Turadh

“Turadh” is a Scots Gaelic word meaning “a break in the clouds.” The idea for this piece came from two very different places. The first source for this piece was that feeling, that sense of warmth that washes over us when the sun emerges from behind the clouds; this is also in honor of Parhelion Trio, for whom this piece was writ- ten. The second source for this piece is a tribute to my grandmother who, in the midst of progressive dementia, frequently stares out her Kansas window and declares “well—it’s another gray day in the midlands!” This work features extensive use of fixed media electronics which consists entirely of recordings I made on my Norwegian hardanger fiddle. Much like the sympathetic strings on the hardanger create a spectral sound bed for the fiddle itself, the ensemble serves as a resonator for the fiddle and actively triggers continuous texture beds to timbrally support and conflict with the fiddle’s melodic lines.