I can hear you
string quartet - 6'20"
i can hear you - performed by the Jade String Quartet (Miranda Adams, Charmian Keay, Robert Ashworth, James Yoo). Thanks to the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra for the recording.
i can hear you is inspired by Hone Tuwhare’s poem titled Rain. This work is the third iteration of works for chamber ensembles inspired by Rain, this time using a recording I made of myself reciting the text as the generative material for the composition. The pitches and rhythms of the transcribed recited poem became the basis of this work; repetitive phrases can be heard weaving between parts in a conversational manner. The work focuses not on the semantic content of the poem (as my other works have) and is instead interested in the friction of familiarity and foreignness created by transplanting evolving dialogue and conversational tropes to stringed instruments.
This work was written for the Jade String Quartet as part of my APO Rising Star residency, 2021.
Hone Tuwhare’s poem Rain:
I can hear you
making small holesin the silence
rain
If I were deaf
the pores of my skin
would open to you
and shut
And I
should know you
by the lick of you
if I were blind
the something
special smell of you
when the sun cakes
the ground
the steady
drum-roll sound
you make
when the wind drops
But if I
should not hear
smell or feel or see
you
you would still
define me
disperse me
wash over me
rain
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