89_The Return of Takhi, the last Feral Horse_follw the leader

TITLE: The Return of Takhi, the last Feral Horse

 

CAT# (YEAR COMPOSED): 89 (2014)

INSTRUMENTATION: bass clarinet, trumpet, trombone, voice

DURATION (APPROX): 15’00

NOTE: For Loadbang

 

The Return of Takhi, the last Feral Horse represents the sounds of the central Asian Steppe.

The ancient Mongolian poem, čaγan aγulan (White Mountains), a reflection on nature and mankind, is shared by the entire ensemble.

Neither the solo voice nor the poem are the central focus in this composition; rather both are integrated into the larger whole as bits of narrative, or interruption, and/or support within the larger experiment in sound production.

Multidimensional networks of simultaneous and multiple strata were established to exploit the nonlinear dynamics of each instrument/voice. Radical manipulation of sound production is required by all performers to produce both homophonic and contrapuntal complexes within a single face.

 

LARGE MAMMALS/BIOACOUSTICS

The sounds of the Central Asian Steppe – the sounds you might hear on the open plains from large mammals to small birds were analyzed through spectral analyses. In Takhi, I use both literal and metaphorical transcriptions of nonhuman vocalizations, referencing the hunting and foraging calls of large mammals such as:

Cervus elaphus scoticus – European red deer

Cervus canadensis – elk

Cervus elaphus nelsoni – Rocky Mountain elk

Rangifer tarandus – reindeer

Canis lupus – grey wolf

Canis lupus albus – Turukhan wolf, aka Tundra wolf (grey wolf subspecies, native to Eurasia’s tundra from Finland to the Kamchatka Peninsula)

Canis lupus campestris – Steppe wolf, a subspecies of the grey wolf, native to the Caspian steppes

 

 

Done