Soundings: for 15 brass instruments and electronics

Soundings is the third of a series of pieces reflecting on the spatial music of Giovanni Gabrieli, the others being Canzon in Double Echo and Cori Spezzati.

The title ‘Soundings’ refers to the fragments of Gabrieli’s famous Sonata Pian’ e Forte which are heard at different points in the piece (It. ‘sonata’ = ‘sounded’), but also refers to the ‘soundings’ used to measure ocean depths: the spatial dimensions of the music trace out the patterns of the Thermohaline Circulation, a global system of ocean currents which move heat around the planet and are inextricably linked to the global climate. Muted and unmuted brass timbres located around the convert hall, together with electroacoustic sounds diffused over 16 loudspeakers, convey the different depths, temperatures and salinity of these currents.

Soundings is both a celebration and a lament: a celebration of the divine design of our ocean systems, and a lament for humanity’s slow destruction of them.
I am grateful to my Colleague Professor Yeung Djern Lenn for the inspiration to use the Thermohaline Circulation, and for her map which was used as the template for the spatialisations. My thanks also to Mark Kellog and the Eastman School of Music Brass Guild, whose recording of Gabrieli’s Sonata was used in the piece, and for whom the work was composed.