Ellipsis is a work for female singer and tape which seeks to embody a ritual celebration of spiritual power, rooted in the ancient traditions of lunar mythology. One of the most important symbols in this tradition is the meaning given to the unfolding of the lunar cycle, with its three stages of waxing, full and waning moon. Traditionally these stages have been associated with three images of woman: virgin, mother, and crone. Ellipsis continues in the ancient tradition of associating stages of growth with the three lunar phases and creates another three-fold story of woman, chronicling the spiritual and psychological empowerment of woman’s collective consciousness as it has evolved through time: The Age of Darkness, Creating a New Space, and The Age of Resonance.

The vocal part has no text but is composed out of an approach to the voice that attempts to express the desired emotive and dramatic quality through a wide range of sounds, accessed by the singer by creating a link between the voice and the body. The breath establishes that link, and by grounding the breath in the body the singer can create a wide palette of sounds.

The tape part of Ellipsis is realized from a variety of sources: sampled acoustic string sounds, FM synthesis, and multitrack layerings of the voice of Fides Krucker. String and synthesized sound material were completed in 1989 at Gerr ElectroAcoustics in Toronto, and the Electronic Music Studio at McGill University in Montréal using the Synclavier II synthesizer. The multitrack voice section was realized and produced in 1993 at the Luscar Recording Studio of The Banff Centre for the Arts, with engineer Frank Lockwood. Final mix of the tape was completed at The Banff Centre for the Arts, with engineer Jennifer Lewis. Ellipsis was originally written in 1989 for electric string quartet, voice, tape and dance and was completed with the assistance of an Explorations grant from the Canada Council for the Arts (CCA); it premiered on November 10, 1989 during the CEC Electroacoustic Days, >convergence< at The Banff Centre for the Arts (Alberta, Canada). The present revised version involved a reworking of the piece in 1992-93 in collaboration with the mezzo-soprano Fides Krucker; it premiered on January 30, 1993 at the Music Gallery’s Living in a Virtual World festival in Toronto by Fides Krucker.

Composition

• 1989, Gerr ElectroAcoustics, Toronto (Ontario, Canada)
• 1989, Electronic Music Studio — McGill University, Montréal (Québec)

Revision

• 1992 – 1993, Toronto (Ontario, Canada)

Premiere

• January 30, 1993, Fides Krucker, voice • Living in a Virtual World, The Music Gallery, Toronto (Ontario, Canada)

Recording

• 1993, Wende Bartley; Frank Lockwood, engineer • Luscar Studio — The Banff Centre for the Arts, Banff (Alberta, Canada)

Mixing

• 1993, Wende Bartley; Jennifer Lewis, engineer • Luscar Studio — The Banff Centre for the Arts, Banff (Alberta, Canada)

Performers

• Fides Krucker, mezzo-soprano

The ancient art of storytelling, always present among us, preserves what we cannot afford to lose, reminds us of what we have forgotten, highlights that which is collectively experienced, and points to new possibilities. Rising Tides of Generations Lost is one attempt to retell a small portion of the story of woman. Our collective foremothers issue forth a clear call to give voice to the rising energy centuries of common experience has created.

Starting with the most elemental forms of language — whispered vowels, consonants, and syllables — moving through to spoken syllables, words, and phrases, the accumulating voices gather a surging sense of energy which is temporarily overshadowed by memories of earlier days when we were burned and tortured for our knowledge and sensuality; virtues intolerable for the age of reason and control. Almost buried in this tumult, the voices rise again with a clarity of vision, compelling us to free ourselves and no longer fear those forces which do not understand the tears of silence. Spiralling us forward through time to the rhythm of everyday conversation, the weight of tradition is forced upon us. We do remember, for these things have remembered themselves.

This piece is dedicated to my grandmother, Cora Parry Showers, who pointed me towards a path of ‘new beginnings’. In the words of 19th century American novelist Kate Chopin this ‘beginning of things’ is “vague, tangled, chaotic, and exceedingly disturbing. How few of us ever emerge from such beginning. How many souls perish in its tumult.”

Rising Tides of Generations Lost was realized at the Electronic Music Studio at McGill University in Montréal in 1985 with the Synclavier Sample-to-Disk system. It was remixed in 1993 at the Luscar Recording Studio of The Banff Centre for the Arts, with engineer Frank Lockwood. Sampled voices include those of Anne Erskine, Wende Bartley, Cathy Herd, Helen Hall, Marguerite Bartley, and Dorothy Young. The piece premiered at a Group of the Electronic Music Studio (GEMS)’ concert at Pollack Hall in Montréal on April 4, 1985.

