In Summer Rain (2021)

8-channel and Ambisonic mixes

Stereo mix available on Music from SEAMUS, volume 33.

In Summer Rain explores the sound of a rainstorm, from realistic soundscape to remote transformations. Rilke’s poem, “Before Summer Rain,” evokes the odd feeling we get when we sense that rain is coming. My piece begins like this, in a typical suburban setting, but soon the downpour rushes us into an imaginary interior world, where harmony colors the rhythm of rainfall, and thunder and lightning take on new forms. The opening gesture — the sound of someone leaving the confines of indoor space to welcome the sweet summer air — occurred during pandemic isolation, adding another dimension to the meaning of the piece.

This is one of a series of my pieces that weaves in and out of natural soundscape, using it to prompt memories and associations while experimenting with its ability to take on harmonic color and animate rhythm. I think of this music as a form of magical realism, and I hope listeners enjoy entering and leaving the make-believe realm.

Much of the pitched sound you will hear comes from recordings of rainfall, subjected to precisely tuned filters and a process of spectral analysis and recomposition.

Performances:

• Sonic Explorations, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, 3/20/24
• 2024 San Francisco Tape Music Festival, Victoria Theatre, San Francisco, 1/7/24
• Third Practice Festival, University of Richmond, Virginia, 11/17/23
• International Confederation of Electroacoustic Music, Electroacoustic Music Days 2023, Hellenic Mediterranean University, Rethymno, Greece, 11/4/23
• Musicacoustica, Zhejiang Conservatory of Music, Hangzhou, China, 10/28/23
• International Computer Music Conference (ICMC), Listening Room, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, China, 10/16-10/19/23
• New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival, 6/25/23
• Sound and Music Computing Conference, Royal College of Music, Stockholm, Sweden, 6/15/23
• SEAMUS National Conference, DiMenna Center for Classical Music, New York City, 4/7/23
• Electronic Music Midwest, Kansas City Kansas Community College, 3/11/23
• Saarbrücker Tage für elektroakustische und visuelle Musik, eviMus (www.evimus.de), Kulturzentrum am EuroBahnhof, Saarbrücken, Germany, 11/3/22
• NYU Ircam Forum, New York City, 370 Jay Street Garage, Tandon School of Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, New York University, Brooklyn, New York, 10/1/22
• CECM Concert, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, 4/24/22