Exits and Defences (2005)

Commissioned by Montreal-based Quatuor Bozzini, this piece was inspired in part through an illustration by situationist Guy Debord that maps, in his words, the “atmospheric unities of a city.” Debord first cut a map of Paris into segments experienced as having distinct unities, then spread these pieces out to reflect the sense of mental distance between them. Leaving exaggerated space in place of vehicle traffic and other voids, he then drew patterns of directional arrows to illustrate the most active circulations of foot traffic both through and between distinct regions. With striking economy, the image portrays a web of social conditions that figure into the identity of most cities – exposing patterns of polarities that both influence such conditions and develop through them.

Encountering this image around a time spent exploring early writings of Jane Jacobs, I developed a fascination with how musical relationships and aesthetic forms can be thought of as governed by networks of gravities, comparable, at some level, to those active within city spaces. Rather than suggesting literal framework, this interest provided a backdrop through which the piece developed, influencing many of my choices around distributing material and space, and interlacing microstructures into more open forms.

The integration of metered and un-metered notation developed in appreciation of both how open time feels in juxtaposition to strictly ordered time (a relationship that may be enjoyed by any wandering pedestrian in observing the simplest interactions between traffic lights and the energies and movements of people within a space), and of how removal of pulse serves to intensify communication between players.

Performed by Quatuor Bozzini, this live recording was made at the Dresdner Bank Gesellschaft für Neue Musik (Frankfurt, Germany), August 31st, 2005.

Exits and Defences by sabrinaschroeder