oboe and computer
8’00”
composed 2008
composed for and premiered by oboist Krista Riggs (Fresno, California)
Composer’s Note
Whether dreaming about the fantasy of time travel, contemplating the mechanical ticking of clockwork, or reading about the actual physics of time itself, I have always been fascinated by time. This fascination is part of what compelled me to become a composer - to create art upon a “canvas of time.” Unwinding Time, for solo oboe and computer, is a composition that explores how music might unravel should that canvas of time be bent.
The computer uses several delay processes to echo, sustain, and distort excerpts of the oboe as it is performed. These effects act both as the main means to alter the perception of time, and as a magnifying glass, zooming in on the fragments and motives of the oboe part. This helps create the sense that while time is changing, slowing down, and ripping apart, new music is simultaneously being revealed, almost like the musical equivalent of a fractal. Amidst all this, a simple ticking clock is superimposed to illustrate how time is fundamentally changing over the course of the work.
The computer effects were created and automated using Apple Logic.