Paterson, Justin ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7822-319X and Sholl, Robert (2024) Les ombres du Fântome: Improvisation, recording, production and the collective imagination in artistic research. In: Royal Musical Association Organ Conference, 6 September 2024, London, UK. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

This paper examines aspects of a set of 14 organ improvisations (Robert Sholl, subsequently co-created with Justin Paterson) with Anna McCready (soprano) and Andy Visser (Saxophone/Bass clarinet) released on by Divine Art (April 2024). These improvisations form a meta-narrative of Gaston Leroux’s novel Le Fantôme de l’Opéra (1910) entitled Les ombres du Fantôme, implying shadows of ideas/themes/characters in the book. They were recorded by Justin Paterson and Mike Exarchos (aka ‘Stereo Mike’) using the organs of Arundel and Coventry Cathedrals in May and July 2021.

The project was animated by various questions concerning the search for a new language, the properties and acoustic behaviors of the organ, and the engagement between the instrument and its ecclesiastical space. Intrinsic to the project was the relationship between this ecosystem and electronic augmentation that expands natural perspectives and possibilities, which creates a meta-modernist extension of the organ’s abilities to realise the mystical and gnostic. This post-production augmentation conjures the idea of the idea of ‘the double’, and the layering of the textures enables the possibilities of redoublings – and of future sonic outcomes from the materials.
In this presentation Robert Sholl and Justin Paterson will detail insights from the improvisation and production process. Robert will discuss the place of the organ in this digital economy, spectralism and the origins of his musical language, and the use of previous organ literature. Justin Paterson (electronics, producer, co-composer) will describe how the production aesthetic was conceived and then realised by digital-audio-manipulation tools and advanced techniques taking extended Gouldian acoustic-choreography recordings, and then reimagining with computer automation, convolution processing, formant manipulation, time-stretching, and creative editing – culminating in a recomposition of the originals.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Lecture)
Subjects:	Music
Depositing User:	Justin Paterson
Date Deposited:	10 Oct 2024 11:00
Last Modified:	10 Oct 2024 11:00
URI:	https://repository.uwl.ac.uk/id/eprint/12768

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