Afterword

Edition

Duration: 5.5min

"The words of a dead man

Are modified in the guts of the living"


A recording of W. H. Auden reading "In Memory of W.B. Yeats" (1939) is repeatedly re-sounded through a tenor viol strung with natural gut. The acoustic, resonant sound of the instrument gradually 'drowns out' Auden's voice during the process of re-recording.


The piece explores ways of reviving, extending and transforming the voice. It draws from the idea of telegraphy and Alvin Lucier's "I Am Sitting in a Room" (1969) as well as being a personal response to Auden's poem.


Thanks to the Viola da Gamba Society and Bridgewood & Neitzert

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Afterword

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