United Kingdom (Northern Ireland)
Integra Commission: Noise Machine
Duration: 14:00
Resources: Solo Saxophone, Ensemble, Electronics and Visuals
Integra Ensemble: Ars Nova (Sweden)
Integra Research Centre: NOTAM (Norway)
Website: www.edbennett.co.uk

Bennett Integra by IntegraLive

Programme Note

This project is a collaboration between myself, the saxophonist Paul Dunmall, Ensemble Ars Nova and Juneau Projects. I have known Paul for several years now and been amazed by his playing for even longer; we had often spoken about working on a project together. Noise Machine is essentially a concerto for improviser and ensemble. While the musical material for the ensemble is meticulously scored there is no written music for Paul; his part is completely improvised in reaction to my ‘fixed’ ingredients. Juneau Projects have created visual images which will also appear in reaction to the musical events. The music itself is energetic in character and has a strong rhythmic drive consisting of lots of quasi-repetitive material which acts as a kind of surface for Paul to improvise upon. The electronic sounds in the work act as another ‘alien’ layer in the music adding a different erratic rhythmic element to the work. The title refers to both the different characteristics of the music and the apparatus used to realise it; the mechanistic quality of some of the music, the computer as a machine and generator of sound and the saxophone as an instrument with mechanical workings. All of this, of course, is used to produce a very human result which, as with most things in life, will be different every time it happens.

Biography

Ed Bennett is a composer working in the fields of notated, improvised and electronic contemporary musics. His work has been described in the press as anarchic, energetic, brutal and beautiful. His music, which draws upon a wide range of resources and stylistic elements, has been commissioned and performed internationally by many artists and has been featured at major festivals including Gaudeamus, Bath International, Huddersfield, City of London, Homecoming, Crash, Sonorities, Sonic Circuits, Bang ’03, the BMIC Cutting Edge Series and SPNM 60th birthday concerts. Recordings of his work have been released on the Lorelt and Enzyme labels.
He has collaborated extensively with artists working in different disciplines including choreographers and video artists and performs with and directs his own ensemble, decibel, which is dedicated to the performance of new and experimental cross-discipline work involving live instruments, electronics and video.
Recent projects and commissions include a work for viola and ensemble for Garth Knox, a work for clarinet and electronics for Paul Roe and an orchestral work for BBC Radio 3.

“Immediately Expressive. Sound that veers between the meditative and aggressive.”
Gramophone Magazine

NB

This piece was composed during the first phase of the Integra project and as such does not use the Integra:Live software.