Rhapsody on a Desert Spring. 1996.

Dur: 15:06

Rhapsody on a Desert Spring  came about through a commission from the Mass. College of liberal Arts. McLean had improvised with Jonathan Aceto in his studio previously and was impressed with his ability to not only play beautifully but also with his creative intelligence in working with an experimental piece such as this.  So they decided to do a formal piece together.  Using the haunting background sounds from Priscilla's Desert Spring tape (from a new desert installation just premiered at Northern Arizona University) as a start, he decided to use the Korg Wavestation as the principal live synthesizer instrument, due to its  evocative sound quality.  The MIDI violin is an instrument that can either sound like a traditional amplified violin, or can be used to trigger a synthesizer sound that can be anything at all. So sometimes when you see Jonathan drawing his bow, the resulting sound coming out of the speakers may not bear much resemblance to what he seems to be doing, at least in violin terms. Perhaps that is one of the intriguing aspects of this piece--the very familiar with the completely unforeseen. The wild desert sounds heard at the beginning and halfway through are from a desert Gopher snake (courtesy of the Nature Sounds Society). Occasionally you will hear fragments of Navaho Indian poetry recorded by the McLeans in 1995 in Arizona. And of course there is the wind, a constant companion in the desert.

Rhapsody on a Desert Spring (1996)      Barton McLean
With Desert Spring tape by Priscilla McLean
Age: As old as the desert rocks and as new as the latest MIDI instrument
Jonathan Aceto:  Zeta MIDI Violin

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Rhapsody on a Desert Spring is © and ℗ 1996 Barton McLean