Composition

• 1985, Electronic Music Studio — McGill University, Montréal (Québec)

Premiere

• April 4, 1985, Concert, Salle Pollack — Pavillon Strathcona — Université McGill, Montréal (Québec)

Remixing

• 1993, Wende Bartley; Frank Lockwood, engineer • Luscar Studio — The Banff Centre for the Arts, Banff (Alberta, Canada)

Buried deep within our personal and collective memories are a myriad of voices that echo forward in time. If these mysteries could be unlocked, the endless layers of accumulated sorrow and harmony pealed away, what images would be uncovered, what voices heard? Ocean of Ages Revealed evokes an aural landscape based on a visual image created by Susan Griffin in her book Women and Nature: The Roaring Inside Her. Travelling into the darkness of a cave, faint images of another time appear, etched onto the walls. As the layers of mystery are gradually peeled away, the images become more visible, more clearly defined. The past and the forgotten, the secret and buried, is uncovered.

Ocean of Ages Revealed uses primarily vocal music from the Balkan regions sung by Brenna MacCrimmon and Jayne Brown, specifically recorded as source material for this composition. The ancient music from the Balkans tells of the joy and pain in woman’s life experience and has survived as a strong reminder of woman’s oral history. Through the technological means of granular synthesis, these sounds become expanded and stretched into an all encompassing soundscape which glimmers with the strength, struggle and vitality of our neglected and forgotten heritage. Other source material used in the composition includes the voice of Paul Dutton, the Staro Selo ensemble performing instrumental music from the Baltic regions, the Bulgarian gaida played by Nick Ouroumis, as well as material generated through FM synthesis.

Ocean of Ages Revealed was realized at the studio of Simon Fraser University (SFU) in Vancouver (BC) with the PODX granular synthesis system designed by Barry Truax. The piece was finished at both the studio of the Music Gallery in Toronto, and in the studio of composer Randall Smith in Toronto. Ocean of Ages Revealed was commissioned by David Olds for Transfigured Night on CKLN FM radio in Toronto with support from the Ontario Arts Council and premiered on January 28, 1991.

Composition

• 1991, Electronic Music Studio — Simon Fraser University (SFU), Burnaby (British Columbia, Canada)
• 1991, The Music Gallery, Toronto (Ontario, Canada)
• 1991, Personal studio – Randall Smith, Toronto (Ontario, Canada)

Premiere

• January 28, 1991, Concert, CKLN FM, Toronto (Ontario, Canada)

Ice breaking, melting, dissolving into water. An infinite sound language full of shape, movement, and texture. Where are the stories buried in the rivers, creeks, glaciers, and canyons? Stories that formed this land we now call home? Stories ravaged by conquerors, explorers, and soulwinners?

As I sit by icy rivers surrounded by snowcapped mountains I am struck by what we have lost, the lies I was told. The waters surrounding me are full of the ways of walking within the interconnected web of life. And as I listen, I hear the cries of those destroyed because they lived in the knowledge of the circling eddies in the tiny creek, the ever-changing lattice-work on the half frozen waterfalls, the endless motion of rivers carving their cavernous pathways through the ageless rock. Sounding through changes of texture and shape, IceBreak moves through states of rupture, isolation, introspection, passion, and infusion. Through these pathways, my hope is we hear the voices that speak of ways to follow.

IceBreak uses source materials from short improvisations on instruments from the Kyai Madu Sari, the Javanese court-style gamelan at Simon Fraser University (SFU) in Vancouver (BC). These initial recordings were made at the Western Front in Vancouver, with the assistance of Mark Parlett, Robert Kyr, Sam Salmon, and Jocelyn Robert. The textures were later created in the Luscar Recording Studio of The Banff Centre for the Arts with engineer Frank Lockwood using SoundTools, MAX, and SampleCell systems, and a 24-track digital tape recorder. The final mix was completed using the ProTools system at the studio of composer Randall Smith in Toronto. IceBreak premiered on July 8, 1992 at The Banff Centre for the Arts.

Preparation

• Mark Parlett; Robert Kyr; Sam Salmon; Jocelyn Robert • Western Front, Vancouver (British Columbia, Canada)
• Wende Bartley; Frank Lockwood, engineer • Luscar Studio — The Banff Centre for the Arts, Banff (Alberta, Canada)

Composition

• 1992

Premiere

• July 8, 1992, Concert, The Banff Centre for the Arts, Banff (Alberta, Canada)

Mixing

• 1992, Personal studio – Randall Smith, Toronto (Ontario, Canada)