Leicester ElectroAcoustic Sound Team (LEAST)
Friday 27th August 2010, 8pm
Phoenix Square, Leicester
PART 1 – 8pm – 8.30pm
Perpetual Motion – Andrew Hill
Nature Room – David Hindmarch
Les Oiseaux – Michael Gatt
PART 2 – 9.15pm - 9.45pm
Summer Rain - Els Viaene
De part et d'autre – Julien Guillamat
PART 3 – 10.30 – 11pm
Cricrió- Annie Mahtani
York, June 2030 - Chris Watson
Programme Notes
PART 1
Perpetual Motion (2010) Duration: 05:20 minAndrew Hill
This composition presents recordings made in the Paternoster at Leicester University. This fantastic piece of machinery intrigued me and after having visited it for the first time in the summer of 2009 I could not pass up the opportunity to explore it’s sounds. Through working on the piece certain directing forces emerged, the juxtaposition of stasis with constant motion (because the paternoster does not stop, it is always moving between floors) and the cyclic nature of the paternoster.
Nature Room (2009) Duration: 11:00 minDavid Hindmarch
There is a simple conceit at the centre of this work, that of expanding a stereo recording of a rural environment into eight channels. The stereo recording is filled with nature sounds and the spatial movement of birds. I tried to present this activity within a multi channel context. The simple flight of a bird moving from left to right in the stereo field could be developed to show the birds flying around the speakers or travelling in straight lines from one speaker to another. I also wanted to preserve the integral stereo image or at least to present it in a similar manner within the speaker array.
There is a humorous angle in this piece with the birds seeming to crash into the various bird boxes that were placed around the campsite, coupled with the hectic motion of the birds as they struggled with each other for food.
The sounds in Nature Room were all drawn from a recording I made at a campsite in early September 2008 at a village called Wissingdine.
Les Oiseaux (2010) Duration: 09:11 minMichael Gatt
Les Oiseaux (the birds) is an ambient acousmatic composition that explores the use of bird song as the main sonic material for the piece. The piece has been composed specifically for the performance at the Phoenix Arts Centre, but is not a site-specific work. It is also the second of a series of acousmatic pieces that explore tonal sound material, the first being Les Cloches (2010), which debuted at the first LEAST concert.
The inspiration for the piece comes from Daphne Du Maurier’s short story The Bird; a tale of horror and isolation. The composition explores these concepts by creating an all-encompassing atmosphere evoking a sense of imminent danger.
PART 2
Summer Rain(2008) Duration: 18:00 min Els Viaene
This composition is based on autumn recordings made in Venice. The deep rumbling sounds of the vaporetto's at the end of a ride were the inspiration to create an endless stream of shifting sounds. They may remind the listener of the colour/light that shifts and contrasts during a summer rain...
De part et d'autre (2010) Duration: 9:00 minJulien Guillamat
De part et d'autre(from/on each sides)is a piece fromCycle des états: Espaces et Gestes.
It is a passage from one country to another, a trip between different soundscapes.
With this new work, I explore musical gestures in sound and space. Open air recordings are facing various confined spaces that are juxtaposed to moving sound objects and growing instrumental transmutations that induce the energy of the piece.
PART 3
Cricrió (2010) Duration: Annie Mahtani
Cricrió is one of a series of pieces exploring recordings made in the lowland tropical rainforests of Brazil. Each piece explores a different element of the area, which could be related to time, place or species.
This piece is created from recordings made in the forest the morning after a rainfall, when the birds were particularly vocal. Cricrió is the Portugese name for the most prominent bird in these recordings, known in English as the Screaming Piha (Lipaugus vociferans).
Cricrió was commissioned for BEAST through the University of Birmingham Circles of influence campaign, with funds provided by anonymous donor and was premiered at the Inventionen Festival, Berlin in July this year.
York, June 2030 (2009) Duration: 10:30 min Chris Watson
Chris Watson is one of the world's leading recorders of wildlife and natural phenomena, and here he edits his field recordings into a filmic narrative. The unearthly groaning of ice in an Icelandic glacier is a classic example of, in Watson's words, putting a microphone where you can't put your ears.
