cello and live electronics
Co-composed and premiered by Ashley Brown

Each of the eight movements of this work is notated in the form of a graphical ‘map’, into which musical fragments—devised and developed by both members of the collaboration—are arrayed and interconnected. The performer is then free to traverse the particular musico-geographical terrain in a semi-improvisational manner, stringing together the fragments by following the graphical ‘rules’ of each map.

By drawing on cartographic disciplines for the graphical inspiration behind each map, the collaborators have re-envisaged the score as not so much a linear unfolding of material, but rather an open, multi-dimensional traversal of a given sonic ‘microverse’. The form is therefore not fixed, but only suggested by the pathways and distribution of materials around the map. Certain game-like elements, such as shortcuts and dead ends, have been included to increase the sense of ‘play’, as well as the potential for unusual structural discontinuities.

Score extract: