JUAN PARRA CANCINO
COMPOSER | GUITARIST | RESEARCHER | LIVE ELECTRONICS PERFORMER
compositions
Artifacts of 'not-here' (2021). For networked electroacoustic ensemble
TN_C*J_SCL20(21) (2020-21). For fretted resonant boxes and live electronics
TN_Chain (2019). For networked trumpet and computer
TN_J*K (2018). For networked saxophone, guitar, and computer
AoH_T&K (2017). For percussion, networked dancer and live electronics
deleuzApierre (2017). For bass clarinet, bass flute and live electronics. More about the Diabelli Machines project, for which this piece was commissioned, HERE
the egg (2015). Solo electronics
Multiple paths: Omaggio a Nono (2013). For variable (networked) ensemble and live electronics.
First version (trio) premiered with Chris Chafe and Brice Soniano at the 2013 ORCiM Seminar.
Life is too precious…(2012). For the $100 guitar. More on the project HERE
Flux|Pattern # 1-3 (2012). For soloists and two computers
A series of études developed in collaboration with Henry Vega and soloists of the Orpheus Research Centre in Music (ORCiM). Listen to Flux|Pattern # 1 with Catherine Laws (piano) and Henry Vega (computer)
Here is a video of Flux|Pattern # 2 with Richard Craig (flute) and Henry Vega (computer).
Listen to Flux|Pattern # 3 with Stefan Östersjö (guitar) and Henry Vega (computer)
KVSwalk (2010-2011). For (networked) ensemble, live electronics and video
Created in collaboration with the ORCiM ensemble
In a Train to Nowhere(2010). For Bb clarinet, piano and electronics
KVSwalk_SOLO (2010)
KVSwalk_SOLO aims to research the possibilities and limitations of physicality and embodied musicality in computer music performance. The musical structure is centered around the metaphoric imaginary, as well as sonic derivatives of the Karman Vortex Street phenomena.
For its ensemble version, a set of 'high-order parameters' were defined for each performer, favoring timbre variation and texture density control over pitch and articulation variety.
Inside of a Suitcase (2009). For solo piano
This miniature is a small exercise in (de)construction of one art-form into another. Taking Pablo Neruda’s “Metamorphosis” as starting point, the pianist explores through sound the inner rhythms and articulations of the poem and its reader.
PLP (2009)
PLP is a series of works focusing on the new lectures given to traditional music conventions, particularly on the use of a notation system that will help to spawn the exploratory process between traditional and electronic musicians. The organizational backbone of these works is derived from the concept of "timbre networks" an overall structural composition strategy devised by Juan Parra C, aimed to design high order parameters in live electronic music.
PLP_I (2009). For electric violin and computer. Violin: Mieko Kanno
PLP_Fukuoka (2009). For electric guitar and computer
PLP_SL (2009). For guitar and computer. Santiago Lascurain, guitar.
Mar de Metal(2009). For two saxophones and tape
A Musical depiction of what happens when the natural cacophony of the sea is replaced by progress and highways. Written for Michael Straus and Griffin Campbell
Power, contemplation, Innocence.The turning point before transition (2008-09). For vocalist and live electronics
Following the process of invoking and assimilating the I-Ching, Questions are revealed through sound and answers find their home in Silence. A single performer raises the questions through draws, manifests them through drawings and read the answers that have been silently waiting to be filtered by each one of our own inner enquirers. This piece was written for Andrea Young
GeoAves (2008). For recorder and computer
GeoAves focuses on two creative processes derived from the principles of Timbre Networks, a compositional system where the traditional instruments and the electronic components (computer generated sounds and live processing algorithms), exchange sound material and control information in the form of parameter and musical information, generating an active multi-nodded network. The first one of these processes is to derive through a collaborative period a set of high-order parameters for both the recorder and the computer, paying close attention to the personal approach of the performers towards their instruments. The goal behind defining this set of parameters is to limit the possibilities of sound production of the system, and integrate the creative approach towards sound production and manipulation between the traditional and electronic instruments, while allowing a greater degree of freedom of interpretation of the subtleties within the chosen palette. The second is to provide the performers with a structural grid where to present these timbres and textures. In GeoAves, this is done by means of a graphic score based on some bird-like shapes taken from the ancient peruvian geoglyphs known as Nazca Lines. Rather than a time-based score, both the recorder and computer performers share a sonic journey that plays with evolving towards a musical symbiosis where the traditional expectations of musical time and instrument independence are organically blurred.
