Long Dance Vale

Long Dance Vale is a composition for live electronics and two trombones, conceived in response to artist Robert Therrien’s body of work, which engages clarity of form and structure, iteration, repetition, and shifting perception. Long Dance Vale was performed by Sarah Davachi (electronics), Mattie Barbier (trombone), and Mason Moy (trombone). Two of Therrien’s sculptural pieces provide a direct conceptual reference for this work: No title (trumpet) of 1983, and No title (bell box) of 1986-87. In both cases, Therrien points to a kind of sonic negative space, not to necessarily underscore the obvious unsounding of musical objects but rather to engender impressions of the acoustic potential beyond what is given to immediate perception. “Much of my work with timbre, tuning, and psychoacoustics also explores negative space within limitation, emphasizing the auditory world that emerges from but ultimately exists beyond the notes on the page. Similarly, Therrien’s use of stark visual forms (such as arches and coffins) in relief suggests to me a similar negotiation of the active and passive spaces where perception occurs, which is mirrored in Long Dance Vale through the slow physical movement of the two trombones through the performance space, creating a kind of acoustic counterpart in relief.”