Paula Matthusen · Composer

Stations and Resonances engages with the discrete and continuous nature of subway transit. Working with Matthew Welch (bagpipes), Olivia Valentine (video), and Warren Enström (recording assistance) this collaborative composition was broken up into many small parts, and dispersed throughout a subway route.

Roughly following the path of the 1904 Interborough Rapid Transit Line, brief recordings were made at sites along 38 different subway platforms, targeting points that reveal traces of the subway system’s history. In each recording, ambient noises (subways, passersby, announcements) were embraced alongside instrumental tones (bagpipes) as a way of articulating spatial and acoustical difference and continuity.

Stations and Resonances was written originally for the event PLATFORM hosted by the Transit Museum of New York, and premiered as a two-channel projection on opposite sides of an IRT subway car.

Special thanks to Dexter Dine for his technical assistance throughout the project.