Together with Lauren Redhead, I am looking forward to performing Mesias Maiguashca’s masterpiece for organ and live electronics: Nemos Orgel at to the Only Connect Festival, at NyMusikk Stavanger on 24th May, 2019. This piece is a highly imaginative response to Jules Verne’s famous book ‘20,000 Leagues Under The Sea’; a large part of the musical narrative is guided by the question of how Captain Nemo’s organ might sound.

Details can be seen here. We have rehearsed this piece over the past week which has involved some close listening to Maiguashca’s dramatic and impressive tape part. This consists of purely electronic sounds (much of which combines sounds created in CSound with resonances using FM synthesis). There isn’t a single moment where the sounds are merely static, there is always some kind of transformation taking place. The tape part itself relates to the organ in its imitation of the organ sounds and in places where both organist and tape play in rhythmic unison.

During this time I have developed a MaxMSP patch that allows me to make filter changes in performance. For some this degree of intervention might be unnecessary as the tape should just be allowed to play by itself. However my decisions here have been guided by which frequencies can be heard on the tape, in relation to what the organ is doing. This type of work also enables me to interact with the concert space itself. Our performance will take place in the Stavanger Konserthus, at 11pm.