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A blog series on women composers from the past and present

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Sculpting and Refining, a cross synthesis in Amphora (Sarah Westwood)

2/5/2019

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Sculpting and Refining, a cross synthesis in Amphora
 Amphora, n. 
1. an ancient Greek jar or vase with a large oval body, narrow cylindrical neck, and two handles that rise almost to the level of the mouth broadly : such a jar or vase used elsewhere in the ancient world
2. a 2-handled vessel shaped like an amphora 
 For the upcoming Illuminate concert, my piece Amphora for bass clarinet, violin and cello will be performed as part of the RCM Chamber Music Festival 2019.

Amphora are vessels dating back to the Neolithic period and also had been made for Ancient Greek vase painting. They were used for the everyday and rituals, prizes and for funery practices.

I had been working with pottery in previous pieces, including using various size clay pots as resonant speakers- in Cable Veins, for piano and electronics; Chalk.Body.Barrowelectronics for dance, and Rare Earth installation (work in progress). Whilst working physically with pottery, I wanted to focus on their tactile quality; the weighted and earthy and fragile and ancient qualities, to embody these in sound. The idea of writing Amphora began here.
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​At the same time, my compositions encompass other impetuses, and I am often drawn to dance (which I discussed in my previous post for Illuminate) or poetry, and I blend these with my sketches - sculpting, juxtaposing and refining original designs for the piece. 
 
I’ve used the poetry of Georgie Lorimer as a catalyst for a few pieces, including Amphora and it falls within a triptych of works I am basing on Lorimer’s poetry: The Artist’s Kintsukuroi  
 
1)    Into the Blank Expanse of Space for bass flute, piano and electronics
2)    Amphora for bass clarinet, violin and cello
3)    The Artist’s Kintsukuroi for septet, narrator and conductor 
 
for Amphora: 
 
it was autumn when we kissed
that first time             after one
last summer storm on the beach
 
hair plastered against your face
and     disfigured with sandwe
were hideous as tempests
battering into the cave
 
maybe if we’d stayed for more
than that moment we’d have been
trapped forever         much later
 
i danced a fresh edge of sea
until even the soft shush
je t’aime   je t’aime   je t’aime   left
my leaps sinking into sand
 
‘Cross-synthesis’
 
After developing these thoughts, a ‘cross-synthesis’happens where phrases, or larger structures, could have started as an embodiment of pottery which are then co-mingled with the poetry ideas, or vice versa. Once I have refined a section, the original meaning and ideas are hidden and transformed. In electronic music, the cross-synthesis occurs when spectral data is applied from one sound to another in order to create a hybrid sound, or a transition from one sound to another. I wanted to use this process in an acoustic setting - and so I imagined the cross synthesis firstly occurring in a short, exclamatory motif. 
 
I then abstracted this motif, supporting it with different pressure, resistance, harmonics, multiphonics and pulsating vibrato and tremolo, always striving to sculpt the poetry and pottery together. I also endeavoured to blend an embodied sense of the pottery and poetry with the spiritual.
 
 
Example:  [ https://soundcloud.com/sarahewestwood/amphora-extract/s-hTvVh]  
 
Amphora extract, Heather Roche (clarinet), Patrick Dawkins (violin), Valerie Welbanks (cello) Deptford Town Hall, London. May, 2018. 
 
 
To hear the please in full, come to the concert on 16 Feb!
 
————————--
Photo credits: 
1) Guillaume Baviere
Creative Commons: Attribution, ShareAlike.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/84554176@N00/11736244906/in/album-72157644546914693/
 
2) Sarah Westwood, personal photo of the ocean

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    Authors


    Dr Helen Thomas
    Dr Rhian Davies
    ​Dr Laura Dallman
    ​Alex Burns
    ​Dr Gemma McGregor
    ​Sarah Westwood
    Carol J Jones
    Dr Blair Boyd
    Dr Angela Elizabeth Slater
    Laura Shipsey
    Kerensa Briggs
    Dr Kendra Leonard
    Elizabeth de Brito

    Dr Steph Power
    Lara Poe
    ​Nina Danon
    ​Sabina Pena Young
    Mason Bynes

    Composers
    Morfydd Owen
    Libby Larsen
    Lili Boulanger
    Louise Marie Simon
    Amy Beach
    Sarah Westwood
    Carol J Jones
    Arlene Sierra
    Gemma McGregor
    Angela Elizabeth Slater
    ​Clara 
    Schumann
    ​
    Hélène de Montgeroult
    ​Blair Boyd
    ​Fumiko Miyachi
    Grażyna Bacewicz
    ​
    Hilda Jerea
    ​
    Jennifer Higdon
    ​Thea Musgrave
    ​Elizabeth Maconchy
    ​
    Laura Shipsey
    Kerensa Briggs
    Caroline Bordignon
    ​Vivian Fine
    Barbara Strozzi
    Joanna Ward
    Yfat Soul Zisso
    Angela Elizabeth Slater (vid)
    Blair Boyd (vid)
    Sarah Westwood (vid)
    ​Kaija Saariaho
    Ailsa Dixon
    ​
    Charlotte Bray
    ​Angela Elizabeth Slater - blog on Suncatcher
    ​Steph Power
    Lara Poe
    ​Nina Danon
    Amanda Aldridge
    ​Carrie Jacob Bonds

    ​Sabina Pena Young
    Mason Bynes

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  • Home
  • About
    • Illuminate
  • What's On!
    • Illuminate Scotland tour
    • Support Illuminate Women's Music
  • Illuminate Scotland Artists
  • Illuminate Blog
  • Past Illuminate Women's Music series
    • Illuminate performers Spring 2023
    • Illuminate composers Spring 2023
    • Illuminate Video premieres
    • Illuminate 2022 concerts
    • Illuminate 2021 artists >
      • Illuminate 2021 Artists Season I
      • Illuminate Season II Artists 2021
      • Illuminate Spring 2023 - What's on!
    • Whats on 2021 Season I and II
    • 2020 Season I Artists
    • Digital artists >
      • Digital series - What's On
    • Illuminate at RCM 2020
    • Illuminate Extra at Nottingham!
    • Illuminate 2019 Season II concert series >
      • Illuminate at RCM 2019
      • 2019 Season II Artists
      • 2019 Season II What's Was On!
      • Season II Composer interview videos
    • Illuminate 2019 Season I Concert series >
      • 2019 Season I What's Was On!
      • 2019 Season I Artists
      • Gallery of 2019 Season I concerts
      • Season I 2019 Video gallery
    • 2018 Illuminate touring concert series >
      • Performers (2018)
      • Composers (2018)
      • Gallery of Illuminate 2018 concert series
      • Videos from Illuminate 2018 concert series
      • 2018 - What Was On!
  • Contact
  • Digital concert on 20th November