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Shifting Shadows (2012) is inspired by Stockhausen’s Mikrophonie 1 (1964), in which the sounds of a tam-tam are manipulated in real time by the movement of hand-held microphones and through electronic filtering and diffusion of the amplified sound.

In my work three traditional Javanese gamelan instruments – gambang (xylophone), slenthem (metalophone), and rebab (spiked fiddle) – are activated by an array of household materials to generate sounds. In live performance I intend for additional ‘players’ to create other layers of sound using a microphone as a musical instrument. The recording attempts to convey this layering of sound.

The character of Shifting Shadows was inspired by the idea of the ‘familiar spirit’, which in old European folklore is a supernatural entity, sometimes taking the form of an animal or human figure, to assist witches and other cunning folk. The sounds used in Shifting Shadows are eerie, intimate and gestural, giving the impression of an unknown creature.

• Briar Prastiti: Shifting Shadows - hardcopy score 

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• Briar Prastiti: Shifting Shadows - downloadable PDF 

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• Shifting Shadows - audio CD 

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Having heard Adrianna Lis in concert, I was excited by the prospect of writing for her and was thrilled to contribute a piece for her CD Dialogue/Rozmowa produced by Atoll Records. We discovered in subsequent conversations that we shared a common interest in WWII history and decided there and then that this should be the central idea. The horrors of WWII remain very much part of the Polish collective memory. Like many of her countrymen Adrianna does not wish for the events of WWII, and in particular the treatment of the Polish people, to be forgotten or diluted by time, thereby diminishing the significance. When we Fell is a reflection of this idea. A fall from grace; a fall from humanity; a falling away from oneself. I have tried to imbue in this piece a sense of nostalgia, a hint of the military and in parts childlike innocence that in a strange way highlights the dismay at the loss of humility. The folk-like melody that runs through is an adaptation of the Polish song To Ostatnia Niedziela composed by Jerzy Petersburski (1936) – a nostalgic tango describing the final meeting of former loves who are parting, which had the dubious honor of often being poled while Jewish prisoners were led to their deaths in the gas chambers. The vocal track is recording of some of the text from this song but toward the end a passage from Nietzsche’s Thus Spake Zarathustra is quoted in Polish.

Michael Williams

• Michael Williams: When We Fell - downloadable electroacoustic part (mp3) 

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• Michael Williams: When We Fell - hardcopy score & electroacoustic part (CD) 

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• Michael Williams: When We Fell - downloadable PDF 

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• Adrianna Lis: Rozmowa / Dialogue  Year: 2012 

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