1. LIGHTHEADED AND HEAVYHEARTED 2002 19:56
FLUX QUARTET
TOM CHIU, CONRAD HARRIS violin MAX MANDEL viola DAVE EGGAR cello
recorded June 7, 2004 by JIM ANDERSON at Avatar Studios, NYC
mixed July 26, 2004 by SILAS BROWN
commissioned by the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival

excerpt from Lightheaded and Heavyhearted

2. LOST SIGNALS AND DRIFTING SATELLITES 2003 8:20
GEORGE KENTROS violin
recorded January 10, 2004 by MICHAEL MCCOY at the Hit Factory, NYC
mixed July 28, 2004 by JIM ANDERSON
commissioned by George Kentros

excerpt from Lost Signals and Drifting Satellites

3. MENTRYVILLE 1999 4:58
ANNIE GOSFIELD prepared piano
recorded March 31, 1999 by TOM ERBE
at California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, California
assisted by MIRIAM KOLAR and NICHOLAS FRANCES CHASE

excerpt from Mentryville

4. THE HARMONY OF THE BODY–MACHINE 2003 13:14
JOAN JEANRENAUD cello
recorded and mixed December 8–9, 2003
by HOWARD JOHNSTON and JUSTIN LIEBERMAN
at Different Fur Recording, San Francisco, California
commissioned by the American Composers Forum
with funds from the Jerome Foundation

excerpt from The Harmony of the Body-Machine

NOTES ON THE COMPOSITIONS

LIGHTHEADED AND HEAVYHEARTED
I incorporated quarter tones, slow glissandi and shifting sul ponticello harmonics to create Lightheaded and Heavyhearted, which shifts in and out of tune, and combines scratchy aggression with sweet melancholy. Originally composed for the Miami String Quartet during a time that I was suffering from vertigo (and often lightheaded, as indicated in the title) the work was conceived to be at once tranquil and raucous, still and rhythmic, dark and humorous. I adapted the piece for Flux, who melded these characteristics with their own aggressive and energetic approach.

LOST SIGNALS AND DRIFTING SATELLITES
Lost Signals and Drifting Satellites was developed with George Kentros, a violinist in Stockholm who commissioned me to write a piece for "violin and something". The composition is scored for violin, accompanied by recordings of satellites, shortwaves and radio transmissions. The static, sputter and concealed melodies of these transmissions are echoed by the violin, which drifts between extended techniques and traditional writing for the instrument. Like a radio that is gradually losing and gaining reception, the music shifts between these two worlds, hovering between notes and noise, and ultimately drifts into faraway static.

Lost Signals and Drifting Satellites and The Harmony of the Body-Machine are from a set of solo compositions that were developed in close collaboration with individual performers. These pieces emphasize techniques developed by the musicians for whom the pieces were written, and incorporate non-traditional sounds and recording techniques.

MENTRYVILLE
Mentryville is the name of a ghost town just outside of Valencia, California, where I was living when I wrote this piece during a composerÕs residency at the California Institute of the Arts. The surrounding suburban sprawl had an impact on my work: I spent hours haunting the enormous local hardware stores, picking through a huge variety of metal, wood and rubber construction materials that I purchased to use inside the piano. Sounds are produced by striking bolts placed between the strings of the piano with a rubber mallet, as well as by striking the keys in the traditional manner. Sometimes these two methods are used simultaneously, along with other prepared piano techniques that require coaxing a toolbox full of screws, washers, hooks and rubber insulation between individual piano strings.

THE HARMONY OF THE BODY-MACHINE
Joan Jeanrenaud and I met frequently for over a year to develop this piece for cello and electronics, first at the Djerassi Foundation, then at Mills College where I held the Darius Milhaud Chair in Composition. I recorded and catalogued many of the extended techniques that she has mastered: her unique control of stratospheric harmonics, almost-unisons and finely tuned noise. JoanÕs performance is accompanied by the altered recordings of her cello, along with the sounds of sweeping bandsaws, crashing metal presses, percussive pile drivers and other creaking, ticking and scraping machines. The piece was inspired in part by my 1999 Siemens residency in the factories of Nuremberg, Germany, where I recorded, observed and researched industrial sound. The title, The Harmony of the Body-Machine comes from a chapter in a 1929 science textbook by H.G. Wells. This piece is dedicated to Joan and is very much inspired by her wealth of knowledge, experience and longtime dedication to new music and new techniques.
 
– ANNIE GOSFIELD, AUGUST 2004

all music composed by ANNIE GOSFIELD
produced by ANNIE GOSFIELD
additional production assistance ROGER KLEIER
executive producer JOHN ZORN
associate producer KAZUNORI SUGIYAMA
mastered by SCOTT HULL at Hit Factory Mastering, NYC
K2 Technology by JVC Disc America
cover art, inlay and booklet photos by JOSH GOSFIELD
obi photo by NOLA LOPEZ
design HEUNG–HEUNG CHIN
Thanks to: Roger Kleier, John Zorn, Joan Jeanrenaud, George Kentros, Josh Gosfield, Zoe Thrall, Kazunori Sugiyama, Carol Tashjian, the American Composers Forum, the Jerome Foundation, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Mills College, CalArts, the Djerassi Foundation and everyone involved in these recordings