Lustre

Lustre is a description of the way light interacts with the surface of a crystal, rock, or mineral. For example, a diamond is said to have an adamantine lustre and pyrite is said to have a metallic lustre. The term is also used to describe other items with a particular sheen (for example, fabric, especially silk and satin, or metals). The word ‘lustre’ traces its origins back to the Latin word ‘lux’, meaning ‘light’, and generally implies radiance, gloss, or brilliance.

The quadraphonic sound structures that formed the basis for Lustre were produced in the voltage-controlled studio of the Institute of Sonology and involved chance operations. The production of the source material was followed by a long series of quadraphonic sound transformations, both in the analogue and the digital domain. All produced material together formed a large matrix, on the basis of which the larger form of the work was composed. In the final work, a maximum of eight quadraphonic layers is sounding simultaneously.

Typical for Lustre is the assignment of different pitch/time curves to the individual sound layers.

Lustre exists in a version for Wave Field Synthesis and in an eight-channel version with video.

After approximately 12 minutes, the density in the music drops considerably. In the version with video, projected images by Marianne Dekker are joining the sounds at that moment in order to sustain the density of the first part, but now on two perceptual levels. Lustre was composed with financial support of the Performing Arts Fund. The version with video was premiered during the Shanghai Electroacoustic Music Week 2009.

year: 2009
duration: 20:30
tracks: WFS / 8 + video