Recording performed by violinist Larissa O’Grady and Robert Coleman at the Contemporary Music Centre, Dublin.
Instrumentation: violin, live field recordist and fixed media electronics
Type: solo, multimedia
Year: 2023
Duration: 7’
Commissioned by Larissa O’Grady with funds from the Arts Council of Ireland.
‘Capturing sound in its “outdoor” context triggered a culture of sonic extraction that mirrored the drive for natural resources.’
This quote by Mark Peter Wright is fragmented and heard throughout the work. It is a reflection on how we consume today and how the act of recording wildlife could also be considered as something extractive.
Field-recording has become central to my work in recent years as I have been developing my practice of the ecological soundwalk. Capturing Sounds merges this world and ideas inherent in field-recording with my concert work. Throughout the piece using my field recording equipment I record the music and sounds on stage and play them back into the space, building up layers with which the violinist interacts. The tension between the live and recorded sound represents the distance we put between ourselves and the wild world outside.
The soundworld is inspired by the drumming of the great spotted woodpecker which I have recorded in County Wicklow, Ireland.