Inauguration

This piece was constructed from improvisational source material, which was created using analog modular synthesizer components and a vintage Leslie 31H speaker. It was composed in 2017. Around that time, I had plunged headlong into the world of Eurorack modular synthesis. Eurorack is a hardware format that many relatively small companies were working in, creating interesting and diverse components. It was something of a reaction against software-based synthesis and it came with it’s own stimulating limitations and possibilities. It also requires a very different work flow than software-based synthesis. Having always been a fan of the old vintage analog modular synthesizers, it was something of a natural thing for me to jump into Eurorack.

The piece itself is highly gestural and was performed by me on a pressure plate keyboard. (Similar to the Buchla Music Easel.) I also did a great deal of postproduction manipulation in the computer to arrive at the finished product.

Leslie speakers are typically associated with Hammond organs. They consists of a wooden cabinet with speakers that are fed into rotating baffles. The 31H, (also know as the “Tall Boy” because of it’s unusually tall form) was one of the earlier versions of the Leslie. It creates a uniquely beautiful sound. There are plenty of software simulations, but there’s nothing like the real thing.

Regarding the title: The work was largely completed around the date of the inauguration to the Presidency of the United States, of Donald Trump. I was quite sad and upset that he had been elected and chose to create some music as I kind of personal marker for this moment in history. The expressive character of the gestures in this piece were no doubt informed by my personal emotional state, which had been brought on by the realization that Trump had won.