Rapture

Rapture was composed for Australian clarinetist, Eileen Mack and was premiered at Symphony Space in New York City with live visuals created by Joshue Ott and his custom program, superDraw.

In performance, the live clarinetist is processed in real time with a combination of effects often associated with electric guitars; namely distortion and reverb. The transformed sound of the clarinet is supported with an intense tape part that comprises vocal recordings and recordings of Mack playing sounds, which range from sustained tones to multiphonics. In a similar process to painting, these recordings were then spliced, manipulated and layered to create the music of the tape part.

In 2012, Tzadik Records released a full album of my music, titled Blue Moth, that showcases a diverse range of electroacoustic chamber music, including Rapture.

— Anna Clyne

Reproduction Rights:
This program note may be reproduced free of charge in concert programs with a credit to the composer.

"I sat up in my desk chair for Anna Clyne’s Rapture, a jaggedly minimalistic work for clarinet and electronics." —The New Yorker

"The clarinetist Eileen Mack built, alongside electronic evocations of wind and rain, to a slow, dirty dance in Anna Clyne’s Rapture.” —New York Times