Örjan Sandred

To be premiered

The climate crisis in a piano format.

During the period I composed this piece, the climate crisis has become more noticeable and evident. While we have been warned about the effect our modern society has on our planet, it is now we start to experience it. The title of this piece, Footprints, refer to the footprint our actions make on our environment - first hardly noticeable but then becoming an unstoppable force that will be hard to reverse.

The project made me research Self-Organising Maps, an algorithm that structures and classifies the information it receives. Using this tool, I make the computer slowly learn the gestures the pianist is playing during a performance so that it can generate an accompaniment that imitates the music – first very roughly, then better until it arrives at the point where it becomes obsessive and destructive. My intention in the work is to highlight the process of the climate crisis in this way.

This piece is written for Megumi Masaki, and received financial support from the Manitoba Arts Council.