Entry 3: Hedman, Karisson – Anchorings/Arrows

This piece is an electro-acoustic work on an orchestral scale (it even has an homage to the tuning of an orchestra) with its diverse array of sounds and textures that consists of winds, strings, voice, percussion and electronic sounds that range from smoke-like textures to explosive slams. With the plethora of different sounds at hand in this piece it is not a stretch to say that the composers could have created a dense, unrelenting twelve minute sound mass, but to the contrary the textural combinations are often crafted in a reserved manner, and the composers actually make good use of space and silence. This is not to say the piece is void of dense textures and moments of choas, but that when these moments do arrive they are part of the flow, they have a formal function and have been carefully crafted. There is an excellent contrast throughout the work that seems to keep me on my toes, and I believe that is quite an accomplishment for a work of this length. This ties back into the diversity of sounds within the piece, and with a toolbox this big its important not to get trigger happy, which these two certainly did not. One paticular sound that stands out to me is the high voice with the unstable pitch for the reason that it seems to be somewhat of a mockery of over-zealous opera singers that use uber wide vibrato, only it takes it a step further and varies it in speed as to make it functional in the music. Of course, I have no idea what their actual intentions were in regards to this, but I find it interesting regardless what the case may be. Another thing that intrigued in this work is how sounds are textures would grow out of reverberations. It creates an effect simliar to that of an object emerging from smoke or fog, and its almost like a musical illusion. This piece has a dark sound world and a mystique that does not fade with multiple listenings. This along with the brillantly crafted textures make it a very unique piece to listen to.