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Score
Tourmaline : for concert flute/alto flute with electronics / Richard Grantham.
Library shelf no. 788.32/GRA 1 [Available for loan]
Display all products featuring this work (2 more) 
Work Overview
Tourmaline began life in 2009 as an improvisation on a silent electric violin I had borrowed from a friend, early in my live looping career when I was experimenting with many different instruments and looping techniques. I was pleasantly surprised to find that working with this violin sent me along some very different paths that I might not otherwise have traversed, so I made sure to record the results. A few weeks later, flautist Janet McKay commissioned me to compose a new work for flutes with electronics, and I saw an opportunity to give my violin experiments a new life. A quick transcription and a few idiomatic flute tweaks later, a new work was ready to be named. Based on a quote that I swear I once heard on ABC radio but have been unable to track down, in which a contemporary composer claimed that all music was "either a drama or a jewel", I named this work after an underrated but glorious gemstone.
Work Details
Year: 2009
Instrumentation: Concert flute (with B foot), alto flute, electronics (loop recorder + octaver + optional reverb/chorus + in-ear click, achievable using either effects pedals or software).
Duration: 7 min.
Difficulty: Advanced
Commission note: Commissioned by Janet McKay.
Performances of this work
Unknown date: BMW Edge, Federation Square Melbourne, VIC. Featuring Sarah Curro.
5 Dec 09: Gallery Artisan, Fortitude Valley QLD. Featuring Janet McKay.
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