Gabriella Smith: Hexacorallia • Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra

To help us support musicians and produce future concerts, please donate at: www.kco.la/sup...
Live recording from world premiere performance on January 20, 2019
First Presbyterian Church of Santa Monica
commission supported by generous funding by New Music USA
Hexacorallia is inspired by a series of underwater recordings I made in the coral reefs of French Polynesia. I recently had the opportunity to spend two weeks on a sailboat there, and whenever the conditions were right, I would go out on the paddle board and drop my hydrophone into the water amongst the coral and listen. Most people think of the ocean as a silent place, but in reality it is incredibly noisy and vibrant with many species making sound just as we do on the surface. In coral reefs, one can hear the constant crackling of shrimp like a background static, the grunting sounds that various species of fish make for communication, and a crunching noise that is the sound of parrot fish eating coral. (The coral later goes through their digestive system and is ground into smaller and smoother bits and pooped out which, over the course of thousands of years, accumulates to create the beautiful white-sand beaches of the tropics.) The piece is filled with these popping, creaking, crunching, and grunting sounds, but my overall goal was not to simply transcribe this soundscape but also to capture that glorious feeling of awe and wonder at dropping my hydrophone down into the water and hearing for the first time this completely new sound world.
Violin I
Alex Granger
Chan Lee
Gabriel Maffuz-Anker
Heidi Hatch
Chiai Tajima
Benjamin Hoffman
Violin II
Kako Miura
Kyle Gilner
Wynton Grant
Tristan Siegel
Evan Johanson
Mann-Wen Lo
Viola
Anne Lanzilotti
Josiah Coe
Emily Williams Gregg
Liam Brolly
Cello
Allan Hon
Justin Lepard
Stella Cho
Juliette Herlin
Bass
Rebecca Lawrence
Aaron Blick

[@christopherhorner7045]

I heard this on the radio last week, had to hear it again. Blew my mind.

[@ninacasati3946]

This piece is an amazing experience to listen to. Bravo to the ensemble.

[@kaleidoscopechamberorchestra]

Thanks very much!

[@stephenhall3515]

Whatever this is trying to be, it is 50 years too late. I remember witnessing this sort of tripe when I was a student and I am now 75. Much well crafted and daring music is to be had but Ms Smith might want to consider a different field of employment.

[@kaleidoscopechamberorchestra]

Thanks for your opinion, it’s interesting how music connects with people in different ways. We very much enjoyed collaborating with Gabriella and premiering this work, which was very well received by our audience.

[@johnpcomposer]

I took my cerealascope and listened to the wonder of rice krispies crackling in my bowl this morning...in the afternoon I placed the autophone under the hood of my car to capture the complex world of sounds, the fan belts, alternator, the ticks and pops of the radiator, the engine in every gear, the highway sound under the tires and then sat down and wrote this piece to bring to life my trip to the Costco. I love some of her pieces but the imitation of every sound in the world thing creates a kind of padding...did we need 2:30 of clicking to get the experience of the shrimp sounds? That's my only negative critique of this kind of music: the minimalist baggage. I love the changing tonal center and watery morphing of sound. She's good, no doubt. But this kind of on the nose particularity could lead to self-parody after a while...

[@Scrayfish0]

Well done. This is the kind of music written by composers who have nothing to say.

[@donnaperre5382]

John: what's stopping you from enjoying this beautiful opening? Hexacorallia is a class of eukaryotes that includes the corals that make up coral reefs.. these textures are not merely "shrimp sounds" but paint the picture of the rough landscape that makes a coral reef what it is. There is no need to make fun of this piece. You are certainly not above it. Plus, two minutes and thirty seconds is nothing. Get over yourself 🙄🤚

[@silas123781]

Sounds like a cool idea for a piece!!