Callisto
Callisto, the third-largest moon in the Solar System, is the fourth Galilean moon of Jupiter by distance. It was discovered in 1610 by Galileo Galilei. The name comes from Greek mythology: one of Zeus's lovers. It surface features include a multitude of variously shaped impact craters, single and in chains. There is a thin atmosphere of carbon dioxide. The way Callisto formed has lead to the speculation of the possibility of an interior ocean, which has lead to further speculation on the possibility of life, and that is what this piece is about.
The Music - I composed this in 1994, after the time I had studied contemporary composition and orchestration with John Stephens. Callisto is a synthesized orchestration and in fact, it was Stephens himself who recommended that I try this approach. The work starts off bombastically with strings and percussion. By the 60th second, the strings predominate and with a change of texture, lead to a series of harpsichord glissandos. At 1:30, the piece begins to quicken, while an ominous undertone is added to the mix. Before the two-minute mark is hit, rapid harpsichord and percussion parts force their way in. The intensity builds until around 2:45, where the piece leaps into an even more urgent mood, a frenzied dance. There is another change at 4:24, with galloping lines that are overlaid by sustained chords in an repeated, ostinato like manner. Then ending motifs arrive around 4:50 and fade to silence shortly thereafter.
The Video -- I did the video part in March 2012. It was primarily an experiment with Vusic's "Music Visulation Software." While it held promise, there was no way for me to change any original parameters once the program began to run. I also sent an inquiry as to if there were a way to save the images an a standard video format, but the question went unanswered, which casts doubt upon customer support. What I ended up doing, was to set up my Zoom q3 camera in front of the computer monitor, and did several takes. I edited these and spliced them together, along with images I obtained on the Internet, to form the final montage.
The Music - I composed this in 1994, after the time I had studied contemporary composition and orchestration with John Stephens. Callisto is a synthesized orchestration and in fact, it was Stephens himself who recommended that I try this approach. The work starts off bombastically with strings and percussion. By the 60th second, the strings predominate and with a change of texture, lead to a series of harpsichord glissandos. At 1:30, the piece begins to quicken, while an ominous undertone is added to the mix. Before the two-minute mark is hit, rapid harpsichord and percussion parts force their way in. The intensity builds until around 2:45, where the piece leaps into an even more urgent mood, a frenzied dance. There is another change at 4:24, with galloping lines that are overlaid by sustained chords in an repeated, ostinato like manner. Then ending motifs arrive around 4:50 and fade to silence shortly thereafter.
The Video -- I did the video part in March 2012. It was primarily an experiment with Vusic's "Music Visulation Software." While it held promise, there was no way for me to change any original parameters once the program began to run. I also sent an inquiry as to if there were a way to save the images an a standard video format, but the question went unanswered, which casts doubt upon customer support. What I ended up doing, was to set up my Zoom q3 camera in front of the computer monitor, and did several takes. I edited these and spliced them together, along with images I obtained on the Internet, to form the final montage.