Alvin Lucier has been a pioneer in many areas of composition and performance, including the use of brain waves in live performance (”Music for Solo Performer”), the generation of visual imagery by sound in vibrating media (”The Queen of the South”), and the evocation of room acoustics for musical purposes (”I am Sitting in a Room”). His more recent works include a series of sound installations and works for solo instruments, chamber ensembles, and orchestra in which, by means of close tunings with pure tones, sound waves are caused to spin in space. Islands”, for wind instruments and amplified snare drums, is the latest in a series of works by Alvin Lucier that explore the spatial characteristics of sound waves in enclosed spaces. In “Directions of Sounds from the Bridge” (1978), flashlights deployed around a cello are activated by sounds which flow out of the instrument in different directions for different frequencies; in “Self-Portrait” (1989) air flow from the lip of a flute causes the blades of a wind anemometer to spin at various speeds. In “Islands” sound waves from five wind instruments cause a collection of snare drums, scattered throughout the room, to resonate and sound. As the sounds from the instruments flow out into the space, the drums react singly and in combinations, determined by pitch, loudness, directivity of the wave-flow and the architecture of the room. The presentation of this work was made possible with the support of Stephen Weaver. |
