Autumn Requiem concert video. 2002.
Dur. 25'.
Barton & Priscilla McLean, composers Priscilla McLean, video
Live processed electroacoustic performance with video.
Barton and Priscilla McLean, vocals, flutes, clariflute, violin, balloons, harmonica, assorted percussion
Priscilla McLean, video
Joseph Reinsel, Technical consultant
Live performance with video, stereo tape, written with Priscilla, who also created the video on a Videonics Mixer and analog VHS tape. Barton McLean, amplified bicycle wheel, soprano recorder, flexatone, clariflute, party horn. Priscilla McLean, voice, violin, native flute, soprano recorder, balloons. MAX/MSP (mostly MSP) software customized on a program by Barton, utilizing 4 channels of delay/pitch shifting/flanging in various ways. Also employing Dan Truemans “Munger” object, which improvises on audio input. This work formed the anchor for McLean Mix tours of 2002 through 2007.
PROGRAM NOTES
AUTUMN REQUIEM was created as a result of a McLean Mix artist residency at the iEAR Program at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2001-2. Its "requiem" thematic content was originally inspired by the tragic yet renewing nature of the fall season in the USA Northeast, with all its beauty, starkness, death, and eventual rebirth. The visual images are directly taken from Priscilla's camera work during September of 2000 in the Mt. Kathadin area of Maine, and in Rensselaer County, New York in October. As the tragedy of September 11 unfolded, a new heightened awareness of the ideas of tragedy and renewal was in the minds of the artists as they continued to create their "requiem," although a decision was made to not directly involve this event in specific details of the work. Various texts are used, including one describing the requiem of autumn by Henry David Thoreau from his "Journal". The familiar "Dias Irae" melody is also performed, plus other references to autumn which the listener can identify.
The images and sounds, although derived from and inspired by one of the greatest displays of nature and color in the world, are nevertheless made more abstract, allowing the work to exist on many levels of perception, all of which can be realized and enjoyed simultaneously or upon repeated hearings. The video portion was created in the McLeans' home studio, with additional support from the iEAR studios in working with the Adobe “Aftereffects” video processing system. One of the main benefits of the residency was to enhance the McLeans' repertoire of audio processing capabilities, and to this end, Barton McLean fashioned a powerful audio processing system using elements of MAX/MSP software. The resulting live audio processing involved a gamut of delays, pitch shifting, sampling, resonators, filters, and granular synthesis (derived from Dan Trueman's "Munger" patch), contolled live via a Slidemate MIDI controller. This work is largely improvised in some details, but tightly structured in its entirety.
​
Autumn Requiem is © & â„— 2002 Barton & Priscilla McLean
Autumn Requiem concert video. 2002.
Dur. 25'.
Barton & Priscilla McLean, composers Priscilla McLean, video
Live processed electroacoustic performance with video.
Barton and Priscilla McLean, vocals, flutes, clariflute, violin, balloons, harmonica, assorted percussion
Priscilla McLean, video
Joseph Reinsel, Technical consultant
Live performance with video, stereo tape, written with Priscilla, who also created the video on a Videonics Mixer and analog VHS tape. Barton McLean, amplified bicycle wheel, soprano recorder, flexatone, clariflute, party horn. Priscilla McLean, voice, violin, native flute, soprano recorder, balloons. MAX/MSP (mostly MSP) software customized on a program by Barton, utilizing 4 channels of delay/pitch shifting/flanging in various ways. Also employing Dan Truemans “Munger” object, which improvises on audio input. This work formed the anchor for McLean Mix tours of 2002 through 2007.
PROGRAM NOTES
AUTUMN REQUIEM was created as a result of a McLean Mix artist residency at the iEAR Program at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2001-2. Its "requiem" thematic content was originally inspired by the tragic yet renewing nature of the fall season in the USA Northeast, with all its beauty, starkness, death, and eventual rebirth. The visual images are directly taken from Priscilla's camera work during September of 2000 in the Mt. Kathadin area of Maine, and in Rensselaer County, New York in October. As the tragedy of September 11 unfolded, a new heightened awareness of the ideas of tragedy and renewal was in the minds of the artists as they continued to create their "requiem," although a decision was made to not directly involve this event in specific details of the work. Various texts are used, including one describing the requiem of autumn by Henry David Thoreau from his "Journal". The familiar "Dias Irae" melody is also performed, plus other references to autumn which the listener can identify.
The images and sounds, although derived from and inspired by one of the greatest displays of nature and color in the world, are nevertheless made more abstract, allowing the work to exist on many levels of perception, all of which can be realized and enjoyed simultaneously or upon repeated hearings. The video portion was created in the McLeans' home studio, with additional support from the iEAR studios in working with the Adobe “Aftereffects” video processing system. One of the main benefits of the residency was to enhance the McLeans' repertoire of audio processing capabilities, and to this end, Barton McLean fashioned a powerful audio processing system using elements of MAX/MSP software. The resulting live audio processing involved a gamut of delays, pitch shifting, sampling, resonators, filters, and granular synthesis (derived from Dan Trueman's "Munger" patch), contolled live via a Slidemate MIDI controller. This work is largely improvised in some details, but tightly structured in its entirety.
​
Autumn Requiem is © & â„— 2002 Barton & Priscilla McLean
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