Ringtones (2006)
Digital music theatre for solo violin, cellphone and video camera in collaboration with Aryan Kaganof
Written for and dedicated to Yasutaka Hemmi
Publisher: Bardic Edition
Score BDE 1018
Available from Goodmusic Publishing
Duration: c. 6 minutes
Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DriykCFqiD4
Première
First performance: Tuesday 4 July 2006; New Music Indaba, Grahamstown, South Africa; Yasutaka Hemmi violin, Michael Blake offstage cellphone caller, Aryan Kaganof videography, Corinne Cooper sound diffusion
Programme note
The idea for Ringtones originated during a visit Yas made to Johannesburg in 2005 for a performance of David Young's Skin Quartet and my String Quartet No 1 on the final stop of a world tour. The concept originated after that performance during a late night party at The (now infamous) Ant in Melville, Johannesburg. The musical material is derived in part from the score I wrote for Aryan Kaganof's cellphone movie SMS Sugar Man, and is inspired by Yas's effortless virtuosity. The ringtone is the one I activated on my cellphone in 2006. The conversations (in Japanese) are spontaneous. The video is a simulacrum of the performer playing the piece in real time or at another time.
Digital music theatre for solo violin, cellphone and video camera in collaboration with Aryan Kaganof
Written for and dedicated to Yasutaka Hemmi
Publisher: Bardic Edition
Score BDE 1018
Available from Goodmusic Publishing
Duration: c. 6 minutes
Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DriykCFqiD4
Première
First performance: Tuesday 4 July 2006; New Music Indaba, Grahamstown, South Africa; Yasutaka Hemmi violin, Michael Blake offstage cellphone caller, Aryan Kaganof videography, Corinne Cooper sound diffusion
Programme note
The idea for Ringtones originated during a visit Yas made to Johannesburg in 2005 for a performance of David Young's Skin Quartet and my String Quartet No 1 on the final stop of a world tour. The concept originated after that performance during a late night party at The (now infamous) Ant in Melville, Johannesburg. The musical material is derived in part from the score I wrote for Aryan Kaganof's cellphone movie SMS Sugar Man, and is inspired by Yas's effortless virtuosity. The ringtone is the one I activated on my cellphone in 2006. The conversations (in Japanese) are spontaneous. The video is a simulacrum of the performer playing the piece in real time or at another time.
