The Chalky Desert Where Nothing Grows

The title, The Chalky Desert Where Nothing Grows jumped out of a sentence in an environmental magazine and inspired me to write this piece, which has the character of the subtle shimmer of the heat of the desert and motion within motionless. The magazine article referred to the desert in the southwest United States, but flying over deserts in Australia and Asia has inspired me to expand the metaphor to include any desert that the listener wishes to imagine. One day, while I was studying the flute with Robert Dick, he suggested improvising on just the notes B and C#. The richness in microtones and multiphonics of this area of the flute inspired me to compose a solo flute piece using this idea. Years later, I added a computer music soundscape to accompany the flute using synthesized ghost voices, Native American flutes, didgeridoo, Tuvan throat singing and rattlesnakes. The synthesized didgeridoo is based on analysis of two pieces from a CD by Ash Dargan and morphs into analyzed timbres from Tuvan karkyraa throat singing performed by Kaigal-ool Khovalyg. Though most of the ghost voices are analyzed from samples of various opera singers, the performers are probably fairly unrecognizable, especially since their timbres morph into each other. The flutes are from my personal collection.

标题《那片寸草不生的白垩荒漠》脱胎于一本环境杂志的句子，激发了我创作这篇作品的灵感。作品中隐约闪烁的沙漠炎热气息与静默中的运动之感跃然纸上。该杂志文章提及的是美国西南部的沙漠，然而，我在澳大利亚和亚洲上空飞行时对沙漠的感悟，促使我将这一隐喻拓展至听众所愿想象的任何沙漠。某日，当我与罗伯特·迪克研究长笛时，他建议仅围绕B和C#两个音符进行即兴创作。长笛此区域微音与多重音的丰富性激发了我创作一支独奏长笛作品的构想。数年后，我添加了电脑音乐景观，以配合长笛，其中融入了合成的幽灵般人声、美洲原住民长笛、迪吉里杜管、图瓦喉音演唱以及响尾蛇的叫声。合成的迪吉里杜管基于对Ash Dargan CD中两首作品的音色分析，并演变为图瓦卡尔基拉阿喉音演唱者Kaigal-ool Khovalyg的音色分析结果。尽管大部分幽灵般人声均源自不同歌剧演唱者的样本，但表演者的身份可能难以辨认，尤其是当他们的音色相互融合时。长笛均取自我的私人收藏。