Recording Date:
Fri 4 Nov 2011
"Resistance Underneath Biomechanical Sentinels" for brass quintet is a three movement, eleven minute composition written during the summer of 2011. Commissioned by the Gaudete Brass Quintet, the work received its premiere performance on November 4, 2011, at Roosevelt University in Chicago, IL. The idea for this work came after I attended the "Art from Detritus: Recycling with Imagination" exhibit in April 2011 at the Williamsburg Art & Historical Center in Brooklyn, NY. The works by the artists featured in this exhibit were made solely from recycled materials and trash and conveyed the importance of recycling and “upcycling” with the goal of showing that through its materials and techniques, art helps our environment. One particular work that caught my attention was an installation by cross-media artist Russ Underlab. The provocative images associated with Underlab’s work reference an environment in which mechanical objects interact with nature to create beautiful, and often disturbing, ecosystems. While his installation did not directly influence the way in which the musical language of my composition was constructed, Underlab’s work inspired me to consider the interaction between mechanical objects and humans and how they interrelate through musical expression.
Unlike in the visual arts where works are constructed to exist in space, a musical composition exists through the development of sound over a specified period of time. Therefore, the intended meaning of the work becomes less obvious. The title, "Resistance Underneath Biomechanical Sentinels," invites the listener to experience the human relationship with industrial technology as a conflict or an adventure beyond the physical realm. In other words, it is through the physical connection with their instruments that the musicians become biomechanical sentinels to convey the emotional ties with the musical sounds that are created with these mechanical objects.