Dual (2004–05)
for fixed media (2ch stereo)

Movements (attacca): 1. Esiin (‘Forth’), 2. Rengas (‘Ring’), 3. Kaksi (‘Two’), 4. Piilot (‘Hideouts’), 5. Väreet (‘Ripples’ or ‘Shivers’), 6. Lukittu (‘Locked’), 7. Tuli (‘Fire’ or ‘Came’), 8. Puhallus (‘Blow’), 9. Avain (‘Key’), 10. Jää (‘Stay[s]’ or ‘Ice’)

“The electronic composition Dual (2004–2005) is actually two compositions in one. Firstly, ‘A 24’ (2004)—four bagatelles made out of home-recorded sounds—came into being as a work-to-be-continued. Then, a collection of miniatures for MIDI-automated piano sound, ‘Six midiatures’ (2005), was composed as a kind of holiday frolic. In the fall, I decided to combine these two aspects of computer-music composition as a sort of Janus-faced unity. The surprisingly similar approach to material and form (more Schaefferian than Schönbergian) was of great assistance in this task, as well as the fruitful difference in the an sich monochromatic timbres.

The complex family tree of the work’s movements is not revealed here, but the listener may associate freely with the help of the names given to the ten short pieces that form the whole. Dual received its première at an “Ears open!” concert in Helsinki, November 2005.”

© 2005 Jarkko Hartikainen