In the unknown there is already a script for transcendence

for piano and magnetic resonators The piano as stringed instrument. The string as a reservoir of dynamic fluid relationships between note and timbre, a spectral landscape that can be explored through the push-pull friction of the bow. The pianist as timbral explorer, mapping the instrument’s prominences, surfing its shifting eddies and currents.

A magnetic resonator becomes a prosthesis with which the pianist explores the dynamic resonance of the strings. Piano strings are ‘prepared’ using metal bolts and screws to make the string inharmonic (like a bell sound, with multiple overlapping perceivable pitches), destabilizing the specific pitch of the string into multiple competing pitch-timbre complexes. This destabilising of the piano allows the player to explore the tipping points across a continuum from stable pitches through phenomena such as beating-frequencies and multiphonics, all the way to the dissolution of the string sound into complex timbre. The piece is structured around alternating modes of activity: (1) the pianist ‘seeking’ particular types of ‘metastable’ sounds, continuously exploring the resonances of the strings to find the edges of stability; (2) sustaining the found phenomena, where a complex sound can be balanced like a spinning coin settling on its edge.