Voice of the Depths

Piano, percussion and pre-recorded electronics,  includes CD.

Russell Keats, eldest son of the Australian composer Horace Keats, was killed during the attack on his ship HMAS Canberra  (1) during 1942. His father and entire family was devastated by this event, and Horace Keats composed a very solemn and reflective song in memory of his son entitled Over the Quiet Waters. Voice of the Depths is composed for piano, percussion and pre-recorded electronics, and follows the story of Russell Keats during his deployment on the  Canberra. Spoken passages of text from the letters sent home to his family, read by his brother Brennan Keats, outline and initiate the structural points of the work. The pitches from the central motif of Over the Quiet Waters form its harmonic basis, and are used as fundamentals from which other pitch material is derived from their physical-acoustic properties. These physical-acoustic properties are used to synthesise sounds in the electronic component of the work, and are re-enforced in the piano and vibraphone parts. A speaker is also directed into the piano internal mechanism to agitate the strings creating sympathetic vibrations at various points. This results in a subtle reverberation effect that blends with the electronic reverberation and creates deceptive tone colour transformations.
Composed 2015

Download samples

• Voice of the Depths  - sheet music  
• Voice of the Depths  - audio
• https://soundcloud.com/side_band/voice-of-the-depths-peter-mcnamara-excerpt

ISMN 9790720167954
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