Red (2001). 

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Red (2001) is a composition for 4 tracks of quadraphonic playback and optional live performer. The piece should be performed in the dark with a low level of red light.

Red was inspired when I practiced double stops on my violin, closely sensing into my body’s visceral experience of slight changes in pitch and intonation. The four channels are a mix of seven tracks – which I called “raw” tracks – , and nine – which I called “ringing” – tracks of intervals on the violin, playing with different hues of the sounds.

For the “raw” tracks, I recorded intervallic thirds and seconds on the violin. All pitches are between Bb4 and E4. They are mostly outside the equally tempered scale, and some are only microtones apart from each other. I called them “raw,” because the bowing is audible, and I only looped and faded the tracks’ ends and beginnings, but did not edit them further in the way I did the “ringing” tracks. 

For the “ringing” tracks, I rerecorded the same intervals as before, this time placing the microphone in a way to especially pick up overtones, difference tones, and the ringing/beating of the intervals. I chose the most ringing sections of each of the recorded tracks and created nine new tracks, rich in overtones, by looping and layering those sections.  

The optional live instrument both contrasts and supports the taped material. The performer moves in the space, senses the music as s/he intently listens, and, intuitively improvising, responds to the tape. 

Performances of Red include CEAIT Festival 2002, California Institute of the Arts, the 10^th Annual Ussachevsky Memorial Festival (2002), Pomona College, Claremont, the University Exchange Concert at UCSD 2002, and UNCG New Music Festival, 2005.