Release Date: July 10, 2015
Catalog #: RR7908
Format: Digital & Physical
21st Century
Chamber
Clarinet
Electronic
Flute

Tornado Project

Trios For Flute, Clarinet, And Computer

Ricardo Climent composer
Robert Rowe composer
Paul Wilson composer
Andrew May composer
Eric Lyon composer
Russell Pinkston composer

Elizabeth McNutt flute
Esther Lamneck clarinet

As a ferocious wind storm spins up all things in its path, The Tornado Project, conceived by composers Ricardo Climent and Paul Wilson, cuts a path through the repertoire of 21st-century electroacoustic music, presenting a collection of works for flute, clarinet, and computer-generated sound that explore the chaotic beauty of this trio. With performances by two American wind virtuosi – clarinetist Esther Lamneck and flutist Elizabeth McNutt – these works showcase the skills of the musicians, their dynamic relationships with the computer, and the composers’ innovative, colorful, and resourceful styles.

The result of an eight-year integrated process of collaborations and performances, this self-titled release on Ravello Records showcases six works from a diverse group of contemporary composers on either side of the Atlantic, including Ricardo Climent, Paul Wilson, Robert Rowe, Andrew May, Eric Lyon, and Russell Pinkston. These composers create mysterious and turbulent sonic worlds by incorporating extended techniques, primal and ethereal computer-generated sounds, and improvisation. The combination of the crystalline and airy timbres of the flute weighed with the earthy tones of the clarinet create stark and eerie tones, while the computer adds chaotic gestures, effects processing, atmosphere, and foil material to the instruments’ phrases. McNutt and Lamneck collaborated with the Tornado composers to create a coherent sound that brings these works together into an idealized “virtual performance” of this project’s repertoire.

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Artist Information

Andrew May

Composer

Composer Andrew May is best known for chamber music that combines classical instruments with interactive computer systems. During his childhood in Chicago he studied violin, wrote chamber music for his friends, manhandled tape recorders to make odd sounds, and wrote computer software - but these were all separate activities. Then he learned about interactive computer music, and it turned out they could all work together. These days, May teaches composition and computer music at the University of North Texas, where he directs the Center for Experimental Music and Intermedia. He still plays violin, writes chamber music for his friends, and writes computer software - but now, sometimes some of the friends are the software.

Russell Pinkston

Composer

Russell Pinkston (b. 1949) currently resides in Austin TX, where he is Professor of Music Composition and Director of Electronic Music Studios at The University of Texas at Austin Butler School of Music. He holds degrees from Dartmouth College (BA 1975) and Columbia University (MA 1979, DMA 1984), where he studied composition with Jon Appleton, Jack Beeson, Mario Davidovsky, George Edwards, and Chou Wen-chung.