Paul Dresher is an internationally active composer noted for his ability to integrate diverse musical influences into his own coherent and unique personal style. He pursues many forms of musical expression, including experimental opera and music theater, chamber and orchestral composition, live instrumental electro-acoustic chamber music performances, and scores for theater, dance, and film. His performances utilize progressive contemporary music technology and the theatrical works use the resources of experimental theater to examine diverse issues in contemporary American culture. While experimenting with a Yamaha SY-99 synthesizer Dresher created a synthesizer timbre that intrigued him sonically and from which kept emerging a simple expanding chord progression. This suggested the kind of core harmonic progressions embodied in Bach chorales, which are often used as models in beginning studies of harmony and voice leading. The idea kept hanging around and nagging for attention, which it finally receives in the “Concerto for Violin & Electro-Acoustic Band”. This movement contains two big arcs of harmonic progression, the second one a permutation of the first, hence its title of “Chorale Times Two”. In addition to the synthesizer sound at the core of the second movement, almost all the keyboard and percussion sounds used in the work are samples of pianist Julie Steinberg's preparation for her performance of John Cage's seminal work “Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano”. |
