So Far Away (1982, 2020) by Dan Senn, for Flute, Trombone, Piano and Marimba


So Far 1982, 2020 by Dan Senn	Away for Flute, Trombone, Piano and Marimba duration 3-4 minutes
So Far Away was first written in Canberra, Australia, in 1982 for the Flederman Contemporary Music Ensemble. In February of 2020, using the same pitch and rythmic materials, the piece was rewritten at Waterhouse Studio in Watertown, Wisconsin, USA, without the electronic accompaniment. The photo above (click to enlarge), taken by the composer in his Canberra home in December 1982, shows his 8 month old daughter Eliane and cat named Bachevis, or just Chevy, who routinely brought live birds into the house through her cat door. i have also included section three of the original four part work for electronics alone called L'chaim 5 minutes and 39 in duration realized using samples off a 10" record of Max Reichardt singing Yiddish theatre tunes. These were manipulated using a Fairlight CMI invented and developed by Tony Furse in the Canberra School of music and further developed by Peter Vogel and Kim Ryrie in Sydney. Click here to play this work.	The data for So Far Away was generated using his Raku Composition Program developed by the composer at the Canberra School of Music, Australia, in the early 1980s. The pitch and rhythmic data used to seed a portion of the program came from the opening phrase of the Beatles tune “Yesterday”, the portion that accompanied by the word “Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away.” The original work included a backing track with samples take from a Max Reichardt recording as he sings Yiddish Theatre tunes with Rudolph Spira at the piano which I have dropped here. The full score, parts, backing sounds, click tracks are available from the composer. The full score may be previewed as a video here. A sound alone version of the entire piece scan be heard by clicking play below.	Dan Senn working on the Fairlight CMI at the Canberra School of Music, Australia in the early 1980s. Click image to enlarge. Dan Senn (Prague-Watertown) is an intermedia artist working in music composition and production, kinetic sound sculpture, experimental and documentary film. He has been a professor of music and art in the United States and Australia and travels internationally as a lecturer, performer and installation artist. He lives in Prague where he directs the Echofluxx festivals, and Watertown, Wisconsin, the USA, with his partner-collaborator, Caroline Senn. Dan's work moves freely between expressive extremes and languages depending upon the aesthetic joust at hand. Dan is cofounder of Roulette Intermedium in New York City, Cascadia Composers of Portland Oregon, and the Echofluxx media festivals in Prague. (read more). Above photo was taken in by Tim Brook.