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The Edwin Armstrong Overture
Recorded at ABC studios Ultimo, Sydney,1997
Released on The Listening Room CD 'DoubleExposure' 1998
The work was commisioned by the ABC radioarts program The Listening
Room. It had its first broadcast on 17thNovember, and has had manysubsequent
broadcasts. The piece is composed entirely of shortwave radio, grand
piano and treatedpiano samples. These sonic materials can be perceived
as having arepresentational function. The piano andits derivative
samples representing Armstrong, the various shortwave samples, RCA/Sarnoff.The
narrative is realised through the music alinteractions between these
two sonic groups.
Edwin Armstrong was the inventor of the
frequency modulation (FM) system.The basis for almost all radio, radar,and
television reception. His story is one of genius, obsession, betrayaland
tragedy. After inventing FM,Armstrong had a vision of replacing the
then inferior AM system with thefar superior FM. Unfortunately,the
Radio Corporation of America had other plans. Even though they had
funded Armstrong's research, RCA decided it would be unprofitablefor
them to switch from AM to FM. And so began the endless legal battles
over patents, between Armstrong and RCA. Even when RCA developed television,
which relied on FM for its reception and transmission, they refused
to pay Armstrong his rightful royalties. Twenty-three years to the
day after patenting FM,exhausted and out of hope, frustrated by all
the litigation, Armstrong put on his hat, coat, scarf and gloves and
walked out of his apartment window, 13 floors to his death.
City in Between
Composition, sample edting and performance by Robert Iolini and Phillip
Ma
1997
has become a focus a cause, a point in space a date to live by. At
midnight of June 30 1997, the British colony of Hong Kong reverted
to Chinese sovereignty. As the 'Pearl of the Orient' however, it is
a jewel that must be both incorporated into the body of China, and
sealed off from it. The political and public ritual of the handover
has been well documented.
City in Between transforms into music
and sound, the more subjective experiences and ambiguities experienced
by Hong Kong people. The work is based on field recordings made by
Phillip Ma, who was in Hong Kong conducting research on Hong Kong
emigration. Robert Iolini has collaborated with Phillip to create
a work in which Hong Kong voices and sounds, transmuted by sampling,
manipulated as elements for further improvisation and composition,
trace the trajectory of a city and people whose destiny remains unknown.
Silent Motion
Composition, sample edting and performance by Robert Iolini
With: Virginia Baxter - voice, Chris Abrahams - additional keyboards
Produced at ABC studios Ultimo, Sydney,1998
The work was commisioned by the ABC
audio arts program The Listening Room. "Silent Motion is a lyrical,
critical, and often amusing guide to society's expectations as to
the proper place of music in film. Focusing on the silent film era
as an historical juncture which all but sealed the fate of film scoring,
the composer adjusts the lense and turns up the volume to assert music's
potential as more than just a supporting player.
The composition is a mix of original
music, silent film music, period writings, and sound effects, Silent
Motion lampoons those who would set up hierarchies in art."
Marking Time
Voices - Amanda Stewart, Michelle Morgan; Saxophones, flutes, flax - Jim Denley;
Saxophon, electric guitar and bass, violin - Phillip Ma; Midi guitar and
sampler - Robert Iolini;
In a word constantly on the brink of, and undergoing, minor and major
apocalypses, the periods before and after the new millennium act as focal
points.
Marking Time was created through a process of digitally recording directed
improvised performances then editing and recomposing fragments of each of
the artists performances. The result is a new artificially constructed
ensemble performance.
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