Instrumentation: Treble Chorus and Electronics
Duration: 2:40
Commission: San Francisco Girls Chorus
Premiere: 10/28/94
San Francisco Girls Chorus, Sharon Paul Conductor
Calvary Presbyterian Church, San Francisco, CA
Program Note:
The Wendigo is one of a set of four, called Beetles, Monsters and Roses. The piece is dedicated to the San Francisco Girls Chorus. The poems I chose share lively verbal rhythms, a whimsical quality, and references to the anima of nature. The poets: Mary Ann Hoberman (Click Beetle-Clack Beetle), Walter de la Mare (Someone), Ogden Nash (The Wendigo), and Gertrude Stein (I am Rose) all projected a zest for the sound and sense of words. The four individual songs are Click Beetle, Clack Beetle, by MaryAnn Hoberman; Someone, by Walter de la Mare; I Am Rose, by Gertrude Stein; and The Wendigo, by Ogden Nash. Some of the electronics were made from processed sampled sounds, such as whispering (by Maya and Anya Groner), the whirring of a hand-held egg beater, my own voice, and the chinking of a fork on a cup. Other sounds were computer synthesized. I played with the contrast in The Wendigo that sounds that most resemble those of instruments, such as plucked strings, are completely synthesized, while some of the stranger sounds are made from sampled sounds!
Press Quote:
“Four Songs (Beetles, Monsters and Roses)…the various electronic effects provided a quirky sonic ambiance for vocal writing of great expertise and imagination…should assure many future performances here and elsewhere.” —Chorus!