electrocd

a glass is not a glass

Adam Basanta

a glass is not a glass

  • Adam Basanta
  • Year of composition: 2008-09
  • Duration: 18:56
  • Instrumentation: stereo fixed medium

“a glass is a glass is a glass” — adapted from Gertrude Stein

“Ceci n’est pas un verre” — adapted from René Magritte

The sound of a common wine glass encapsulates both its banal everyday use as well as the inherent musicality of everyday objects. This ordinary sound, excited by various means, is treated with a metaphoric sonic magnifying lens, highlighting its various characteristics: attack and resonance, harmonicity and inharmonicity, rhythm and texture.

The untreated sound functions as both departure and arrival points, allowing elastic musical elaborations between each concréte bookend. This interplay, between the recognizable qoutidian sound and its more abstract modulations, acts as the main developmental motif in the piece, and is explored throughout eleven intertwined movements.


A glass is not a glass received the 3rd prize of the Sound in Space Competition (Boston, MA, USA, 2011).

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