Andrea Young
dr.andreayoung@gmail.com
A Moment or Two of Panic (2022) commissioned by No Hay Banda
I had a dream about this place, NO HAY BANDA's debut album, brings together four long-form works for chamber ensemble and electronics by four of Canada's most fascinating composers. NO HAY BANDA has developed deep collaborative relationships with all four composers over the years, and is thrilled to feature their work on this special release.
released November 4, 2022
NO HAY BANDA
Sarah Albu, soprano
Geneviève Liboiron, violin
Joshua Hyde, saxophones
Felix Del Tredici, bass trombone
Daniel Áñez, piano, ondes Martenot, modular synthesizers
Noam Bierstone, percussion
Tracks 1-2-4 performed by Liboiron, Hyde, Áñez, Bierstone
Track 3 performed by Albu, Liboiron, Del Tredici, Áñez, Bierstone
Album produced by NO HAY BANDA
Recorded by Radwan Ghazi Moumneh at hotel2tango, Montréal
Tracks individually edited and produced by Anthony Tan, Sabrina Schroeder, Andrea Young, and Mauricio Pauly
Mixed by Murat Çolak
Mastered by Harris Newman (Grey Market Mastering)
Original artwork by atelier rosepink (Rose Adamson and Sylvain Côté)
Creative liner notes by Françoise Major and Donato Mancini
Album design by Juliette Duhé
ANGEL’S SHARE (2020) commissioned by Architek Percussion
L’enfumée (2019) commissioned by Quatuor Bozzini
L’enfumée was commissioned by Quatuor Bozzini and sets the anonymous text Puisque je suis fumeux and Fumeux, fume, par fumée. Both movements investigate the use of glissando between voice and strings creating vaporous sound forms which give a rising, twisting and falling harmonic movement–inducing sonic drifting–as if sound were fumes.
Les Fumeurs were a group of people known as “The Society of Smokers” who existed in France during the 14th century. Two poems written about or by les fumeurs were set to music and included in the collection of songs named The Chantilly Codex. One poem, Puisque je suis fumeux, was set by Hasprois and another, Fumeux, fume, par fumée by Solage. The translation of the French word “fumer” has led many people to believe that these poems were about smoking, but there was neither tobacco nor opium in Europe during the 14th century. Speculations as to what they may have been smoking instead is common, and scholar Patricia Unruh (UBC, Canada) suggests in her thesis that this poetry that elaborates on the French word "fumer" is really closer to the english verb “to fume”. In the a 14th century, it is more likely that this society of artistic people were fuming with the vapour of wine–but the constant play on the word fumer suggests a certain tongue-in-cheek leaving the exact nature of "fumosity" a mystery.
TAGTRAUM (2018) commissioned by Array Ensemble
TAGTRAUM was commissioned by Array Music and is for voice, electronics and chamber ensemble.
While voice resynthesis has an inherent digital virtuosity, the tone can sometimes sound metallic. In combination with this digital voice, the warmth of tone that comes from the Echoplex tape delay and looping effect brings an intriguing analogue contrast to this digital technology.
The EchoPlex has a basic parameter of “amount of echo”, which is enabled by the physical length of tape between the record and erase. I developed the form of TAGTRAUM based on this simple parameter: in the first movement, the ensemble attempts to play in unison, the least amount of echo. The second has a medium amount of delay, creating counterpoint. The third movement engages the looping effect. In the fourth, the ensemble performs a composed and orchestrated input and echo which is re-synthesized and time-warped by the computer.
The text is fragments from Rainer Maria Rilke’s Duino Elegies (1923).