Swift (2021) by Anne La Berge
For the Utopa Organ and MAZE with a video score by Timo Hoogland
The composition Swift was premiered on 23 February 2021 at the Amsterdam Orgelpark. It was created for the Utopa Organ and MAZE which can be played from a regular console or from a computer using OSC.
Specific pipes of the organ are amplified using a combination of contact and condenser microphones while a Max Patch plays the organ via OSC. The organ is set to use very little wind which results in soft percussive sounds since the pipes are not receiving enough wind to create tones.
These 6 microphones amplify the organ’s mechanical and pipe resonance sounds while the audience is surrounded by a quad system as if they are sitting inside the organ.
One of the inspirations for this piece is the Common Swift, a bird that in its lifetime flies about two million kilometers and can shut off one half of their brain to go into unihemispheric sleep while flying. Except when nesting, they spend their lives in the air, living on the insects caught in flight. They drink, feed, and mate and sleep on the wing. They are the swiftest of all birds in level flight and are able to fly 170 km per hour or more. Swifts mate for life and the females and males look alike.
The musicians from MAZE were spread around the church. Their score was an interactive video projected on the floor created by Timo Hoogland for this work. The visuals are generated via an intricate pixel feedback system that is seeded with the sound from contact microphones connected to the organ pipes.
https://annelaberge.com/swift-for-maze-and-utopa-organ/
https://annelaberge.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/NewBaroqueOrganLaBergeArticle.pdf