Composition for Ensemble (2022): This piece is designed to invoke the intricacies of relationship and contract between composer, ensemble, and individual. To accomplish this, the ensemble is presented with a set of index cards printed with a series of abstract markings derived from digital data extracted from one-hundred improvisations conducted over the summer of 2022. Prior to performance, it is the responsibility of the ensemble to democratically determine what, if any meaning these markings may hold. Prior to each performance, each card is assigned a duration determined at random. At the start of the performance, each performer draws a card and performs the pre-established action derived from the symbols. At the end of each individual action, the card is discarded and the performer draws a new card until the maximum number determined actions is completed. In that regard, the ensemble is allowed to follow their own path through this composition, guided only by their pre-agreed definitions of notation and interpersonal dynamics, with the role of the composer diminished only to an ambiguous structure set in place to allow the ensemble to determine their own collective actions.
As a part of the 2022 Cornell Biennial, this series of events is a collaboration between Cornell composers and artists, Piyawat Louilarpprasert, and Tacet(i) Ensemble from Thailand. The project offers a series of performances and workshops centered on extended instruments and global sounds concerning the idea of sonic identities and instrumental connotation in global cultures, as well as hybridizing Southeast Asian musical tradition and transgressing boundaries of sounds and instruments. These events are generously sponsored by the 2022 Cornell Biennial and supported by the Southeast Asia Program (SEAP) and Department of Music at Cornell University.
Audio Recording: Miles Jefferson Friday, John Eagle
Video: Daniel Sabzghabaei
Editing/ Mixing: Piyawat Louilarpprasert
Performed by Tacet(i) Ensemble:
Christhatai Paksamai (clarinet)
Kantika Comenaphatt (cello)
Siravith Kongbandalsuk (trombone)
Noppakorn Auesirinuroch (guitar)
Pisol Manatchinapisit (saxophone)
& guest performer: Ariana Kim (violin)
Score
Details of Each Card
Performance History
11.02.2022 – Barnes Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
- Tacet(i) Ensemble
08.24.2024 – Princess Galyani Vadhana Institute of Music, Bangkok, Thailand
- Tacet(i) Ensemble
- Performers:
Pisol Manatchinapisit
Noppakorn Auesirinucroch
Siravith Kongbandalsuk
Saksilpa Srisukson
Patumwan Piensub
- Performers:
Derivative Work
The initial rehearsal recordings for this piece were later used as the source material for Lacerations for Ensemble and Solo Instrument, released on the UK label Tone Burst, on May 5, 2023.
More on these pieces:
Lacerations 1-3 (2023): These pieces are largely a study on the deconstruction of linear sound sources via largely autonomous processes. The first two tracks are sources from rehearsal recordings made of the Tacet(i) Ensemble for my piece “Composition for Ensemble” while in residence at Cornell University as part of the 2022 Cornell Biennial. As the score was game-based and largely open to interpretation, each performance was remarkably different by design and written with the intention of the composer having a minimized role in the performance – or at the very least their role is superseded by the actions of the ensemble and the structure of the piece itself.
Looking to extend that concept into the recorded realm, the recordings were first passed through Rodrigo Constanzo’s Monolase software and then routed through a largely autonomous Eurorack patch largely featuring modules of my own design to further deconstruct the recordings, with my role once again being as hands-off as possible. The third piece uses the same process but utilizes a recording of improvised bass guitar recorded at the height of the 2020 lockdown.
Special thanks to the performers of Tacet(i) for their contribution to these tracks. Additional thanks to Piyawat Louilarpprasert for the invitation to write for this ensemble, Rodrigo Constanzo & Peter Blasser for their wonderful instruments, my loving, tolerant family for accommodating the sprawl of equipment throughout the house and the Tone Burst crew for the release.
Hypermetacontextual 