Echo Transcriptions 2022
duration
12'
instrumentation
e.vln and ensemble
scoring
kbd.,e.bass,strings(4.4.3.3.0)
commission
Australian Chamber Orchestra and Stanford Live
premiere
November 11, 2022 in Canberra, Australia
Program Note by Samuel Adams
The first time I heard the Australian Chamber Orchestra was on a program that included Brett Dean’s Electric Preludes, a buzzing, resonant work for electric violin and chamber orchestra. I suppose it’s appropriate to say that things have come full circle with my new piece Echo Transcriptions scored for a similar instrumentation consisting of electric violin, strings, electric bass, and Moog synthesizer. Like the work by Brett Dean, Echo Transcriptions reads less like a concerto and more like an exploration of energy, tone color, and texture. The electric violin plays one long, unbroken line—searching, singing—and the orchestra echoes and refracts its gestures to create a rippling tapestry of sound.
My second work for this brilliant and virtuosic group, it was a total joy to write.
-Samuel Adams
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press
"ACO leader Richard Tognetti then plugged in his electric violin for the world premiere of Samuel Adams’ Echo Transcriptions in which the soloist’s amplified line found increasingly rich reverberations of varying density from the orchestra behind. The soloist’s part sank and re-emerged from the sonic fabric as though losing itself within a crowd within a sacred space."
Sydney Morning Herald ↗
Read Interview with Kate Holden ↗
