Another Timbre TimHarrisonbre
Joanna Bailie Artificial Environments Nos.3 to 5
from ‘Artificial Environments Nos. 1 to 5’ (2011)
duration 12:00
NB The original, full mixes of these pieces contain a vocal element (see below), and can be heard on Joanna’s website here: http://joannabailie.com/index.php/music/
The scores for the pieces can also be seen there.
Photo: Tiziana Penna
Artificial Environments Nos. 1 to 5 is the second completed set of pieces in a series of works that seeks to contextualize music and its processes through explanation. The explanation itself is fiction (even science fiction) and serves as an unreliable auditory programme note that is integrated into the sound world of the piece. Scratch the surface of this explanation a little though, and it becomes clear that the text is simply a metaphor for the compositional techniques that have been employed in making the music. On a broader level, but in a very small and modest way, the work is an attempt to introduce the outside world into the contemporary music concert hall, a tradition/aesthetic position that we might associate with certain American composers from the previous century. The recorded sounds in Artificial Environments Nos. 1 to 5 were captured in locations around Europe — the hills of Umbria, Copenhagen, Malmö, London and various places in central Brussels where I live. The recordings of the voice were made with the help of CESARE in Reims and De Pianofabriek kunstenwerkplaats in Brussels. The work was commissioned by CESARE and L'instant Donné.
Joanna Bailie was born in London in 1973 and has been living in Brussels since 2001. She studied composition with Richard Barrett, electronic music at the Koninklijk Conservatorium in Holland and in 1999 won a fellowship to study at Columbia University. Her music has been performed by groups such as Ensemble Musikfabrik, Exaudi, The Nieuw Ensemble, Apartment House, The London Sinfonietta, L'instant Donné and the Ives Ensemble. She has been broadcast by BBC Radio 3 on many occasions and programmed at events such as the Venice Biennale, Darmstadt, Huddersfield, SPOR Festival, Festival Reims Scènes d'Europe, the Borealis and Ultima festivals in Norway and the Transit festival in Belgium. Together with Matthew Shlomowitz she runs Ensemble Plus Minus.
Website: http://joannabailie.com/