Plangency (for Cello and Electronics)
Whalley, J. Harry and Brown, Akira and Armstrong, James (2021) Plangency (for Cello and Electronics). [Audio work, Music, Sound art]
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Plangency was originally commissioned by Wiltshire Creative to celebrate 850 years of Salisbury Cathedral for the Makers' Tale, co-curated by Mirka Golden-Hann and Loucia Manopoulou. The piece is inspired by the acoustics of the cathedral; the role of the cello is to ‘sound’ or resonate a reverberance, with additional electronics emphasising the idiosyncratic nature of the cathedral space.
The structure of Salisbury Cathedral is astonishing in many ways, be that through scale, age, craftsmanship or historic and religious significance. However, the way in which sounds echo, decay and resonate within the space is equally as meaningful. As part of Makers’ Tale, composers Dr Harry Whalley and Akira Brown are joining forces in an intriguing new composition that takes the acoustics ‘out’ of the Cathedral into other spaces.
Whalley explains: ‘We start by creating a loud noise like the bursting of a balloon. This sound has every frequency and so we can measure with microphones how the sounds decay over time. This ‘impulse-response’ can then be used to recreate the reverberance of the Cathedral. We also measured the particular resonances and found some really interesting results which will be worked into a new composition.’
Makers’ Tale is an exciting project. It brings together things seemingly disparate and different and presents their fundamental connections through the long gaze of time.The amazing history of Salisbury Cathedral includes makers from so many disciplines, textiles, metal, wood, glass and of course stone.Together, they have created a living monument that stands still and quiet. Yet, it is never really silent.
| Role | Name |
|---|---|
| Other | Salisbury Cathedral |
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