for open instrumentation
Contact me for an edition of the score: kathrynekoopman@gmail.com
Duration: flexible
Premiere: Automata in Los Angeles, California | performed by Southland Ensemble | part of Dog Star Orchestra’s 15th festival of Experimental Music | June 14th, 2019
Program Notes: For the Beauty of the Earth is an experimental project using Google Earth images as graphic scores. I consider this collection as modular with the images being flexible to several ensemble configurations. In contemplating ways to keep the natural beauty of the images clear without masking them in musical directions and overlaid information, metallic ink is used and can be best seen/studied under
The images are taken from all over the world. These locations, however, are not noted on the score; it is more important for the work to be interpreted as a snapshot artwork and not be associated to its origin.
I considered heavily how much and what type of direction to give in these scores. Mainly, the result is atypical markings and text that may not have direct musical associations. Elements determined from the score are simplistic: form, order, reading directionality, character, and number ofvoices. This leaves a disparate gap to be filled in musically, but I hope that 1) the movement, beauty, and dynamicism of the images becomes the primary source of direction and 2) this creates a collaborative process with the performers, allowing their high musicianship to flesh out interpretations (and alternate interpretations) in a meaningful way.