Paula Matthusen, Composer

distances (2004): For flute doubling dulcimer with ebow, prepared-piano doubling zither with ebow, harp, and percussion; Performed by the International Contemporary Ensemble; Based on the short story by Julio Cortázar by the same title. The piece does not emulate the narrative but rather the subtle transition the main character makes as she encounters ambiguity in space and time, dream and obsession.; Get the Flash Player to see this player.

continuity of parks (2004): For chamber orchestra; Performed by Alarm Will Sound; An improvisatory piece that explores the ability for large ensembles to self-organize. The performers travel down various 'musical paths' in search of a suitable ending. The paths taken are determined by who begins the piece and in what manner they perform a provided set of motives. If the performers are unsatisfied with the progression of a piece they can interrupt it, and at times are encounraged to do so.; Get the Flash Player to see this player.

...because it opens a path, because it does not close... (2005): For 2 flutes, clarinet, soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, french horn, two trombones, tuba, electric guitar, bass guitar, percussion, 2 sopranos, and piano; Performed by Orkest de Ereprijs; Written for Orkest de Ereprijs, and was the winner of the 2005 Young Composers' Meeting, in Apeldoorn (Netherlands).; Get the Flash Player to see this player.

but because without this (2006): For bluegrass quartet; Performed by the Diesel Lounge Boys; Written for the Diesel Lounge Boys as part of their commissioning project Operation Hoe-Down. The piece is a timbral exploration of the idea of how discrepancies in repetition emerge and, even when unanticipated, seem somehow necessary in retrospect.; Get the Flash Player to see this player.

rosenthaler (2006): For stereo playback; rosenthaler was written as part of a project inviting composers to respond to and reimagine a set of provided steel drum samples as part of the CD project Resonance [Quiet Design Records]. This piece was written in the midst of a move between apartments and neighborhoods in Berlin, and, as a result thinking heavily about contrasts and juxtapositions leaving behind surprising interstices in their extremes.; Get the Flash Player to see this player.

...and, believing in... (2005): For solo performer, live-electronics, quadraphonic sound, and eight mini-speakers; This piece was written as part of the re-thinking mary project spearheaded by Eve Beglarian and in collaboration with Corey Dargel, Joseph Hallman, & Joshua Palay at the Atlantic Center of the Arts. Special thanks to Sophocles Papavasilopoulos for additional feedback and contibutions in developing this piece.; Get the Flash Player to see this player.

of minutiae and memory (2006): For cello, voice, and electronics; Performed by Jody Redhage; Incidental memory has always fascinated me. The text for this piece is drawn from the Norwegian table prayer my grandmother grew up speaking. The piece draws on the prayer not to evoke any spiritual or religious overtones, but rather to reflect on how a single text remains both familiar and foreign through repetition, reinvention, remembering, and forgetting. The piece was commissioned by Jody Redhage and is featured on All Summer in a Day [New Amsterdam Records].; Get the Flash Player to see this player.

...as on all these days, all this untellable time...(2002): This piece is based on the short story Blow-Up by Julio Cortázar. The story follows the relationship between Roberto Michel, a translator and photographer, and a particular snapshot, as he explores issues of time, context, and the documentation of both. The piece does not so much trace the narrative of the story, but rather attempts to evoke the always (self)conscious, and reflexive style of writing.; Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Filling Vessels (2006, 2008): Performed by Amanda Pepping, Jennifer Porto, Daniella Strasfogel, & Jeremy Woodruff; Filling Vessels is a multi-channel sound and light installation/performance by Paula Matthusen (composition, processing, and programming) and Tom O'Doherty (photography and visuals, technical assistance, and documentation), dependent on interaction with audio feedback generated in an installation space itself. It functions as an audience-navigable space, in which people can explore the effect they have on the sonic and visual events that take place within it, and, as a performance environment, within which musicians use their instruments to interact with and influence the resultant combinations of sound and light.; Visit the Filling Vessels website.; Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Circadia (2007, 2008): Circadia is a multi-channel installation that explores how synchronization may emerge amidst various independent bodies. Glass jars with embedded speakers are distributed throughout a room, and are treated as separate bodies. The sounds they produce are generated via quiet feedback produced by each vessel. In this way, the space, and the subtle acoustical effects the audience has on that space, create shifting, delicate balances between sustained sounds and small discrete pulses.

winter company: With Jenny Oliva Johnson (analog electronics & percussion); This excerpt of an improvisatory piece, here in our ordinariness, was realized through performance and experimentation with the percussion/analog electronics and multi-channel live electronics duo with composer/performer Jenny Olivia Johnson. This performance utilizes a minimum of ten speakers, using large speakers in contrast with multiple mini-speakers placed through the audience. In this way, the improvisations become both spatial and architectural.; Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Die Oktoschlocks: With Linda Buckley (flute & laptop), Brendan Dougherty (percussion), Guido Hennenboehl (Geräte), Keith O'Brien (guitar & laptop); Die Oktoschlocks on MySpace

anthracite: Solo; This improvisation is part of a larger, ongoing project, songs of fuel and insomnia, which was developed during a residency at STEIM while in collaboration with Kathryn Woodard.; Get the Flash Player to see this player.