Soma Vera Ivanova

The title of the piece is taken from ancient Indian mythology where soma is a sacred intoxicating drink used in Vedic ritual, as well as the divinity of this drink and later on of the Moon. In addition, this is a morphological root of the word somatic, etc.

The main feature of the piece is the use of recognisable sounds and their transformation. These sounds consist of instrumental sounds (bowed cymbal, bass drum, orchestra string glissando, piano repetitions, bowed vibraphone and wind chimes), sounds of environment (aeroplane, noise, crowd, scream) and few spoken words (‘this is me’).

In the process of development of the piece these sounds are repeated in certain context and transformed (using computer programs Sound Hack and plug-ins/filters of Logic Audio Gold). With instrumental sounds my aim was to use the computer software as a sort of ‘extended techniques’ to achieve an effect of gradual unfolding and transformation of still recognisable sound. The noise of a crowd is treated as musical texture as the words are ‘smashed’ to emphasise certain phonemes and vowels in continuos moving sound mass.

The main idea of the composition was to make a journey from initial recognisable sounds through their transformations to different levels of external and internal worlds and their co-existence.

  • Year of composition: 2001
  • Software used: Sound Hack and plug-ins/filters of Logic Audio Gold
  • Duration of the submitted work: 15:18
  • Production: Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London, UK

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