The Girl who used to be Delight
Commissioned
by Rikskonserter/Concerts Sweden
Piano and
Computer
2008
15:00 ca
Stefan Klaverdal
About
the piece
When
speaking about inspiration for this piece I have to mention Neil Gaiman, since I base it at least partially on his books in
the series The Sandman. It is in a way difficult to describe what they are
about, since the books contain a multitude of stories and lives, but the
essence is about the seven endless, immortal personal manifestations of various
aspects of human life.
When
reading I became very touched by the character "Delirium", she is a
girl, old as humanity, but youngest of the endless. She started her life as
Delight, but somehow stopped being that and became instead Delirium, a disshelved girl with mismatched eyes, clothes in rags, and
hair that shifts colour by the minute.
Delirium is
often very interested in unexpected things, although she gets easily distracted
and becomes interested in something else. In the now, however, she can be
extremely dedicated to what interests her at the moment.
This piece
is dedicated to her, and to her strange skill to be totally focused on one
thing, yet moving to something else at the same time.
First
performed by Johan Hugosson April 16th 2007 in Lunds Konsthall.
Technical
information:
The
computer part is conceived to be played by an active
musician, which means that this piece is in fact a type of duo. In order to
play the piece one need
A 4.1 surround loudspeaker system, two in front, two in rear and one
subwoofer.
A computer running Max/MSP ver. 4.3 or later.
The patch for the piece, available from the composer. It is only tested on Apple
computers.
Preferably
a midi controller, like JLCoopers CS-32 or
equivalent.
Two microphones to pick up sound from the piano.
The
computer part is largely free and somewhat improvised. The player follows notes
in the score, and correspondingly uses the controller to raise or lower the
volume, change the pitch etc.
There is
also a pre-programmed version of the piece, more static.
In the
piece there are some special notation and instructions. These are explained in
the score
SVENSKA
GodŐs Breath
Rikskonserters bestllningsverk
Orgel och dator
2008
Stefan Klaverdal
Teknisk information