Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T22:46:17.444Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Sounds and sources in Powers of Two: towards a contemporary myth

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 1996

BARRY TRUAX
BARRY TRUAX
Affiliation:
School of Communication and School for the Contemporary Arts, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V5A 1S6
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Within the context of discussing contemporary music the European tendency to overvalue abstraction is questioned. The use of environmental sounds in electroacoustic music is highlighted as an example of the questionable value of abstraction. Attention is then focused on a recent Truax composition, Powers of Two (1995) as a work of electroacoustic music theatre. The historical musical and poetic references, as well as the sound sources adopted for the work, are discussed, and placed within the human framework of relationship embodied in the piece. A concluding section summarises the work as an attempt to create a contemporary myth from historical sources, and as a dramatic expression employing electroacoustic forces.

Type
Research Article
Information
Organised Sound , Volume 1 , Issue 1 , April 1996 , pp. 13 - 21
Copyright
© 1996 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)