Tusch

Instrumentation amplified violin

 Premiered By Cornelius Dufallo at the Music with a View Festival, New York, NY, in 2012.

Tusch is the old German word for “toccata,” which before the Baroque era designated pieces meant to be played on instruments (literally “touched”) and which later came to suggest elaborate displays of virtuosity, particularly on keyboard instruments. This Tusch, is a display piece for violin with electronics originally commissioned by the violinist and composer Cornelius Dufallo, whose brilliant work with live electronics I first encountered in the fall of 2009 and represents my first significant composition for electronic media since my student years. Tusch was written in the fall of 2010 in Alexandria, Virginia.

Technical Requirements The violin should be amplified by means of a contact microphone directly on the body of the instrument. The signal from the microphone should be run through a computer utilizing any standard market effects/synthesizer program to generate 5 channels of loops and one channel of delay (at the space of a quarter note). Additionally, ambient reverb should be applied to the live sound throughout the work’s duration. Duration: ca. 10 minutes