
Yesterday on Radio Heart I broadcast a live recording of Duane Pitre’s Feel Free from May 30th at Zebulon in Brooklyn.
Read the full playlist here.
Listen to the show here.
Duane provided a nice description of the composition, you can read about it below.
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Duane Pitre’s Feel Free is a new work-in-progress that is based around pre-recorded, guitar string harmonics tuned in Just Intonation. The harmonics are randomized in their order of play via a computer program, with the result touching on the sporadic, yet orderly nature of wind chimes. The computer acts as the wind, and the guitar harmonics the chimes, creating chance-melodies and, at times, a Zen-like setting. These randomized harmonics are the core of the piece, and the program can run on its own as an installation — or, the core can be augmented by the composer’s custom-built, Justly tuned, virtual synthesizer. With this simple-timbre electronic instrument, Pitre carries out a planned improvisation with the guitar harmonics, whose pitch sets vary throughout the piece in a sequence of subtly shifting sections.
This “duo” of guitar harmonics and synth comprises the solo version of Feel Free. For group versions of the piece, a wide variety of acoustic instrumentation such as harp, violin, and double bass can be added to this “duo.” Each performer is equipped with an instrument-specific score that allows them to approach the performance in a similar manner as Pitre. The composer performs with the group while also guiding them through the series of sections, with each section offering slight, yet progressive variations in the performer’s fixed-pitch choices, playing methods, and technique restrictions. In addition, the performers are instructed to look/listen (at times) to the randomized guitar harmonics as a lax guide, creating a central focus within the group, yet one that is not strict and rigid, but more so relaxed and flowing, creating a fluid ecosystem of sound.
The premiere performance of the group version of Feel Free took place May 30, 2010 at Zebulon in Brooklyn, NY.
Performers included:
Duane Pitre – composition, simple-timbre synth, computer-randomized guitar harmonics
Jesse Sparhawk – harp
Jim Altieri – violin
James Ilgenfritz – double bass
Jessie Marino – cello
Shannon Fields – hammered dulcimer