For speaking voice, 8-channel recording and projection – 15’40”.
Programme note: The title of this piece is borrowed from a work by my friend and mentor, Morton Feldman, ‘The Viola in My Life’, a title I always admired as it seemed so odd. In this case, the texts used as material for recomposition (sampling) in this piece range from the highly sonic to the humorous and absurd to the repetitive and have been influential in my life. I have always been interested in text-sound poetry, lettrisme and absurdist theatre, for example as well as the writings of Gertrude Stein which play a major role in the work. The texts have been recomposed, made theatrical and, of course, musical and spatialised and pose a challenge with respect to timing and interpretation for the performer. It is for speaking voice, surround projection of the same voice and images of some of the more unorthodox texts. The challenge for the performer is to be able to feel the work’s timing.
A non-optimal performance video and its score follow below.
Texts in My Life - score