The Bohlen-Pierce Symposium
First symposium on the Bohlen-Pierce scale, Boston, March 7 – 9, 2010
Wessel: BP Compatible Spectra

David Wessel: BP Compatible Spectra (2010)

The title is descriptive of the material and the compositional approach wherein the  spectral content of the sounds is aligned with the Bohlen-Pierce scale.   Both additive synthesis with hundreds of sinusoidal oscillators and sharply tuned filter banks with hundreds of resonators are used throughout the work.   The performance is entirely live and no pre-recorded sounds or samples are used. The performance interface consists of 32 pressure sensitive touch pads designed and built at the Center for New Music and Audio Technologies (CNMAT) at the University of California Berkeley.   Each of the touch pads affords intimate control over a variety of  transitions of spectral content.   Though there are a number of percussive attacks the primary emphasis is on perceptually seamless spectral evolution.
Special thanks go to Rimas Avizienis, Adrian Freed, Andrew Schmeder, and John MacCallum for their assistance and inspiration.