Gordon Monro - "Guyuhmgan"

"The Devil has a Tail"

List of pieces

"Seven Studies in Space and Time"

"Guyuhmgan"

For orchestra and tape, duration 10 mins (2001)

This piece is by Georges Lentz, with tape part developed by Gordon Monro in collaboration with Georges Lentz. It is part of a cycle by Lentz called Mysterium.

The program note (by Georges Lentz).

Comments on the tape part

The tape part was mostly made in Csound, though final assembly and adjustment was in ProTools.

The tape part does not use any pre-recorded sound; it is completely synthetic, consisting in fact of variations of sinewaves. Thus the tape part is "electronic" in sound, contrasting with the orchestral instruments. However, the timbres on the tape part are not completely un-instrumental; the orchestra and the tape occupy parallel worlds, complementing rather than opposing one another.

The tape part can be considered as another instrument. It is in mono and is intended to be perceived as coming from everywhere and nowhere, not from a particular location in the hall.

The pitches are quite often quarter-tones, and in the last section completely random pitches, unconnected with any scale, are used.

The main Csound "instrument" is based on Michael Clarke's FOG unit generator, which creates small, overlapping "grains" of sound. Usually the grains are overlapped to produce a sine wave, but in some places the grains are modified in different ways, for example by emphasising every second grain. The modifications of the grains create variations on the basic sinewave timbre.

The tape part was realised in SUESS, the Sydney University Experimental Sound Studio in the Music Department, University of Sydney.

Performances, etc

Since this is Georges Lentz's piece, not mine, I have not tracked its fortunes closely, but it has certainly gone very well.

Initial performances by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Opera House: four performances on August 22nd, 24th, 25th and 27th, 2001.
A substantial number of performances in Australia and overseas.
A recommended work at the 2002 UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers in Paris.
Guyuhmgan is on the CD "Mysterium", ABC 472-397 2, Capricorn (ABC Classics), 2002. The CD also contains Georges' piece "Ngankar".

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