Concepts of space set the mind spinning.  The incredible vastness.  The minutest particles.  No centre.  No boundary.  No beginning.  No end…?  Music explores ideas that cannot be put into words and that is what this piece attempts to do.  To set the imagination on fire - for the players and the listeners.  The performers have to achieve a sense of flow, to connect with each other through the music, in conjunction and opposition.  Syzygy!

 

‘Deep space is, of all visual impressions, the nearest akin to a feeling’. Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

But we are essentially earth-bound, and that ‘psyche of place’ is evident here too.

 

The musical material is based on an A minor triad - 2nd inversion (+ F & Bb to complete the pitch set).  This is the Universal Chord.  Whilst this is hard to prove, it is equally hard to disprove!  This is my favourite chord.  It hangs expectedly, disembodied, unresolved, like a mysterious question.  The material develops beyond these pitches, but they persist throughout, giving an overall sense of stasis.  Things move but also stay the same.

 

The Impro Score has a flexible structure designed to give the work shape and form, as well as the flexibility to allow individuality - and a personal ‘voice’.  The core musical 

material suggests tonal plateaux and rhythmss/pulses which persist for a period of time before changing, thus creating a sense of stasis. Core musical ideas are suggested for development through improvisation.  The player has the freedom to choose some of these ideas, develop their own ideas, or to go beyond…

 

Players introduce other ‘notes’ derived from the pitch set.  For example, it could be the idea of a minor 2nd - repeat a phrase up a minor 2nd.  Or develop the sonority of the 4th and 5th. Or the minor triad could be repeated on notes of the pitch set.  or to play ‘inside/outside’ sequences, if a player is familiar with jazz impro concepts.  These are core ideas that can be developed quite extensively by improvisors. FX, timbral ideas or extended tecniques can also be injected as suggested by the section title, e.g. Particles, Waves

 

spA-C--E is usually performed as a multimedia concept - streaming: live 'star' data converted to MIDI signals and samples for the musicians to interact with. And live visual images of the relevant star systems projected onto a screen.  This recording does not include ‘star’ data samples.  It was recorded over several sessions at Colbright Music Studios.