Chappell Kingsland is a composer and performer on many instruments. His compositions explore a wide variety of musical worlds. This album contains four pieces for quite different performing groups, with the common thread of exploring the combination of composition and improvisation to reach new and unexpected sonic realms.
"Warp Speed, Mr. Sulu!" - for audience (2003) - performed by an audience in Rochester, New York
A totally wild, totally fun piece performed by the audience. The score is a numbered list of things to sing, speak, and do (some quite specific, others requiring more imagination).
"SUPER-FUN-PAK" - for nine instruments (flute, clarinet, oboe, trumpet, horn, trombone, violin, viola, cello) (2002) - performed by Musica Nova, conducted by Brad Lubman
My investigation into the realm of musical quotation. Each movement involves a different way of making music, with quotations real and imaginary from over a hundred sources. The ensemble gets to improvise within certain guidelines, and the conductor even improvises the music of "Dictatorship" - which Brad Lubman, world-renowned conductor, told me made him extremely nervous! Of course he succeeded brilliantly.
"the debris of cosmic memory" - electronic music collage (2000)
Partly dreamy, partly violent, entirely made up of layers of improvised music. The sounds include hyperactive bells, beautifully re-tuned electric organs, exploding drumsets, and imaginary electric guitars.
"Music of the Planets" - for eleven groups of performers (2005) - performed by students from the University of Colorado at Boulder
My take on an ancient idea, representing the motion of the planets through music. The music is written for eleven independent ensembles: Mercury (flutes), Venus (oboes), Earth (vocalists), Mars (saxophones), Jupiter (audience), Saturn (clarinets and bassoons), Uranus (percussionists and piano), Neptune (strings), Pluto (toy piano), The Sun (pipe organ), and A Comet (kids). These ensembles are distributed throughout the performance space and audience members are encouraged to walk around and hear groups close-up. The musical details are related to the scientific and astrological significance of each planet. The piece is a good example of a blend between chaos and order.
In the past ten years, I've written over five hundred musical compositions and arrangements. Like any creative art, composition is a mysterious process - there is a certain amount of technique involved, such as a deep understanding of harmonic theory and knowing exactly what is possible on any instrument or voice. But for me at least, the musical ideas generally come from inspiration, or imagination. Probably all of my best pieces contain a lot of music which I feel like I "discovered", rather than "invented". This album is music of discovery, with new ways of making music, often giving performers and audience members the opportunity to shape the sounds.
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