Douglas Henderson ::: The 102nd Thing (of10,000) and The 103rd Thing

An electroacoustic composition built to an architectural structure, rather than a musical progression. Physical forms moving and changing in time are modeled by spatialized sounds played through a four channel speaker system. The positions of sounds in space and their trajectories were first storyboarded as one might for a film, then suitable recordings and manipulations were fitted to this structure. I often use multiplications of simple acts to reveal their underlying and otherworldly qualities. This piece employs dozens of layered recordings of subway trains, creaking wood, and the breaking, scoring and sifting of glass. The second movement is a sensual cataclysm of shattering glass, with a slow-motion portrait of the movement of the shards, including some 700 glass cuts, and the sounds of thousands of microscopic glass particles settling onto a pane.