Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Uncut
a postmodern duet
for mezzo soprano and
computer processing
2014
Copyright Isabella Nicole Ness & Trichord Publishing, 2016. All rights reserved.
PROGRAM NOTE
The human voice is one of the most versatile instruments in existence. The multitude of
sounds, pitches, and percussives that can be created with the voice alone is astounding
and nearly unmatched in the musical world. However, with the emergence and
proliferation of computer music from the 20th into the 21st century, the voice finally has
a worthy rival.
The computer part in Uncut has been coded in Pure Data, an open-source visual
programming language for audio design developed in the 1990s by Miller Puckette as
an offshoot of the equally-utilized program called Max. Nearly anything is possible
with Pure Data, from the readout of the simplest sine wave to the coding of complete
virtual instruments.
I think the various strengths and beauties of the voice have been harnessed best in the
modal music of the Medieval and early Renaissance periods. In this way, the voice in
Uncut does not settle into any one key or mode but slinks through many tonal centers
until its close. The computer accompaniment matches this dance, rife with overtones
from sliding open fifths that support the singer with an archaic and yet wholly
millennial background.
Ultimately, Uncut is an exploration of my propensity to be alone. At the surface it is a
duet, but there is no deeper human connection between the singer and computer. When
all is said and sung, it remains a solo that declaims a sense of self that remains quite
unknown at best.
Uncut may also be performed with the soloist accompanied by a laptop ensemble in 3
parts, with any number of ensemble members divided between them. The ensemble
needs only to follow the numbers marked in the score along with the vocalist.
It is recommended that the ensemble be dispersed around the space in any array, such
that the sound can surround the audience.
Uncut
Isabella Nicole Ness (b. 1993)
I.
I am whiskey.
I bite, on the rocks,
So raw in this glass tumbler.
There is a sting I give
I give to your tongue
A fire on its tip
As you sip
And you sense
That I am wild.
Unrefined and un-similar,
Un-learned and un-taught,
Un-everything you thought I could be.
There is this absence
Of knowing
That makes me so amber
As I pour.
I pour
With meaning,
I pour with feeling,
With a blaze inside me
You can only hope to know.
Because I laugh
In the face of doubt.
I am your bottled courage;
What more
Do I need?
PERFORMANCE NOTE
Accidentals last through the measure.
Duration ca. 3:00
Uncut
Isabella Nicole Ness (b. 1993)
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