The Lab

2948 16th St San Francisco, CA, 94103

(415) 864-8855

The Lab is a nonprofit experimental art and performance space located in the Mission District of San Francisco.

Alvin Lucier performed by Charles Curtis & Dafne Vicente-Sandoval
Dec
17
3:00 PM15:00

Alvin Lucier performed by Charles Curtis & Dafne Vicente-Sandoval

Sunday, Dec. 17 at 3pm
Free | RSVP

Please join us for an end-of-the-year event, with works by Alvin Lucier performed by cellist Charles Curtis and bassoonist Dafne Vicente-Sandoval.

Alvin Lucier, Same and Different (2021) for bassoon and pure wave
Alvin Lucier, Slices (2007-2011) for cello and pre-recorded orchestra

Same and Different: During the course of the performance an electronically generated pure wave tuned at 442 Hz flows from a single loudspeaker mounted behind and above the heads of the audience. A bassoonist plays a series of 126 long tones consisting of near-unison variations of the pure wave caused by different fingerings. Small variations in pitch cause audible beating. The farther the distance between the pitches, the faster the beating; at unison, no beating occurs. Furthermore, the beating patterns may be heard to spin in space above the heads of the listeners.

In Slices for cello and pre-recorded orchestra, a 53-note chromatic tone cluster is sustained by 53 orchestral instruments, each recorded individually and looped. Against this sustaining surface, the solo cello performs melodic orderings of the 53-note set; with each played tone, the cluster is successively erased and then re-inscribed, in a gradual process timed and inflected by the soloist in real time. The entire cluster is traversed seven times altogether.

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