GeoAves was composed for Terri Hron
Lo Unico que Tengo (...all I have) (2008). For three instrumentalists
This piece seeks, through the use of simply an exchangeable patterns of sound and hands gestures, to generate a collective sonic weave. The piece use very minimal building blocks that are to be interpreted by the performers as starting point for their inner thread in the piece. The notation of the piece focuses on the rhythmic interaction of the layers, and leaves aspects of timbre, pitch and dynamic articulation open for the expressivity of the performers. It was composed with The Electronic Hammer in mind as its ideal inceptor.
Cut/Random (2007). For ensemble and computer
The aim of this piece was to generate and imaginary landscape that combines instrumental and electronic timbres, blended together by the subtle use of live electronics. cut/random (in spanish 'corta/azar') takes as departure point the words and voice of the Argentinean author Julio Cortazar, and seeks to connect from the world of sound with his literary cosmogony, reinforcing the aim established by the Modelo '62 ensemble for which this piece was created.
Tu Recuerdo Manda (hommage a Victor Jara) (2007). For soprano and computer
With this piece I challenged myself to integrate both my emotional and aesthetic influences in music. The text is a reconstruction of various lyrics of the Chilean songwriter Victor Jara, passing from love to political declamation, from sadness to hope. The computer's relationship to the voice searches for its own timbre universe, without being intrusive. More than a duo, this piece aims to take Jara's musical legacy and spread it over two persons.
This piece is dedicated to Camille Hesketh and Performed by WireGriot.
Accumulation of Hesitation (2006). For solo computer
This piece aims to expose a journey through the apparent densities of chaotic behaviors. The exposition of the firsts are done using sequences of semi-autonomous soundscapes that are shaped throughout the piece by means of deconstruction, transposition and displacement. Silence manifests itself. If we are lucky.
Shoc(k) (2006). For early music ensemble and computer
The primary material for the generation of the computer voice in this piece is a series of X-ray refraction analysis charts done to a number of primary elements. Each element was mapped to a single instrument, crating a grid of isolated accents that would trigger the onset of the predefined time sequences of the main computer part. Live filtering tables are drawn and applied following the same X-ray information. The musical material for the instruments (pitch, rhythms, and basic gestures) was derived from the static characteristic of the refracted elements. The musical representation of these processes gives as outcome a continuous interaction of a static system (the instrumental ensemble) that feeds with data the computer to the point of saturation, and the inevitable release of that tension.
This piece was written for the Roentgen connection.
Dorothy_F6 (2006). For bansuri and computer
Dorothy seeks to musically represent the generation, evolution and trajectory of an imaginary tornado. In order to achieve this, the system used on the piece is wind filtered by a (apparently) rudimentary instrument, and the exploration of all possible variations in timbre, dynamic and articulation. The results are present in the piece not only as autonomous sound units but also as real-time control information for the synthetic timbres of the piece. The latter is based in a series of algorithms inspired on Iannis Xenakis ‘gendys”, together with a number of real time spectral manipulation, all of them implemented on Max/Msp.
Dorothy was created on its original version for Bansuri with the aid of Morgane Eouzan, and modified for the 2006 edition of the International Computer Music Conference in New Orleans, USA with the flutist Alejandro Escuer.
