| .04 | “absinth” | |
| 1986-87 | ||
| for | 4 channel tape, 4 loudspeakers | |
| duration | 15 minutes | |
| premiere | may 11th, 1987 Piet-Jan van Rossum, sound projection de IJsbreker, Amsterdam |
|
| available | tape available at Donemus |
| press | Ernst Vermeulen, Entracte, 1995 |
| fragment |
| .04 | “absinth” | |
| 1986-87 | ||
| for | 4 channel tape, 4 loudspeakers | |
| duration | 15 minutes | |
| premiere | may 11th, 1987 Piet-Jan van Rossum, sound projection de IJsbreker, Amsterdam |
|
| available | tape available at Donemus |
| press | Ernst Vermeulen, Entracte, 1995 |
| fragment |
‘Alleen al het lezen van de toelichting roept beelden op, uitingen van een verscheurde ziel. De compositie ‘Absinth’ was zó beeldend dat je echt geen aanvulling nodig had. Voor mij is misschien nog het meest verbijsterende dat Piet-Jan van Rossum niet een leerling van Berlioz is, maar in onze tijd leeft.’
“absinth” was inspired by the painting ‘Glass of Absinthe’ by Degas.
About the form: in a 7 minute-long sequence, Golden Section-structures succeed each other, leading to an intense climax, after which the work seems to disappear into a void; a small pianissimo afterthought follows and dissolves into silence.
Next, the piece paints a bare space (low rolls, high sinus wave, ‘high tension”-sound in the middle) in which half-decayed fragments from the first 7 minutes appear. Quite unexpectedly, the piece resuscitates for a short while, only to break off in the middle of this revival.
Red thread through this work is the “hammerblow”: symbol for willpower and anger.
“Absinth” is an exploration of golden sections, inspired by the work of Jan Boerman.
The material was generated with 5 tape recorders, a Vocoder, octave-filters, a ring modulator, the wonderful reverb panel in Studio 1 of the The Hague Conservatory and ample noise accumulations.
This material still turns up in my work, it’s of an unreal analogue beauty that seems unattainable with computers.
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