HEAVY MATTER [2012]

trombone w/ plunger [9’]

commissioned by William Lang

further reading

outside of time | inside the sound [dissertation colloquium presented for the degree of PhD at Harvard University, May 6, 2019]

A Note to Index the Entire Weight of the Piece: A Conversation with trombonist Weston Olencki about Timothy McCormack’s HEAVY MATTERFOCI Arts [Published August 30, 2015]

recordings

Listening Through 2016 released by Indexical. Weston Olencki, trombone.


performance history

8/3/2016 - Weston Olencki. Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt. Germany.

7/13/2016 - ELISION (Ben Marks). Melbourne Recital Centre. Melbourne, Australia.

6/28/2016 - Juna WinstonSzene Instrumental/Studio DanKGBL. Ljubljana, Slovenia.

6/21/2016 - Juna Winston. Mumuth Proberaum. Kunstuniversität Graz. Austria.

4/9/2016 - Weston Olencki. Southeastern Louisiana University. Hammond, LA.

4/7/2016 - Weston OlenckiFOCI Arts. New Orleans, LA.

3/26/2016 - Weston OlenckiPermutationsDimenna Center. New York.

3/11/2016 - Weston OlenckiIndexical. Santa Cruz, CA.

3/6/2016 - Weston OlenckiHot Air Music Festival. San Francisco, CA.

3/2/2016 - Ben Marks. Queensland Conservatorium. Griffith University. Brisbane, Australia.

1/12/2016 - Mattie BarbierBetaLevel. Los Angeles, CA.

11/7/2015 - Weston OlenckiNUNC. Northwestern University. Evanston, IL.

11/1/2015 - William LangSpectrum. New York, NY.

6/11/2015 - Ensemble Praesenz [Stephen Menotti]. Galerie Schmidt&Handrup. Berlin, Germany.

6/10/2015 - Ensemble Praesenz [Stephen Menotti]. Galerie Schmidt&Handrup. Cologne, Germany.

5/27/2015 - Mattie BarbierBetaLevel. Los Angeles.

4/30/2015 - ELISION [Ben Marks]. RMIT University. Melbourne, Australia.

4/11/2015 - Weston Olencki. CCRMA. Stanford University.

4/1/2015 - Weston OlenckiCenter for New Music. San Francisco, USA

3/27/2015 - Wild Rumpus [Weston Olencki]. San Francisco, USA. CCRMA. Stanford University.

2/21/2015 -  Kevin FairbairnImpuls. Graz, Austria.

1/23/2015 - Juna Winston. Claquekeller. Baden, Switzerland.

12/13/2014 - Juna Winston. Kunst Uni. Graz, Austria.

12/7/2014 - Stephen Menotti. Ackermannshof. Basel, Switzerland.

2/24/2014 - William Lang. DiMenna Center. New York City 

11/20/2013 - Juna Winston. Hochschule fur Musik. Basel, Switzerland

11/9/2013 - William LangThe Firehouse. Brooklyn, NY

9/26/2013 - William LangNew York Trombone Consort. DiMenna Center. New York City 

8/12/2013 - Juna Winston. Virginia Commonwealth University. Richmond, VA

7/27/2013 - Juna Winston. Boston Conservatory. Boston, MA 

4/30/2013 - William Lang. MIKROS Festival. 109 Gallery. Brooklyn, NY 

4/26/2013 - Juna Winston. Acoustic Uproar. The Lily Pad. Cambridge, MA 

11/16/2012 - William Lang. Bargemusic. New York, NY

9/30/23 - William Lang (Loadbang). Boston Conservatory. Cambridge, MA

1/21/2022 - William Lang. Appalachian State University. Boone, NC.

POSTPONED: 4/25/2020 - Weston Olencki. The Bowerbird. Philadelphia, PA.

POSTPONED: 4/24/2020 - Weston Olencki. Mirror in the Woods. Brooklyn, NY.

3/4/2020 - William Lang. Southeastern Louisiana University. Hammond, LA

6/28/2019 - William Lang. Compassionate Ocean Dharma Center. Minneapolis, MN.

3/10/2019 - William LangScholes Street Studio. Brooklyn, NY.

3/3/2019 - William Lang. Montclair University Brass Day. Montclair, NJ.

10/7/2018 - William Lang. Indiana State University. Bloomington, IN.

10/5/2018 - William Lang. Grand Valley State University. Allendale, MI.

3/2/2018 - Juna WinstonNUMU: Neue & Unentdeckte Musik. Baden, Switzerland.

3/2/2018 - Mattie Barbier. Santa Monica Public Library. MLK Jr. Auditorium. Santa Monica, CA.

1/5/2018 - William Lang. Mt. Vernon Salon. Oakland, CA.

11/20/2017 - Kevin FairbairnHCMF Shorts. Huddersfield, UK.

10/4/2017 - William Lang. Suffolk County Community College. Selden, New York.

9/18/2017 - William Lang. Framingham State University. Framingham, MA.

6/30/2017 - William Lang. University of Redlands. Redlands, CA.

5/16/2017 - ELISION Ensemble [Ben Marks]. Arts @ 29 Garden. Harvard University. Cambridge, MA.

4/21/2017 - Eric Starr [San Diego New Music]. The Athenaeum Music & Arts Library. La Jolla, CA.

4/11/2017 - William Lang [Loadbang]. Center for New Music. San Francisco, CA.

3/27/2017 - Mattie BarbierMonday Evening Concerts. Los Angeles, CA.

1/5/2017 - William Lang. Silvana's Cafe. New York, NY.

12/13/2016 - Stephen Menotti [Two New]. Unerhoerte Musik. Berlin, Germany.

12/5/2016 - Mattie Barbier [Ensemble at CalArts]. CalArts. Los Angeles, CA.

11/30/2016 - Stephen Menotti [Two New]. Z - Zentrum für Proben und Forschung. Frankfurt, Germany.

11/29/2016 - ELISION Ensemble [Ben Marks]. Hellerau European Centre for the Arts. Dresden, Germany.

11/25/2016 - ELISION Ensemble [Ben Marks]. Vojvodina Cultural Institute. Novi Sad, Serbia.

11/19/2016 - Mattie Barbier [WildUp]. National Sawdust. New York, NY.

10/5/2016 - ELISION Ensemble [Ben Marks]. RMIT Gallery. Melbourne, Australia.

9/18/2016 - Mattie BarbierAutomata. Los Angeles, CA.

9/11/2016 - Mattie Barbier. The Lilypad. Cambridge, MA.

9/11/2016 - Weston Olencki. The Lilypad. Cambridge, MA.


video

program note

HEAVY MATTER is comprised of molten sound: dense sound with weight and mass, sound which churns itself through unsettled, shifting forms, sound which is between states of matter. The gestures are solid enough to retain the semblance of shape while constantly altering forms and blurring registral boundaries. Through the piece, the material is subjected to what can be thought of as varying degrees of formal gravity, which then effect the solidity, density and rate of the sound. The flow of sound is constant, heavy, multi-directional and pressurized. The sound is not within a space; it is the space.