Luchtveld (Airfield) was composed on request of Music Theatre Ensemble Veenfabriek. This ensemble made frequent use of a “Siren Orchestra” , which consists of a variety of air pressure sirens, based on experimental models by Helmholtz, Loman and others.
Although the original request was to compose a score that could be performed live with these instruments, I proposed to compose a multi-channel fixed-media piece with recordings of the sirens, made by myself.
The whole orchestra was set up for me in a huge hangar at the former airfield Valkenburg, where I have spent two days making the recordings. By using close-microphone techniques, I created a separate category of sounds that consists of artifacts, such as the sounds from the air pumps, false air escaping at various points in the system, hitting the air buffers (big plastic containers filled with air to keep the pressure on the sirens constant) as percussive instruments and more. I decided to use only a few sound transformations on the recordings, limiting myself to pitch transposition and filtering.
Luchtveld was composed with financial support of the Performing Arts Fund.
year: 2010
duration: 15:45
tracks: 8