El Reposo del Fuego (DX7/TX802 synthesizers and audio)

El Reposo del Fuego

for YAMAHA DX7-E! & TX7 and digital tape,

or YAMAHA DX7-II & TX802 and digital tape,

or 5-octave MIDI keyboard, 2 TX802s and digital tape

music: John Oliver text: José Emilio Pacheco

commissioned by and dedicated to Sergio Barroso

El Reposo del Fuego (The Resting Place of Fire) for DX7-II/TX802 digital synthesizers and digital tape was composed for Sergio Barroso and is dedicated to him. The tape part was realized in the summer of 1987 at Mr. Barroso's Ireme Studio, and at the studios of Paul Dolden and Simon Fraser University. Thanks to them, and to Andrew Czink, for their help in the realization of this work. The title is taken from the epic poem of the same name by mexican poet José-Emilio Pacheco, a selection of which is recited in the tape part by Antonio Urrello of Vancouver, Canada. The work opens with a two-line poem by Pablo Neruda, titled "Punta."

When Mexico city was devastated by an earthquake in 1985, I thought of the horror, the anxiety, and the awe I felt when the earth shifted during my visit to Guatemala in 1978. I imagined the agony such massive destruction leaves in its wake, not only the human and material devastation, but that of optimism and hope. José-Emilio Pacheco's poem evokes a similar awful event, and through his words I have made a sonic affirmation of the solidity of the human spirit in the midst of nature's terrible chaos. The synthesist struggles with the tape, a voice asserting itself against those heartless gods who puff on their cigars and shake the earth to remind us of their power.

El Reposo del Fuego was premiered by Sergio Barroso at the International Festival of Electronic Music "En torno a los sonidos electrónicos" in Mexico City on January 30, 1988, and, in November, won the First Prize in the electroacoustic category at the 8th CBC National Radio Competition for Young Composers, as well as the jury's Grand Prize. In September 1989, the work was awarded the City of Varese Prize at the Luigi Russolo International Competition for Young Composers of Electroacoustic Music. The work is featured on Sergio Barroso's first compact disk (1989) Sergio Barroso performs Oliver, Denis, Barroso (New Music for Digital Keyboard) on the Montréal label SNE (Société nouvelle d'enregistrement), now out of print, but available directly from John Oliver or Sergio Barroso.

The published score is a unique publication: a scan of an early performance score used by the composer to project the "tape part" accompaniment through an array of 8 loudspeakers at a performance at the Banff Centre for the Arts in 1989 during the Canadian Electroacoustic Community Annual Conference; Sergio Barroso's performance score, and DX7 patches.