)~( (2018)

A dark brooding work of slow-moving microtonal textures, )~( is a reflection of the deep cyclical society-level crises of our time as invoked by haunting infrasonic bass textures and scratching string bowings. Eco Ensemble performed this work with great skill and sensitivity. For string septet (Hrabba Atladottir, vl; Ilana Thomas, vl; Bethany Lee, vl; Julie Michael, vla; Christina Simpson, vla; Cynthia Black, vla; Helen Newby, cello; David Milnes, conductor) and live electronics (electronics performed by Jon Yu and supported by Jeremy Wagner), densely layered spectral textures progress slowly through various forms and strata derived from noise material recorded in Hertz Hall. With guidance from composer Franck Bedrossian, the resonant frequencies of the hall itself were balanced with stylized lines in the composition including infrasonic speaker elements for emphasizing very low partials in the spectral analysis (thanks to Edmund Campion and Jeremy Wagner for acquiring these speakers from Meyer Sound). Every line in the music is based on a sinusoidal wave representation of the spectrum visualized in open-source software. Amplification of stringed instruments through the main speaker array is to be used for the reinforcement of very minute sounds.