in silent dreams

for Sam Finch and Dominika Maszczynska

for baroque flute, chamber organ, live electronics

20214 mins 20 secs

in silent dreams is an intentionally paradoxical title. How can this music be about silence?

in silent dreamsSam Finch, baroque flute; Dominika Maszczynska, chamber organ

In this case, I'm not going down the John Cage route. Instead, I was thinking about self-expression and communication, and what happens when expression doesn't make it out of the self. Gestures stutter, remaining hidden and inexpressible even as they are being expressed in sound.

In a sense, this work is about “silenced dreams.” The connection to sounds of the everyday world has been twisted and broken, so inner sounds, shapes and impulses come to life.

The work is projected as one of a triology of “in ... dreams” works, so I would love to hear from anyone interested in more works like this. They are projected for historical instruments but I'd be happy to rework them for modern instruments as well.

Together with live performers, this work uses a Max/MSP live electronics patch. The patch records the players’ sound, timestretching and pitchshifting it so it becomes eerie flickering shadows of itself.

Download Max/MSP patchv. 2

Max/MSP patch v.2 (Max collective – recommended)Max/MSP patch v.2 (plain patch zipped with dependencies)