Ghost of dystopia

Alexander Khubeev
2014

For conductor, ensemble and acoustic sensors (12')

The idea of dystopia is one of the key ones in this piece. This notion drew a special attention in the twentieth century, due primarily to literature and film. But music as a kind of art largely remained on the sidelines. This piece is a kind of projection of the idea of dystopia and its internal organisation (or rather, becoming). It uses an unusual concert situation in which one of the main roles belongs to sensors. Such devices are often used in electronic music for the sound reflection of certain gestures of artist, but in this piece sensors are acoustic. Its sound aura is the basis for all musical material.

Gestures themselves (giving an impuls to the sensors) are of great importance: they not only make more explicit the relationship and interaction between “soloist” and ensemble, but also derive “visual” in a separate layer of drama, using different signs and symbols. Thus, creating an allusion to the apt expression of Karl Marx (“A ghost is haunting Europe – the ghost of communism”), the author wants to reflect his view of the phantasmic (or reality?) of dystopia.

Alexander Khubeev
Composer
Alexander Khubeev