“Branchings” by Harold Fortuin

Title:

Branchings

Artist(s) and People Involved:

Performers:



• Harold Fortuin

Symposium:

• FISEA'93: Fourth International Symposium on Electronic Art

Creation Year:

1993

Medium:

Macintosh computer, Kurzweil K2000

Artist Statement:

Branchings (1993) is composed for Macintosh computer using the Performer sequencer for playback on the Kurzweil K2000. The composition explores performance capabilities unique to the computer. Like earlier pieces by Fortuin, Untitled #3 and Untitled #4, Branchings explores the aural space between monophony and polyphony with “branching” voices, which branch away from and back to central hyperbola-rhythm voices, both in terms of note attack times and pitches. To expedite the calculation process (to create both the hypebola-derived materials and to generate the rhythmic branchings), a program Curvaceous, written in the C language and which outputs to multi-track standard MIDI sequencer files, is used. In addition to standard twelve-notes-per-octave equal temperament tuning, the piece uses a thirty-note-per-octave equal temperament tuning as well as glissandos (the branchings are applied to these materials as well). To take advantage of the K2000’s built-in-effects processor, the piece makes use of different reverberation settings as a developmental technique.

During FISEA93’s poster sessions, Fortuin will demonstrate these and other capabilities, and show how the program Curvaceous can generate materials which straddle the borderlines of pitch and rhythmic perception. He will also discuss how these processes are now being used to create pieces for live performers.

Category:

• Performances