Lorelei
Medford Series
2004; 19:55 min.
Lorelei is the Siren of German legend whose singing lures sailors to shipwreck on the river Rhine. In both of the songs, I use this mythological pretext to explore the technique of score-based sampling to its lyric end.
This technique, established by me between 1995 and 2000, is based on the procedure of using computer generated scores in hierarchical and contrapuntal ways. Initially, very short computer generated scores are used to create sound samples unique to a particular composition. Once established, these samples are integrated into digital instruments generators of "tone color" that read numerical scores of longer duration, and are articulated by these second-order scores to any temporal length desired. On a higher level, sequences of such articulations are then linked and/or superimposed to create the final form, in an accumulative process of building complexity.
In this work of two movements (I [11:49]& II [7:32]), I was interested in creating contrapuntal textures simulating the richness of the German Orchesterlied (orchestral song) of the first half of the 20 th century, especially Mahler and Berg.