Partitions & Resonances present a listening series of compositions by Wandelweiser and related composers/artists/sound artists at Audio Foundation. Curated by composer-performer Johnny Chang, the series aims to re-focus the action of listening in the context of the performance space.
29.10.2022 P&R #4
Sarah Davachi ”If It Pleased Me To Appear To You Wrapped In This Drapery”
Version for Harmonium, Violin and Cello
Version for Harmonium, Violin and Cello
Rosie Langabeer, harmonium
Tahee Kim, Cello
Johnny Chang, violin
Tahee Kim, Cello
Johnny Chang, violin
”If It Pleased Me To Appear To You Wrapped In This Drapery” is among the earliest of the long-form chamber pieces in Sarah Davachi’s compositional output. In this trio composition, originally performed on reed organ , violin and viola da gamba, with the composer playing organ, Davachi explores her interest in the open-ended aspects of composition as well as the acoustic possibilities of “responding in the moment”.
“It’s intriguing to me how a piece can change based not only on the feelings that different players have about the pacing of notes, but also according to what’s happening in the collective listening space at any given moment. In this way, the harmonic and temporal byproducts of the performance environment give back to the piece and help to shape its direction.” (excerpted from email correspondence with Sarah Davachi, March 2022)
SARAH DAVACHI
Sarah Davachi (b. 1987, Canada) is a composer and performer whose work is concerned with the close intricacies of timbral and temporal space, utilizing extended durations and considered harmonic structures that emphasize gradual variations in texture, overtone complexity, psychoacoustic phenomena, and temperament and intonation. Her compositions span both solo and chamber ensemble formats, incorporating a wide range of acoustic and electronic instrumentation. Similarly informed by minimalist and long-form tenets, early music concepts of intervallic and modal harmony, as well as experimental production practices of the studio environment, in her sound is an intimate and patient experience that lessens perceptions of the familiar and the distant.
Sarah Davachi (b. 1987, Canada) is a composer and performer whose work is concerned with the close intricacies of timbral and temporal space, utilizing extended durations and considered harmonic structures that emphasize gradual variations in texture, overtone complexity, psychoacoustic phenomena, and temperament and intonation. Her compositions span both solo and chamber ensemble formats, incorporating a wide range of acoustic and electronic instrumentation. Similarly informed by minimalist and long-form tenets, early music concepts of intervallic and modal harmony, as well as experimental production practices of the studio environment, in her sound is an intimate and patient experience that lessens perceptions of the familiar and the distant.
In addition to her acclaimed recorded output, Davachi has toured extensively alongside artists such as Grouper, Ellen Arkbro, Oren Ambarchi, William Basinski, Catherine Lamb, Aaron Dilloway, Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe, Michael Pisaro, Loren Connors, Áine O’Dwyer, Laura Steenberge, and filmmaker Paul Clipson. Commissioned projects include large-scale works for the London Contemporary Orchestra, Quatuor Bozzini, Yarn/Wire, Apartment House, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Cello Octet Amsterdam, Bonner Kunstverein, the Canadian International Organ Competition, and Western Front New Music. Her work has been presented internationally at Southbank Centre (London, UK), Kontraklang (Berlin, DE), Radio France (Paris, FR), Issue Project Room (New York, USA), Elbphilharmonie (Hamburg, DE), Organ Reframed (London, UK), The Getty (Los Angeles, USA), Orgelpark (Amsterdam, NL), Barbican Centre (London, UK), Tusk Festival (Newcastle, UK), Suoni Per Il Popolo (Montréal, CA), Mazeum Festival (Kyoto, JP), Open Frame (Sydney, AU), Unsound (Krakow, PL), Temppeliaukio Church (Helsinki, FI), and Museo Reina Sofia (Madrid, ES). In 2020 she founded the record label Late Music, an imprint within the partner labels division of Warp Records.
In addition to her acclaimed recorded output, Davachi has toured extensively alongside artists such as Grouper, Ellen Arkbro, Oren Ambarchi, William Basinski, Catherine Lamb, Aaron Dilloway, Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe, Michael Pisaro, Loren Connors, Áine O’Dwyer, Laura Steenberge, and filmmaker Paul Clipson. Commissioned projects include large-scale works for the London Contemporary Orchestra, Quatuor Bozzini, Yarn/Wire, Apartment House, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Cello Octet Amsterdam, Bonner Kunstverein, the Canadian International Organ Competition, and Western Front New Music. Her work has been presented internationally at Southbank Centre (London, UK), Kontraklang (Berlin, DE), Radio France (Paris, FR), Issue Project Room (New York, USA), Elbphilharmonie (Hamburg, DE), Organ Reframed (London, UK), The Getty (Los Angeles, USA), Orgelpark (Amsterdam, NL), Barbican Centre (London, UK), Tusk Festival (Newcastle, UK), Suoni Per Il Popolo (Montréal, CA), Mazeum Festival (Kyoto, JP), Open Frame (Sydney, AU), Unsound (Krakow, PL), Temppeliaukio Church (Helsinki, FI), and Museo Reina Sofia (Madrid, ES). In 2020 she founded the record label Late Music, an imprint within the partner labels division of Warp Records.
Between 2007 and 2017, Davachi had the unique opportunity to work for the National Music Centre in Canada as an interpreter and content developer of their collection of acoustic and electronic keyboard instruments. She has held artist residencies with The Banff Centre for the Arts, Gaudeamus Foundation, STEIM, Elektronmusikstudion, OBORO, the Melbourne Electronic Sound Studio, the National Music Centre, and the Swiss Museum & Center for Electronic Music Instruments, and holds a master’s degree in electronic music and recording media from Mills College in Oakland, California. Davachi is currently a doctoral candidate in musicology at UCLA, focusing on timbre, phenomenology, and critical organology, and is based in Los Angeles, California.