NIME 2018

Goldstream Variations
by Scott Deal
Harry Chaubey & Erzsébet Gaál Rinne, performers

Goldstream Variations (2012) creates an interconnected system through live music, electronics, and machine learning algorithms. The variations are scored for one to seven musicians on undetermined acoustic instruments, together with one to seven electronic/computer artists. The selection of this grouping shapes the aural nature of performance space through the arrangement of performers and loudspeakers. Each page of the score constitutes one variation which is performed in heterophonic fashion as an ensemble. The acoustic musician’s performances are engaged by various computer artists. The variations are designed for performance in either a single physical space, or distributed telematically between multiple sites on high-bandwidth Internet. Machine Learning (ML) is introduced into the design of the work via a software application as well as through the structural shape of the composition, in which virtuostic musical passages are followed by large rests, which in turn create room for liberal amounts of interactivity. The aesthetic focus of a performance lies in the timing, placement, and juxtaposition of virtual and live sound. Decisions regarding spacing, ensemble, dynamics, crescendo and decrescendos, pacing, and phrasing are left to each group. Goldstream Variations was composed during an extended stay in the Goldstream Valley outside of Fairbanks, Alaska. It was commissioned by Erzsébet Gaál Rinne and is dedicated to her.