Biographies
Andrew Hill is a composer from the UK. He studied electroacoustic music and music technology at Keele and De Montfort Universities electing to focus his studies upon audio-visual composition. He is currently conducting PhD research investigating audience reception of electroacoustic audio-visual artworks with Leigh Landy and Bret Battey at De Montfort University.
David Hindmarch is a composer of acousmatic music based in Leicester. He is also a member of LEAST (Leicester Electro Acoustic Sound Team). He has composed music for magazines and dance companies. He has played in hotels and restaurants as well as having been a freelance music teacher.
Michael Gattis an acousmatic composer and sound installation designer who deals with site-specificity and site-type specific works. He studied in Leicester within De Montfort University and completed a degree in Music, Technology and Innovation and a Masters, which focused on site-specific sound installations. He has worked at the Groupe de Recherches Musicales (GRM), under the supervision of Yann Geslin, for a year as part of a European project (CASPAR) that investigated the long-term preservation of digital objects. Whilst at the GRM he became fascinated with musical projection and their tool for performance - the Acousmonium. This experience affected his appreciation of sonic arts and has had a clear impact on his compositions since then. He has also created a number of different site-specific compositions/installations for various places around the East Midlands.
Els Viaene began her career in documentary-making for national radio. The realistic treatment of sound has evolved into more abstract environments,using musicality and the natural rhythm of ambient and electronic sound that she animates according to the principle of collage.Working on these sound materials for performances but also for video art or architectural installations,she makes the listeners travel in imaginary naturalistic and organic environments.
Julien Guillamat began music in France at the age of seven. He studied at the conservatoires of Montauban, Montpellier and Aix-en-Provence (France). In 2006 he passed a Master I of musicology at the University of Paul Valéry (Montpellier, France). He first delved into music composition in 2005 at the University of Birmingham where he is now completing a PhD in composition with Professor Jonty Harrison. In 2009, Julien went to Musiques & Recherches to take classes in sound spatialization with Annette Vande Gorne in Brussels and music computer programming for live music (Max/MSP) with Benjamin Thigpen in Ohain (Belgium). His interest in sound projection systems and the nterpretation of acousmatic music on these systems is growing and is being investigated as part of his studies.As an active member of the Birmingham ElectroAcoustic Sound Theatre (B.E.A.S.T.) he has travelled across Europe. His music has been performed in France, Germany and the United Kingdom. His work is largely influenced by the French tradition of musique concrète.
He is collaborating with film, theatre, poetry and dance artists.
Annie Mahtaniis a freelance composer working in the field of acousmatic music and sound art. She completed a PhD in electroacoustic composition in 2008, supervised by Jonty Harrison at The University of Birmingham. Annie has been an active member of BEAST (Birmingham Electroacoustic Sound Theatre) since 2004.
Annie has worked with dance, theatre and on site-specific installations. Recent projects include Lago de Mamori, a multi-channel sound installation using material recorded whilst participating in the Mamori Sound Project, 2009; Birmingham Sound Matter, a collaborative composition project with Birmingham-based sound artists and composers directed by Francisco Lopez and commissioned by Modulate; Commisions from Rosie Kay Dance Company as composer for 5 Soldiers (2010), Supernova (2008)and Asylum (2004).
Annie’s work has been performed in concerts and festivals in the UK, Canada, USA and across Europe.
Chris Watson is asound recordist with a particular and passionate interest in recording the wildlife sounds of animals, habitats and atmospheres from around the world. As a freelance recordist for film, tv & radio, Chris Watson specialises in natural history and documentary location sound together with track assembly and sound design in post production.
LEAST is Michael Gatt, Andrew Hill, David Hindmarch and Simon Smith.
LEAST would like to thank Rob Weale and CPulse for allowing use to take part in this evening, Stuart Smith for allowing us to incorporate the ‘Sound Tree’ into our concert setup and Phoenix Square for being so accommodating.