E-Eye

Oberlin students, including the composer

Premiered by students at the Oberlin Conservatory on January 28, 1989 in Warner Concert Hall.


PROGRAM NOTE
E-Eye is a hymn to the night; a hybrid of rock, minimalism, and classical music; and a grand sonic exploration. It is an experiment in having instrumentalists sing while playing, a commonplace technique in rock music. The end result fuses Steve Vai and Billy Sheehan-type hammer-on techniques on the electric guitar and bass with Schoenbergian Sprechstimme, Reichian harmonies, and extended techniques on all of the instruments in a nursery-rhyme-simple environment. Namely, as I explored my own poem, I found that it reached for an apothesosis of the syllabic ordering: e-i-e-i-o. The spiritual meaning is abstract, but is mystical, influenced by Eckankar and the Kate Bush album, Hounds of Love.

 

Instrumentation:

Electric Guitar, Electric Bass, Harp, Piano, and Two Percussion- all of whom also sing (or, in an alternate version, may be replaced by SSATTB Chamber Choir).

Year:
1988
Duration:
11'
Text:
Evan Hause
Publisher:
Unpublished