Orison (2017)
three music box players + electronics (2-channels)

• Full score & parts (includes detailed instructions on how to construct each instrument)
  *Paper rolls for the music box are not included

• Electronic portion for 2 channels (9 separate audio files)

Format: PDF only (score) & wav audio files
Dimensions: Full Score 11 x 17 in. / Parts 14 x 8.50 in.
Audio format: stereo wav. 48Khz/24bits
Performing Rights Society: ASCAP
Duration: Ca. 8:15
Pages: 13

This work is written as part of a series, “In Praise of Shadows”. The work in this series is inspired by Junichiro Tanizaki’s essay, “In Praise of Shadows” (1933) written at the birth of the modern technological era in imperial Japan. The essay describes the ways in which shadows and negative space are integral to traditional Japanese aesthetics in music, architecture, and food, right down to the design of everyday objects. As Tanizaki explains, “We find beauty not in the thing itself but in the patterns of shadows, the light and the darkness, that one thing against another creates… Were it not for shadows, there would be no beauty.”

The first part of the sequence of “In Praise of Shadows” is for three paper players and electronics. Interested in the place of collective loss of the tangible in our modern life, it uses the analogue of the excessive illumination in Edison’s modern lighting and its affect on Japanese aesthetics and culture. Following this work, “Orison” is composed for three music box players and electronics. The work is motivated by the voices of children during wartime, both from past and present, speaking and singing about hope and peace, as well as the sorrows arising from their personal experiences. These melodies, presented as empty spaces on the music score, reveal as they are fed through the music boxes.