for vibraphone & playback (11')

 

instrumentation:

 

solo vibraphone (3 oct) & playback (unaided)

 

notes:

 

From Carl Sagan to Salvador Dali, Albert Einstein to Johann Otto van Spreckelsen, Hermann Minkowski to Christopher Nolan, a ravenous curiosity for a dimension outside our perceptible three has left physicists, artists, architects, and mathematicians alike to conceptualize a multitude of interpretations beyond the physicality of our own world. Historically ranging from complex mathematical models and intricate thought-experiments to the evocation of omnipotent vessels with the ability to bend the immensity of space-time, the hypercube – or “tesseract” – has been a commonly drawn upon entity from this multi-dimensional perspective. Though this geometric figure has been associated with supernatural and metaphysical capabilities throughout literature and film, the tesseract is simply the four-dimensional analog of a cube similar to the relationship between a two-dimensional square and the three-dimensional cube.

 

Written for solo vibraphone and pre-recorded mallet keyboards, Tesseract is the result of my exploration between the multiple aural “dimensions” unique to these instruments and the rhythmic capabilities they so naturally manifest. Rather than leading the listener through a programmatic narrative, the soloist acts as a sort of constant between the evolving layers and textures throughout, much like the tesseract serves as a point of reference to the fourth dimension. This work draws notable inspiration from the hypnotic and visceral music of Nils Frahm, Dawn of Midi, and Alejandro Viñao.

 

Tesseract was commissioned by Matthew Geiger.

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Available through Tapspace Publications.

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Version for percussion ensemble (soloist and mallet keyboard sextet) available.

 

 

World Premiere: January 31, 2016 (Lexington, KY)