Streams (1999), 16m12s

Stream it

commission: Sonorities Festival with support from the National Lottery

The image evoked most immediately is, of course, that of water — turbulent, troubled, restless, at the mercy of wind and terrain, flowing onward to the sea — itself turbulent and in constant motion. Evaporation, clouds and rainfall complete the cycle which is always renewing, always moving…

The primary sound sources for Streams are drawn from the turbulent points of confluence of water, earth and air (liquid, solid, gas): river, sea-shore and rainfall. This gives rise to behavior such as trickling, bubbling, pattering (like drums? Listen out for a mysterious Irish visitor!) and the overriding rise and fall of perpetual wave motion, which seems to have become a model for the structure of the whole piece…

Streams of data, of consciousness and, most importantly, of perception — the ability to link often disparate elements together and to understand, to ‘hear,’ that they are part of one line, one ‘stream of thought,’ distinct from other (possibly coexisting) parallel or contrapuntal streams.

The CD version of Streams is a stereo reduction of the original 8-channel format, which I was using for the first time in a work for tape. The multi-channel format arguably assists in the streaming processes, and also emphasizes the agitation of relentless motion…

Performances

		Rien à voir (6) Thursday, December 9, 1999 Jens Hedman, Paulina Sundin: carte blanche
		Rien à voir (11) Wednesday, April 10, 2002 Rien pour rien
		Rien à voir (11) Saturday, April 13, 2002 Jonty Harrison: Up Close and Personal