“Signals Intelligence explores the experience of hearing an electronic transmission in which order is clearly audible but the information density is too high for any human to parse. The experience is one of being made aware of that which is always just out of reach, just beyond comprehension. Two related algorithms are employed to generate melodic material using from one to six pitches. The ensemble version is based upon the solo version, which presents much of the algorithmic material in its raw form applied to six indefinitely-pitched objects. Most, but not all of the sections in the ensemble version use the same algorithmic material as the solo version, mapped to shifting pitch sets. Furthermore, in certain sections of the ensemble version the algorithmic material provides a foundation for variation and embellishment. The piece should be played as fast as possible and the tempo should be held absolutely steady with no rubato or expressive pauses. The meter should not be articulated unless explicitly indicated by accents; the melody should appear as an undifferentiated continuum, in the manner of electronic transmission. Signals Intelligence was commissioned by the Duke University Department of Music for the Milestones 2002 Festival and was premiered by the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Percussion Ensemble under the direction of Lynn Glassock in November, 2002.” - Christopher Adler
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Christopher Adler is a composer, performer and improviser living in San Diego, California. His music draws upon over a decade of research into the traditional musics of Thailand and Laos and a background in mathematics. He is a foremost performer of traditional and new music for the khaen, a free-reed mouth organ from Laos and Northeast Thailand. As pianist and composer-in-residence with NOISE and co-founder of the soundON Festival of Modern Music he has promoted the works of emerging composers, and as an improviser on piano and as a conductor he has performed with many of the West coast’s finest improvisers. He received Ph.D. and Master’s degrees in composition from Duke University and Bachelor’s degrees in music composition and in mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and he is currently an Associate Professor at the University of San Diego. His work may be heard on Tzadik, pfMENTUM, Nine Winds Records, Artship Recordings, Vienna Modern Masters, Circumvention, Accretions, and WGBH’s Art of the States.
