BRAZEN BULL (2019)

For percussion, strings, narrator, and electronic processing (c. 12 min)

Music by Dylan Champagne, text by Alexandra Teague.

The Brazen Bull is the name for an ancient Greek torture device shaped like a bull in which victims were roasted to death while their screams were transformed into the snorting sounds of a bull. The piece requires two separate acoustically isolated spaces, means of sending a stereo audio signal from one space into the other, at least two microphones, two speakers, and a computer running Logic Pro for processing sound in real time. The piece is performed in one space (the inner chamber) while simultaneously, by way of the microphones and computer, the live audio is transformed in real time into an entirely different soundscape (an innocuous texture tuned to Cmaj7) and sent into the other space (the outer chamber) where it is played back on loudspeakers. The setting and mood in the inner chamber is one of intense intimacy, discomfort, and bombastic violence, while in the outer chamber, the transformed audio provides light background atmosphere for a wine and cheese reception. Audience members are encouraged to move freely between the two spaces. The piece is to be played twice in its entirety so that audience members may experience it uninterrupted in each space should they wish to do so.

Brazen Bull was premiered on June 20, 2019 at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.