amplified turntable

Commission: Ina-GRM

Premiere: February 9, 2008, Multiphonies 2007-08: Live Electronics, Salle Olivier Messiaen — Maison de Radio France, Paris (France)

“Spin is a quantum intrinsic property that permits the characterization of a given particle under the effect of rotation symmetry in space.” The notion of rotation also lies at the heart of Spin, a work that draws on the mechanical characteristics of a turntable. Well-known for playing LP records, this machine is used here mainly to cause various metallic surfaces to resonate in a circular motion that is somewhat hypnotic. In Spin, music takes the form of a continuum. To feed this succession of continuous sounds, I explored a multitude of ways to make the turntable resonate acoustically. As a result of the types of sonorities I discovered, I decided to incorporate an amplification system that better highlighted them. As such, Spin opens a window on a world at the limit of audibility, and the inaudible takes on a whole new musical dimension.

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