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This is the opening movement of my new work, 40°45' North , 73°59' West.  The work is based on original recordings of harbor sounds captured at different sites around New York City.  In this movement, we hear the sounds of the East River gently lapping on stones underneath the Manhattan Bridge (on the Brooklyn side of the river).  In addition to the water, we hear, at different points, a helicopter, a train, and other sounds of the city.  I was struck while making this recording by the way the natural sounds and city sounds interact, vying with one another for prominence in the sonic spectrum. I underlined this juxtaposition by passing the rumbling city sounds through an array of high-resonance band-pass filters, thus creating a constant but ever-undulating harmonic drone which complements the contours of the lapping water.  The result is a sonic texture which is at once natural and artificial, perhaps a mirror to city life.

Bio:

Aleksei Stevens is a composer and sound artist living in Brooklyn, NY.  His music makes use of aleatoric techniques, real-time computer interaction, and techniques of musique concrète.  His new work, 40°45' North, 73°59' West , based on original recordings of NYC harbor sounds, is set to premiere June 21 in Rome as part of the Tevereterno project.  His music has recently been performed at Carnegie Hall, Symphony Space, and The Stone.  Aleksei received his masters degree in composition from Manhattan School of Music in 2006, where he studied with Nils Vigeland and Joel Chadabe.  He is currently an associate professor of digital audio  and multimedia performance at Long Island University.

 

 

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