Georgia Kalodiki
Composer
Magnetic Fields (2004)
for 4 small ensembles and tape
Duration: 15 min
Magnetic fields, composed for four small ensembles (20 instrumentalists) and pre- recorded sound material, is an aesthetic elaboration of the magnetization phenomenon. Actually, notes are compared to moving electric charges. The four ensembles can be compared to four magnetic poles that charge (magnetize) space by creating interactive magnetic fields.
In order to understand the structural basis of this piece, it is useful to refer to some fundamental principles of physics. Any material capable of attracting iron and producing a magnetic field outside it self can be called a magnet. Magnetic field can be described as a region in the area around a magnet created by the movement of electrical currents. It is transmitted by the magnetic field and makes the electrically charged particles to move in a circular or helical path 1.
In the piece Magnetic fields these processes are symbolically depicted by the art of sounds. The instrumental ensembles are "magnetically" attracted or repulsed creating current loops and sounding circuits via the incessant magnetic-like flow. Brief pre- recorded electronic constructions are embodied in the piece, with the view to extend the basic ideas of the progressive development, creating a substratum of noisy environment.
In other words, the piece consists of four ensembles that while playing simultaneously, they are functioning as poles of attraction and repulsion. Thus, material passes from the one pole to the other just like electrons in motion.
At first glance, looking at the score, one could observe a rather paradox instrumental division. Actually, the piece is written with the view to create four independent ensembles of a radical instrumental autonomy. Therefore, the timbral grouping of instruments takes on a certain prominence in the resulting texture. The sound material slips through the ensembles creating an interactive continuum of constantly changing shapes and blocks of sound, through various kinds of manipulations and transformations.
Electronic pre-recorded sounds stop the instrumental development and work as a virtual projection of the rotating musical ideas to the mechanical and noisy realm of electronic sounds.
Human voice is used to express a multiple range of colors and moods through sound effects and vocalizations. As a result, singing is sometimes wordless or syllabic and sometimes lyric and expressive. It is important to mention that text is not always manipulated to reflect the meaning of the poem. Techniques of text decomposition and dissolution are applied in the work in order to focus on the way that syllables or words are articulated.