A new version for flute was developed with the help of Richard Craig
Fallin(N)g (2005). For harpsichord and computer
The piece aims primarily to create a symbiotic instrument between the mechanical and the electronic sound producers, the properties of the mechanisms of the harpsichord and its sonic qualities and the use of the computer as an enhancer of these properties. The distribution of the sound material generated by this new combined instrument is organized in a series of continuous layers, some transcendent, some degenerative. Using a limited set of musical gestures, the time structure of the piece is a journey between different possible timbres, accents, resonances and frequency zones, that aims to sonically revise the process of a conscious fall, from total destruction through, the instant of enlightenment and the moment of uncertainty and emptiness precedent to the journey.
This piece is dedicated to Anne Faulborn.
Lonquimay.89 (2005). Multitrack electronic composition
The aim for creating this piece was to generate a sound result that would be, timbre wise, as coherent as possible allowing both the composer and the listener to focus and be able to hear the generated micro and macro level structures. I decided to limit the Analog Patches in terms of dynamism and quantity to the extreme. The piece is basically based in two instrument patches. Both Patches were controlled by a great number of AC toolbox scores, using several versions of multilayered stream generators. Each control had, at a primary stage, a clear, single parameter to control in the analog patch. This varied through time and a progressive exchange of control assignment was added, to the extreme of using a random choice generator for the control assignment itself: Far from a chaotic outcome, the result is a recurrence of gestures and sounds were sometimes the values used to generate a dynamic curve are ‘recycled’ later to control a filter resonance, or in extremis, to generate a pitch sequence itself.
Lonquimay is a region in the south of Chile close to the Andes. It is also a Volcano that became active for the last time in 1989, causing economic and social damage to the small and poor indigenous population of the region. At the same time, it became a tourist attraction to visit the active volcano. These consequently helped a bit to the community of the zone. I had the chance to visit the volcano and the communities living around it on 1989, and to experience the power of nature and its consequences on people of different backgrounds and realities.
Some of the sequences present in the piece reminded me of the feelings that I had staring at the volcano: The clear presence of something constant, steady, yet always mutating to the point of multiplying itself, something strong and on the verge of explode, that never blows up, but, nevertheless, affects its surroundings.
Refractions (2004). For ensemble, soundtrack and Live Electronics
In Refractions the fundamental concept is the exploration and detailed description of the musical moments where the sound actors exchange material (both physical and structural).
The manipulation of a wide physical space (real or simulated) furthers this idea, relying on the space itself as part of the ensemble, or rather, the instrument where the interaction and combination of the musical material is happening. The use of live electronics serves the purpose of being a bridge between the tape and the acoustical instrument, a bridge where one can walk, or stop and stare at the evolution of several interconnected events where the moment is infinitesimally small. Here the morphing of ideas and units is at its maximum, the music components are no longer isolated and a new musical entity is presented to the space.
Tellura (2004). Stereo electronic composition
Tellura is the result of an exploration in natural disasters that could be associated to the disturbance of electromagnetic fields. For the structure and distribution of the material, seismogram charts of different cities of North and South America were used. The whole piece is divided in 5 parts, but it works as a single piece.
The primary sound materials are synthetic models based on recordings of sonar stations in the Pacific Ocean, where important telluric activity was detected. Using these synthetic models as instruments, several musical interpretations of the seismograms were realized and recorded. Transformations of these recordings were made in the Max/Msp and Csound computer environments, using several implementations of Granular Synthesis, Phase Vocoding and other spectral manipulation algorithms.
Tellura was awarded on the 2004 edition of the Bourges Electroacoustic Music competition and released in the ‘50 years of Electroacoustic Music in Chile’ compilation.
Serenata a Bruno (2003). Stereo electronic composition
Using as initial material some passages of Serenata per un Satellite by Bruno Maderna, the piece explores the possible answers that this composer would receive from the eluded satellite. Using recordings of melodic lines alla Maderna (pre-composed and performed by a sub-cotrabass flute, corneto, vibraphone and violin), the recordings are spectrally mixed and recomposed, achieving traditionally musical passages with impossible, yet familiar instrument timbres. The whole piece attempts to serve as a rendition to Maderna, the composer and Maderna, the dreamer.
This piece was granted with an honorable mention in the Bourges Electroacoustic Music Competition of 2003.