The Lowest Drawer

For double bass, cello or bass drum, bass flute and bass clarinetThe three instruments in this piece trigger sine tones that duplicate the pitch each instrument plays at particular moments in the piece. These tones, from 13 different pick up points, gradually build to a 13-note chord, which will be different each time the piece is played. The tones draw only pitch – all texture is stripped away and the sine tone continue the trajectory until the end of the peice. The score is proportional, but the player chooses which pitch to play in each iteration, meaning a different cluster will be formed each time. As with many of Cat’s works, the piece descends lower in pitch as it unfolds, ending in the lowest range (drawer) of each instrument. Premiered ABC Studio 22, Sydney June 2013, by Decibel (with Mark Cuavin)WA Composers project, Perth, July 2013, by Decibel (with Paul Tanner)Audio Art Festival, Poland, November 2013.Kosice, Slovakia, November 2013.Yamanashi University, Japan December 2016.​Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, 2016.Hochschule Fur Musik und Theatre, Hamburg, Germany 2017.​Released on Decibel's album 'Tuned Darker' in 2015.Fim made for the music by Kate McMillan, as part of Anxious Objects,​"As the piece unfolds, each new tone is lower than the last, approaching the “lower drawer” ... resulting in quite a stratospheric, glassy conglomerate of thin synthetic drones". Cool Perth Nights, July 13, 2013"Cat Hope’s The Lowest Drawer continued her exploration of the bottom end of the sound spectrum with a ponderous decline in pitch from bass flute, bass clarinet and bass drum contrasting with the ringing brightness of a sine wave pitch." The West Australian, July 10, 2013.To perform this work, you can download the video below and use that as the score, or download the iPad app, the Decibel ScorePlayer and the scorefile to put in it. There is also a Max patch with the work, which is available from the composer.