Time Travel (18 minutes 32 seconds duration, stereo, fixed media) is an acousmatic composition based on recordings of a priest's voice and a male choir in the Greek Orthodox Church of Haghia Sophia, in Athens. Proper permission has been given by the priest in Haghia Sophia Orthodox Church in Athens, prior to the recordings process. It is my personal interpretation of the experience of being in an Orthodox Liturgy, through an internal experience of seeking for salvation. Information about the actual space where the liturgy takes place is suggested throughout the piece as well. I consider this work as a 'travel' between the actual place and my own internal perception of the psalms and the mystery of the holy liturgy; using the priest's voice as a reference point. In addition, I regard this composition as a travel back in time, to where Byzantine hymns first appeared: The Church of Haghia Sophia in Constantinople.
The work is a religious-oriented piece; it uses religious references and it uses these as a departure point towards different abstract and non-abstract soundworlds, which are relevant to the specific place - The Church - either in literal ways, through the priest’s voices (e.g. 9:12), or in metaphorical ways, such as the presence of beeping sounds (e.g. 7:58) which represent the omnipresence and survival of the Orthodox Church in Greece through the decades. In this work, every entity takes on a new role: the stone soundworlds which were used in order to symbolize the construction of the Church itself, were depicted in ‘dragging’ motion (e.g. 4:49, 4:53, 5:01 and 5:03). Two characteristic ways in which the priest’s voice were presented in Time Travel were: (1) Emerging from a broader set of soundworlds which follow various types of textural motion (e.g. 6:41) and (2) as a central stable axis around which the different soundworlds are following various orbits of textural motion types (e.g. 6:00 – 6:14 and 12:43). The frequent use of sound 'blocks' (e.g. 1:56) represents the presence of obstacles against the transformed religious sounds (and as a metaphor in life). In other words, the sound ‘blocks’ pose as moments of sound which try to resist religious orthodoxy. At the same time, the use of sound blocks contributes to the formulation of highly contrasting sections within the work, as the various types of textural motion suddenly obtain a less prominent presence as a sound block is superimposed over them (e.g. 1:56 and 3:15). The stable harmonic drone soundworlds represent salvation itself throughout the work (e.g. 3:23 and 15:20). The last section of the work (15:52 – 18:32) represents the presence of ‘evil’ and this compositional decision was made in order to create a contrasting section. In this section only, the ‘scratching10 textured’ drones represent the ‘evil’ threat instead of salvation (e.g. 16:30 – 16:50). The work ends with spinning-motion soundworlds in rapid motion (17:05 – 18:32) which gradually fade out, symbolising the ‘extermination’ of evil. The work also addresses a key research question: How can the combination of different aspects of textural attributes – which are present in different overlapped textural layers – lead to the perception of new aspects of gestural motion or new ways of identifying specific soundworlds? What impact could this perception have on soundworlds which are related to specific aspects of Greek culture?
10Soundworlds characterized by harmonicity as well as continuous push and drag textural motion and fluctuations in spectral space occupancy.
Robert Normandeau's Chorus: To the Victims of September 11th, 200111 (2002) includes characteristic soundworlds emerging from fundamental aspects of the three monotheistic religions: Judaism is denoted by the sounds generated by the shofar musical instrument, Christianity is symbolized by bell sounds and Islam is signified by the call to prayer by the muezzin. On the contrary, my work merely focusses on the Orthodox Christian religion. I used sounds from the priest in the Orthodox Christian Church in a way which could formulate a link towards Byzantine music (e.g. 9:12). However, there are also parts where the priest’s voice is heavily transformed and completely detached from its original attributes (e.g. 15:52). In addition, my work is also place-specific as stone soundworlds, symbolising the Church construction, were used (e.g. 3:08 – 3:23, rubbing and throwing stones soundworlds with implemented pitched resonance).
In Time Travel, the presence of a sound textural layer including a harmonious drone under the priest’s voice in (9:12 – 10:48) creates the perception of polyphony in the priest’s voice textural layer, when what actually happens is that the spectral space occupancy of the harmonious drone textural layer is wider and denser than the one of the priest’s voice textural layer, and the tonality centre of the two layers is the same (C minor). In addition, the spectral space occupancy alterations occurring in the harmonious drone textural layer (e.g. 10:09 – 10:17) make this polyphony perception more effective. The perception of polyphony gives the priest’s voice a hyper-real dimension and a more dominant presence and this has an impact in two levels: in terms of cultural context, it enhances the pivotal role of the priest and in terms of the work itself, it provides this section with polyphonic harmonicity; something missing from Byzantine music. This answers the key research question: How can the combination of different aspects of textural attributes – which are present in different overlapped textural layers – lead to the perception of new aspects of gestural motion or new ways of identifying specific soundworlds? What impact could this perception have on soundworlds which are related to specific aspects of Greek culture?
11Normandeau, R. (2006). The Art Of The Virtual Rhythmicon. Saint Paul – Minnesota: Innova Recordings
