Dazed by the Haze for Violin and Electronics

Research output: Other contributionpeer-review

Abstract

Dazed by the Haze was written for Darragh Morgan in 2002 as a result of our shared interest in the music and persona of Jimi Hendrix. The somewhat tongue-in-cheek title refers to the fact that the piece was inspired by the Hendrix classic Purple Haze.The structure of Dazed by the Haze loosely follows that of a live recording I heard of Purple Haze in which Hendrix, after opening with the familiar riff-verse-riff format, shifts gear suddenly in the middle of the piece to unleash an incandescent blues solo before returning to the riff-verse-riff material and ending with a virtuosic cadenza.Most of the violin material is derived from pitch collections and rhythmic figures gleaned from the many transcriptions I have made of different versions of Purple Haze, and the on-the-edge character of the solo part is intended as a homage to the Hendrix guitar style. The tape part is constructed using transformations of samples taken from the violin and from recordings of Purple Haze. The relationship between the violin and the tape part in the piece is modelled on the approach adopted by Hendrix when using special effects and sonic transformation – the tape part plays a subservient role, being used to expand the sound world created by the soloist.
Original languageEnglish
TypeOriginal Composition
PublisherContemporary Music Centre
Publication statusPublished (in print/issue) - 4 Jul 2003

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