2019

guitar solo / guitar solo + electronics

Duration: 4’

Written as a participating composer in the Class Axe Guitar Workshop through the Canadian Music Centre.

Premiered 8 April 2019 at the Canadian Music Centre, Toronto, ON.

Rob MacDonald, guitar

for emily is a set of four miniatures developed with guitarist Emily Shaw. These miniatures act as “timbral character” pieces, each with varied textures and atmospheres for the instrument. From delicate moments to more emphatic gestures, the miniatures are unified by an exploration of slight variations in timbre and tuning that occur when the same pitch is played in different places of the instrument. In this way, the pieces trace an intrinsic connection between specific colours and the “landscape” of the fretboard.

This piece exists both as a solo guitar piece and as a piece for guitar and electronics. In the electronic version heard tonight, a jar amplifies filtered recordings of the guitar part. These recordings have been filtered by the jar itself, making use of the resonant frequencies as the guitarist’s accompaniment.

Additional Performances

5 May 2019 by Thomas Béguin at the Mile End Guitar Co-op, Montreal, QC.

25 May 2019 by Emily Shaw at the University of Ottawa, ON.

20 September 2019 by Nathan Bredesen in Napanee, ON.

21 September 2019 by Nathan Bredesen at Sivarulrasa Gallery, Almonte, ON.

27 September 2019 by Nathan Bredesen in Madoc, ON.

28 September 2019 by Nathan Bredesen at Canadian Music Centre, Toronto, ON.

29 September 2019 by Nathan Bredesen at Staircase Café Theatre, Hamilton, ON.

5 October 2019 by Kyle Hawkes in Vancouver, BC.

30 November 2019 by Emily Shaw in Hamilton, ON.

Guitarist Nathan Bredeson performs the work with electronics at the Canadian Music Centre in Toronto, ON, as part of the Made In Canada Guitar Duo tour.

Solo guitar performance can be heard in livestream below, beginning at 23:30

Performance with electronics