DECADE ZERO - CHRISTOPHER BIGGS

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DECADE ZERO

works for instruments & electronics

CHRISTOPHER BIGGS

OVERVIEW

New from Ravello Records is DECADE ZERO, a compilation of works for instruments and electronics by Christopher Biggs. The works integrate traditional instruments with live electronic processing and sound files.

Biggs’ compositions focus on environmental, political, and scientific extra-musical concepts relevant to today’s world. Featuring the Western Brass Quintet, the title track, Decade Zero explores the last period in time when humanity can take decisive action to combat climate change without facing irrevocable changes to our world.

Externalities, for amplified cello and electronics, balances a consumer attempting to minimize the negative outcomes of their consumption choices while reflecting on participatory economics. Amass, for clarinet and electronics, has origins in the Arab Spring movement and Occupy Wall Street. It reflects on contemporary society’s desire for meaningful change through continuous stratifying and blending of music.

Biggs’ more abstract works, such as the Decoherence for trumpet and electronics, refer to concepts of quantum physics, and Recombinant Serenade features variations on the “Prologue” from Benjamin Britten’s Serenade for tenor, horn, and strings.

Featuring works based on science fiction, Biggs’ A Letter to the Moon is inspired by Italo Calvino’s short story The Distance to the Moon. Promethea, for alto saxophone and electronics, is based on Alan Moore’s graphic novel of the same name. The common themes between these works include the anxieties of decision-making, often represented with instrumental parts, and the range of resulting consequences, generally represented by the electronics. Biggs’ striking electro-acoustic works lend these ideas a startling immediacy by creating compelling music that will intrigue and thrill listeners.

HIGHLIGHTS

Christopher Biggs is Associate Professor of Music Composition and Technology at Western Michigan University. Biggs is a co-founder and the director of SPLICE Institute, a weeklong summer program dedicated to teaching, exploring, and creating techniques of performing, composing, and presenting electro-acoustic music.

The Western Brass Quintet, appearing in Decade Zero, is dedicated to performing new virtuosic music. Over five decades, it has built a national and international reputation, performing across the United States and on multiple continents, as well as in its home state of Michigan.

Cellist Zachary Boyt, appearing in Externalities, is also a multimedia artist and composer. He is a doctoral candidate at the University of Oregon, studying music performance of data-driven instruments.

The SPLICE Ensemble, appearing in A Letter to the Moon, exclusively performs electro-acoustic works. It is the resident ensemble at the SPLICE Institute and Festival, where it works with composers and performers on integrating electronics into a traditional performance space.

Dr. Lin Foulk, appearing on Recombinant Serenade and Decade Zero, is Associate Professor of Horn at Western Michigan University, where she is a member of the Western Brass and Wind Quintets. She has performed and presented lectures throughout the United States and on four continents.

Trumpeter Samuel Wells, appearing on A Letter to the Moon and Decoherence, is a New York City-based composer, performer, and music technologist. He is a member of SPLICE Ensemble and Arcus Collective.

ALSO ON RAVELLO RECORDS

BETTY AND THE SENSORY WORLD (RR7972)

Doug Bielmeier

Release Date: November 10, 2017

Catalog #: RR7976

TRACK LISTING

1 Decade Zero

Western Brass Quintet

Robert White trumpet Scott Thornburg trumpet Lin Foulk horn

Daniel Mattson trombone Jacob Cameron tuba

Externalities

Zachary Boyt cello

2 Movement I

3 Movement II

4 Movement III

5 Promethea

Alex Sellers alto saxophone

A Letter to the Moon

SPLICE Ensemble

Samuel Wells trumpet Adam Vidiksis percussion Keith Kirchoff piano

6 Movement I

7 Movement II

8 Recombinant Serenade

Lin Foulk horn

Decoherence

Samuel Wells trumpet

9 Decoherence: Movement I

10 Decoherence: Movement II

11 Decoherence: Movement III

Amass

Mauricio Salguero clarinet

12 of need and necessity

13 Music of the Spheres

14 Imperatives

15 and Now, late breaking

16 Calculations

17 Abstraction

18 Anarchy

This album was supported by a grant from the Faculty Research and Creative Activities Award (FRACAA), Western Michigan University (WMU).

Credits

Decade Zero

Recorded January 16, 2017 at Dalton Recital Hall in Kalamazoo, MI

Producer Christopher Biggs

Recording Session Engineer Garrett Gagnon

Externalities

Recorded May 8, 2013 at the Dalton Center Electronic Music Lab, room 2004 in Kalamazoo, MI