OTOT [2021] אותות
for orchestra and electronics
Premiere: February 18, 2022 (recording session) at the MMR, Montreal
The McGill Symphony Orchestra (MGSO) and Frédéric-Alexandre Michaud
Dedication: To the McGill Symphony Orchestra
Commissioned by the Andrew Svoboda Memorial Prize
Duration: ~13 minutes
Precise instrumentation
2 flutes in C
2 oboes (2nd doubling English horn)
2 clarinets in B-flat (2nd doubling bass clarinet)
2 bassoons (2nd doubling contrabassoon)
—
2 horns in F
2 trumpets in C
2 trombones
—
2 percussionists:
1] bass drum
sandpaper blocks
tubular bells
vibraphone (at least 3.5 octaves)
whip
xylophone
2] castanets
snare drum
wood block (large)
tam-tam (shared by both)
piano
electronics (fixed sounds triggered by a musician sitting in the orchestra)
—
6 violins I
6 violins II
4 violas
4 celli
3 double basses (with C extension)
About the piece:
In OTOT I aim to explore different relationships between ambient and instrumental sounds, as well as the ways we tend to listen to these two sound categories. By asking myself (and the listener) questions about different sound types leading to different listening experiences, I try to open a space between the instrumental and the ambient and to question the dichotomy between the two. Can instrumental sounds convincingly submerge in a concrete landscape? What happens when sounds extracted from a field recording are treated as instrumental sounds? Or when a field recording as a whole is treated as raw material and goes through treatments usually reserved for instrumental composition?
The ambient sounds used in the piece were recorded by the composer in Parc Mont Royal in Montreal, in April 2021. “OTOT” means “signals” and also “omens” in Hebrew (אותות).
Browse the score: