String Quartet No. 2four-channel music installation, 2004

On entering String Quartet No. 2 the audience encounters a phantom ensemble. From hidden speakers in four corners of a dark room emanate musical gestures from each of four string players. The only illumination is from lights on music stands which display the original sampling parts for the instruments which I composed. This work is concerned with inverting the classical composition process by having the performance happen before the composition. To this end I individually recorded each member of Seattle's St. Helen's String Quartet playing short musical fragments. In the installation these are endlessly recombined in real time, creating a never repeating spatial music environment. This piece was commissioned and produced during a residency at Jack Straw Audio Arts Center in Seattle, WA.