Metatexts consists of three electroacoustic works by Christopher Biggs. Each piece reflects on a literary text. These musical abstractions do not convey a specific interpretation of the texts, but attempt to represent concepts for the listener to explore.
S**p Crackle *O* reflects upon Haruki Murakami’s “Kafka on the Shore.” In Murakami’s book there is a surreal land of the lost where parts of individual’s identities, which were formed during a specific time in their life, reside: These aspects of an individual stay in this land because they are unable to let go of that time in their life. Within the music there are two distinct kinds of music: there is beat-based, time music and texture-based, timeless music. The timeless music represents the land out-of-time in the novel and the time music represents linear time. In the novel linear time is always at r3isk of breaking down, this notion is represented by the pops, clicks, and noise. There are also creatures that organize linear time in the novel. These creatures take the form of ubiquitous, popular icons, such as Colonel Sanders. The noise and glitch influence in this piece represents an increasingly ubiquitous music genre that organizes time in the work.
P.S. My Uncle Helped Develop the Patriot Missile for two pianos and electronics was commissioned by the Pangea Piano Project for an event presenting works that reflect on cultures from around the world. I chose to write a piece that reflected my reaction to sections of Robert Fisk’s book “The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East.” The title of the work is an afterthought that loosely connects me to some issues in the book: my uncle did help develop the patriot missile. The work is in five parts, each with its own playful title. These titles provide a contrast to the content. The pianos on the recording where performed by Ya-Ting Liou and Blas González, who comprise the Pangea Piano Project.
New Years was composed from 2008 to 2009 in response to the continued effects that the U.S. response to the events of 9/11/2001 are having domestically and around the world. The text is from a speech by Noam Chomsky entitled “The New War on Terrorism: Fact and Fiction.” I chose specific texts from the speech and arranged the text, generally not in the order of its initial presentation. The piece attempts to serve as a meta-text for the speech, not a reproduction of its main arguments in any systematic, understandable way; rather, it invokes concepts and ideas from the original text.