6 musicians and processing

Premiere: March 2, 2006, MusiMars 2006: Concert 5, Salle Pollack — Pavillon Strathcona — Université McGill, Montréal (Québec)

Vetrarkvídi, originates in a sketch I made a few years back, inspired by a natural phenomena called Vetrarkvídi. “Vetrarkvídi” means winter’s dread or apprehension. The word is used for the remnants of spider webs that are sometimes visible in grass fields in late summer, and are believed to foreshadow a long, hard winter. Last fall I fabricated a “web” from this sketch (with no help from spiders), and so the title takes on a new meaning. The original sketch can be heard at the end of the piece, where the flutist plays “whistle tones” on his instrument. The electronic sounds are mostly reworkings of fragments from my own music, and create resonance for the ensemble. Vetrarkvídi was composed for the Caput Ensemble and is dedicated to its members.