Over the past few years I have become increasingly interested in the idea of transcription and of the music which is lost and the artefacts which are gained during such procedures.
Five Famous Adagios was written for Apartment House. It is a piece that was first realized using computer programmes and then transcribed for "real" instruments. In many ways it could be considered a process piece. The first part of Five Famous Adagios is in three sections. Each section consists of a counterpoint between three horizontal frequency bands extracted from the cadence points of several pieces by Bach. The next part of the work is in two sections. This time the sections use frequency bands extracted from the previous stage of the work. In turn the last part uses frequency bands from the second part. The original material (the Bach) becomes increasingly unrecognizable as it is processed over and over again. Five Famous Adagios was rearranged for string quartet in 2006.
Joanna Bailie
Five Famous Adagios is available on disc four of the London Sinfonietta's Jerwood Series.