Below is a PDF of Ghost Estates from 2018. Instrumental parts were made from this version. It was submitted as part of my PhD commentary in 2018. Further description about Ghost Estates can be found further down this webpage.
Below the embedded PDF of Ghost Estates are two “videos” of musical pieces that relate directly or adjacent to the submitted work.
The first is my Sinewave Quartet. The pitches in this version should directly mirror the content of the score. It’s a highly idealized rendition of Ghost Estates, but the resultant harmony envisioned in the piece is very clear. Naturally, an actual performance of the string quartet would introduce many(!) other timbral elements as well as mistakes (happy accidents) that would thwart the desired perfection of this electronic rendition.
The other video (Canon Inerruptus) is a workshop version I made of this piece while was in residence with the Bozzini Quartet in Montreal for their Composer’s Kitchen. This workshop version of my idea that I workshopped with the quartet, was conceived as more of an hors d’oeuvre for the ensemble. It also featured me, for better or for worse, as interrupting speaker (reciting a famous Robert Burns poem). Despite the ensemble wanting a finished piece that week, it took me approximately another 6 years to complete the work. However, I include this rendition, because a) it shows that the musical language is possible to play and b) it provides a clear timbral illustration of the effect I was seeking to hear (unlike the sinewave quartet).
Ghost Estates (further analysis)
