steve antosca

Composed for the 70th Anniversary of the West Building of the National Gallery of Art, with Noah Getz on Baritone, Tenor, Alto and Soprano saxophones in every way I remember you is one of a pair of compositions, titled echo::MEMORY, premiered on March 16, 2011 in the West Building Rotunda, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC as part of the 70th Anniversary of the West Building.

 

The event was described by the Washington Post (2011/3/16) as “a wonderfully provocative” concert, "wiring the Rotunda with a battery of speakers, Antosca transformed it into an immense temple of sound, presenting a program of theatrical new works that married humans with computers, and ancient myths with contemporary aesthetics.”

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Poetic and ambiguous, in every way I remember you suggests the multi-dimensional observation of an individual, realized through a performer viewed and heard from varying perspectives.

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The perspectives imagined for in every way are "the person you are remembering, the one you envision," – a close-up, personal, immediate and intimate representation – and the remote perspective of "someone you are looking upon," – an external view, from the distant outside.

 

These perspectives are created through the use of a range of saxophones (one performer) and electronic sounds, and by movement of the performer and sounds, through the Rotunda. During the performance, the saxophonist migrates through stations in the Rotunda to effect the varying perceptions. Through spatialization and pin-point placement of sound, the perspective of the sax and electronic sounds will shift the focus of the viewer/listener’s attention.

 

The electronic part is a reflection and extension of the instrumental part, imaged through real-time computer audio processing of the live performance and pre-recorded, processed audio. The pre-recorded material uses saxophone and percussion samples, recorded in the Rotunda, as its source material and is used to extend the saxophones' sonic capabilities.

 

At moments, these sonic images echo the sax, and at times they contrast with it. At moments, the solo texture of the sax is enhanced by the intense and extreme reverberant nature of the Rotunda, while at other moments, the raw power of the instrument combines with the electronics to saturate the performance space with an intense texture.

 

in every way I remember your you consists of four tableaus whose titles are taken from text excerpts of Burnt Norton I by T. S. Eliot:

 

i.     Footfalls echo in the memory                                                              alto saxophone

       the passage which we did not take

       Towards the door we never opened…

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ii.     My words echo...in your mind...                                                         baritone saxophone

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iii.    Other echoes inhabit the garden. Shall we follow…                           tenor saxophone

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vi.    Through the vibrant air...                                                                    soprano saxophone

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