Centripetal Light by String Noise & John King

Centripetal Light is the summation of the musical collaboration between composer John King and the violin duo String Noise. Composed from 2014 to 2020, these works cover a wide range of compositional practices - chance and randomization, improvisation and determinate forms - and display the vast musicianship of String Noise in all their virtuosic and spontaneous brilliance.

Embarking on their second decade, String Noise continues to commit to their mission to engage in breaking down the boundaries of traditional expectations and inspiring innovative compositions through commissioning, collecting and documenting extraordinary musical ideas. Their dedication to the discovery and development of original works of not only established composers, but also those of young, emerging performers and improvisers sets the spectrum of their output apart from the mainstream – imprinting the living music of today through collaborations that integrate multimedia art, electronics, improvisation, live video processing, opera, and dance.

Soon after String Noise was formed, King proposed a collaborative project, which became “Triple Helix”, a work for Pauline Kim Harris & Conrad Harris’s violins interacting with sound software he created that uses randomized sampling, processing, and spatialization of the live violins. In King’s continued investigations of new methods of time organization, spectral sound structures, and mixtures of compositional systems, he composed additional works for String Noise that explored and developed these concepts.

King’s next work, “Klepsydra I” came the following year and uses chance procedures to determine pitches, rhythms, durations, dynamics, and timbres. Pauline and Conrad’s parts for this piece utilize identical pitch materials, but all other parameters vary between their parts.

The third piece in this collaboration is appropriately “Triple Threat” from 2017. This piece is most notable for its temporal fluidity and focus on collaboration between the players. Each player can largely move through the piece at their own pace, but certain gestures require them to play together, ensuring their continual mutual listening.

Centripetal Light, the final composition, was premiered online during the first year of COVID as part of the “Composers Now” series and was commissioned by Tania León. This piece explores sonic possibilities of violin triple-stops - three different pitches played simultaneously.

Recognized for their distinct blend of disparate genres, from arrangements of songs by punk legends to conceptual minimalist treatises by Alvin Lucier, String Noise has recorded for Northern Spy Records, Dymaxion Groove, Black Truffle Records, Cold Blue Records, New Focus Recordings, Infrequent Seams and Nouveau Electric Records and has been featured on WNYC, WKCR, WFMU and BBC Radio.

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