The Flow of (u)

The Flow of (u) is a piece of music for three voices by Kenneth Gaburo, composed in 1974.

The piece consists of "one note sung by three singers for twenty-three minutes" on u whose goal is "to sing in tune to such an extent that … this would consist of phase-coherent waves of sound." This, however, proves impossible, as singers must breathe, beating occurs between nearly in tune pitches, and the frequency spectrum or harmonics: "Gently changing balances between the voices would result in very subtle glissandi of the harmonics of the spectrum being heard." The piece creates a "(sonic) universe in this (linguistic) 'grain of sand'".^[1]

Unlike other minimalist works in which, compared to serial music, "a certain level of articulational subtlety is eschewed in favor of an overall psycho-acoustic effect," in Gaburo's piece "the focus is even more intense, and the attention to dynamic shaping given to the lines … is here transferred to the micro-level".^[1]

An earlier work from Gaburo's Lingua series, Lingua IV (1970), for various media, bears a similar subtitle: "The Flow of (i)2".^[2]

Sources

^ ^a ^b Burt, Warren. 2002. Liner notes for Kenneth Gaburo: Five Works For Voices, Instruments, and Electronics. New World Records 80585-2. Produced for CD by David Dunn.
^ Rosen, Jerome, and Keith Moore. 2001. "Gaburo, Kenneth (Louis)". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.

[Burt2002-1] Burt, Warren. 2002. Liner notes for Kenneth Gaburo: Five Works For Voices, Instruments, and Electronics. New World Records 80585-2. Produced for CD by David Dunn.

[RosenMoore2001-2] Rosen, Jerome, and Keith Moore. 2001. "Gaburo, Kenneth (Louis)". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.

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