apocrypha

apocrypha comp

 

The full name for this piece is: apocrypha for string quartet, electronics, light and projections. This was a collaboration with Jeff Sugg who created a visual environment of abstract textures inside of which the string quartet performed. apocrypha premiered in April 2000 at GAle GAtes in Brooklyn. We were then invited to perform for four nights at the Wooster Group’s Performing Garage in June 2000.

In apocrypha the members of the string quartet play through a series of melodic gestures according to the durations of their individual breath cycles. Without a conductor or meter, carefully composed fragments are allowed to combine and recombine into composite melodies and textures that ebb and flow through degrees of consonance and dissonance. Underpinning this instrumental layer are electronic textures that alternate between pulsing and non-pulsing modes. My goal in this piece, as with many of my pieces, is to invoke a model of a non-hierarchical and multi-valent community in all its complexity.