Cruel and Usual

Cruel and Usual is a work inspired by an article by the Al Jazeera news service that discusses the use of solitary confinement in US prisons as incarceration rates explode in the USA. In some cases, prisoners have remained in solitary for over 38 years, or may even be children, and the reasons for going in there are not always clear or legitimate. This kind of confinement is known as ‘no touch torture’ by some.In this work the string players are sampled at certain small moments of the piece, and ‘translated’ into much lower ranges instantaneously, which fade out or grow, and are sometimes ‘distorted’. The use of drone – long notes that change very little - acts as a descriptive metaphor for the lives of these that may find themselves in these situations. It was commissioned by the Atticus Quartet.Performances:Sept 2011: Northcote Uniting Church, Melbourne, Atticus Quartet.May 2012: Art House, Melbourne, as part of 'Metapraxis', Atticus Quartet.Review"of the five works on the program, “Cruel and Usual” by WA composer Cat Hope was the most successful. Inspired by an article in Al Jazzera News that described the use of extended solitary confinements of adults and minors in US prisons (a practice also known as ‘no touch torture’) the piece has a string quartet each facing straight forward, in a representation of isolation, across the front of a stage. Behind them a computer is operated, sampling and distorting the glissandi of the strings through four bass amps into a growing bass drone. As the background noise and the glissandi drop in pitch so do the lights, achieving an emotionally engaging theatrical and musical synthesis. “Cruel and Usual” shows that “new music” can be both accessible and relevant." Josephine.Giles, Aussie Theatre.To perform this work, you can download the video below and use that as the score, or download the iPad app, the Decibel ScorePlayer which has many more features such as the ability to network multiple iPads (one foe each member in the ensemble if desired), change the speed, move around for rehearsal etc.

《残酷与寻常（Cruel and Usual）》是一则受半岛电视台（Al Jazeera）新闻机构一篇报道启发创作的作品，该报道探讨了在美国监禁率飙升的背景下，美国监狱中单独监禁的实施现状。在部分案例中，囚犯被单独监禁的时长超过38年，甚至关押对象可能为未成年人，且入狱缘由往往并不明确或合法。这类监禁手段被部分人士称为“无接触酷刑”。

本作品中，弦乐演奏者的演奏片段会被实时采样，并瞬间“转译”至极低音域，音响效果或渐弱或渐强，部分场景还会经过失真处理。持续音（drone）——指变化极微的长音——的运用，可作为隐喻，具象化身处此类境遇者的生存状态。本作品由阿提克斯四重奏团（Atticus Quartet）委约创作。

演出历程：
2011年9月：澳大利亚墨尔本诺斯考特联合教堂，阿提克斯四重奏团演出
2012年5月：墨尔本艺术之家，作为“元实践（Metapraxis）”单元演出，阿提克斯四重奏团

评论：
“在本场音乐会的五部作品中，西澳大利亚作曲家凯特·霍普（Cat Hope）的《残酷与寻常》堪称最成功之作。该作品受半岛电视台（Al Jazeera）一篇报道启发，聚焦美国监狱中对成年及未成年囚犯实施的长期单独监禁——这一手段亦被称为‘无接触酷刑’。演出时，弦乐四重奏的每位演奏者均直面前方，以肢体姿态象征孤立隔绝，四人分列舞台前沿。演奏者身后设有一台电脑，通过四台低音放大器对弦乐滑音进行采样与失真处理，生成渐强的低音持续音。随着背景音响与滑音的音高逐步降低，舞台灯光亦同步变暗，实现了兼具情感感染力的戏剧与音乐融合。《残酷与寻常》证明了‘新音乐’既可以兼具可听性，又能紧扣时代议题。”——约瑟芬·盖尔斯（Josephine Giles），《澳式戏剧（Aussie Theatre）》

本作品的演奏可通过下载下方视频作为乐谱完成，亦可下载iPad应用程序“分贝乐谱播放器（Decibel ScorePlayer）”，该应用具备更多功能，例如支持多台iPad联网（若有需要，可为每位合奏成员配备一台）、调整演奏速度、移动设备以配合排练等。