BAMBOO, SILK and STONE (1994)

---

for Asian instruments and two digital soundtracks

Bamboo, Silk and Stone is a collaborative work between Barry Truax, who realized the tape part, and Randy Raine-Reusch who performed the source material for the tape (on the Balinese suling gambuh, the Chinese guzheng, the Korean hun or ocarina, gongs and tam-tam) and who composed the live accompaniment which he plays on the first three of those instruments. The tape part is designed to preserve and amplify typical improvisational gestures used by the performer, sometimes stretching them in time to discover their inner complexity. In Chinese philosophy, bamboo, silk and stone are regarded as three natural elements of the world.

Bamboo, Silk and Stone is available on the Cambridge Street Records CD Inside, as well as being the title track of Randy Raine-Reusch's CD, in addition to a solo zheng version by Mei Han on her CD Outside the Wall. Watch a video of Mei performing the piece here.

Sound Example available

---

Technical note: The work was realized using the composer's PODX system which incorporates the DMX-1000 Digital Signal Processor controlled by a PDP Micro-11 computer with software for real-time granular synthesis and signal processing developed by the composer in the School for the Contemporary Arts at Simon Fraser University. The sounds were recorded on 8-track tape and mixed down in the Sonic Research Studio at SFU.