Blue and Gray
Instrumentation: 2 double basses
Year composed: 2005
Composer website: https://www.rebeccasaunders.net/
photo by Astrid Ackermann
Martin says:
I enjoy microtonal worrying of notes in general, the viscerality of the beating, the dirt and life in the resultant timbres, it appeals to me. But deep down in the bass register oh my word it's something else. Headphones, please, don't listen to this through your phone's speakers, you want to feel the vibrations in your internal organs!Â
[from rebeccasaunders.net]
With her distinctive and intensely striking sonic language, Berlin-based British composer Rebecca Saunders (b.1967) is a leading international representative of her generation.
Saunders pursues an intense interest in the sculptural and spatial properties of organised sound and seeks a close collaborative dialogue with a variety of contemporary musicians and artists.
Born in London, she studied composition with Nigel Osborne and Wolfgang Rihm. Saunders has received numerous prizes, including the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize 2019. She received an Honorary Doctorate from the Universities of Huddersfield in 2018 und Edinburgh in 2023. She is a member of the Academies of Arts in Berlin, Dresden and Munich.