The Memory of Water, Vol. 1
(2023)
for solo viola, voice, live electronics and custom instruments
29 minutes
The Memory of Water is an ongoing collaborative project between myself and violist/poet Martine Thomas. Inspired by the original texts written by Martine, this multi-installment work explores the intersection between live composition, improvisation, and poetry. From a series of in-depth exploratory sessions during our time together at the Banff Center in 2018, Martine and I were able to discover a collection of sounds related to the narrative within her text which formed the basis of our sonic environment. In performance, through a combination of live composition and guided improvisation, we are able to deeply explore each sound and bring this environment off the page. The Memory of Water was partially premiered by Martine Thomas and I during the Ensemble Evolution ARCade at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity July 2019. This open workshop allowed us to begin creating this world, through a collection of sound artifacts from our initial exploratory sessions.
Within Vol. I, we delve into questions of what is remembered and forgotten, and the impact of change when dealing with loss and grief. The work centers around my engagement with a collection of texts created by my collaborator Martine Thomas and the soundscapes we create through her poetry, our improvisation, live composition, and live electronic processing. It contains life cycles that start from the ocean and return to the ocean, including ecological concern and personal narratives. There is a collection of acoustic material sourced from Martine's viola and our respective voices, as well as recordings of my custom instruments. Added to this texture are field recordings of our explorations around Wannsee and Schlactensee in Berlin that are intermixed with spoken word and other written texts. Throughout the arc of the piece, we delve into relationships with memory and the impact of change when dealing with loss and grief in an extended live composition and improvisation format. Vol. 1 was premiered on October 31, 2023 at KIINDL - Zentrum für zeitgenössische Kunst in Berlin, Germany.
Recording from World Premiere of The Memory of Water, Vol. 1 performed by Martine Thomas and Camila Agosto. Documentation, lighting and sound by Ragnar Prielipp. On October 31, 2023 at KINDL Zentrum für zeitgenössische Kunst.**It’s important to note that this is a stereo reduction of a concert with spatialized sound - 8 speakers placed around the audience in a circle, each with specific mapping of live and electronic elements to create an immersive environment. The spatialization of the music was a key part of the experience.
Future installments of The Memory of Water will vary in instrumentation, expanding beyond a solo format into small and large ensemble works. Within them, I continue to experiment with designs for performative sound sculpture pieces and wearable/interactive instruments.
The Memory of Water, Vol. II is currently in development and will premiere in March 2024. In this installment, I am working alongside Martine Thomas (viola) and Thea Mesirow (cello) in a new environment surrounded by murmurs of souls, exploring the vulnerability in surrendering your memory and the distortion in passing time.
From a series of in-depth exploratory sessions during our time together at the Banff Center in 2018, Martine and I were able to discover a collection of sounds related to the narrative within her text which formed the basis of our sonic environment. In performance, through a combination of live composition and guided improvisation, we are able to deeply explore each sound and bring this environment off the page. These early explorations for The Memory of Water were partially premiered by Martine Thomas during the Ensemble Evolution ARCade at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity July 2019. This open workshop allowed us to begin creating this world, through a collection of sound artifacts from our initial exploratory sessions.
The following are excerpts from our open workshop in July 2018:
