ABOUT THE WORK

"I value the first listening experience (even though I´m going to listen definitely more times) and I feel this is a deep emotion what I´ve been listening to - which has been structured by impressions, but it´s not kind of narration - for me it goes far deeper toward a complex set of emotional polyphony, multilingual story which goes across traditional radio expressions" - Dr. Michal Rataj, Executive Producer, rAdioCUSTICA, Czech Radio , 17th June 2008.

“The roots of the composition called Soundprints: The Prague Pressings, which was composed for the PremEdition (PremEdice) of Radioatelier, come from 2006 – it was then that Colin Black visited Prague... with a microphone, of course... Its basis is the sonic picture of the city he heard when he was walking through its winding streets. This is how another composition was created and put into his Soundprints, which is a name he has used for a series of his compositions since 2004. These compositions are based on sound material recorded in particular places, which characterizes authentic sound atmospheres and records distinct acoustic situations. The composer usually lets such material be heard entirely authentically and without any compositional interference. Against this almost documentary authenticity he puts some composed psychologizing sound probes – assemblages that penetrate deep behind the authentic sound images and create a special tension full of imagination and very original atmospheres.” - Kunstradio website, Austria, www.kunstradio.at/2009B/26_07_09en.html (26 July 2009).

Soundprints: The Prague Pressings journeys through sound environments collected from Prague by the composer that are untreated (“real”) and treated by the composer (“psychological”) to form the works complex emotional arch. The inspiration for this work comes from the history, spirit and magic that is Prague interfacing with memories of home and place dislocated across time. Music and dialogue counterpoints the “real” and “psychological” locations and form an evolving relationship between these elements, where the composer explores the notions of home, memory, psychological perspective, place and space.


ABOUT THE COMPOSER

" … amongst the most significant Australian creative artists of his generation, a composer/sound artist who has created a significant body of important work in a relatively short time, work which spans installation, sound art, fìlm, radiophonic works, and beyond, with many of these works having gained international attention." - John Davis, CEO Australian Music Centre, 25 February 2011

Internationally acclaimed composer/sound artist Colin Black won the prestigious Prix Italia Award (2003) in the category Best “Music Radio - Composed Work” for composing and producing his major work The Ears Outside My Listening Room, described by BBC Radio 3’s Mixing It programme as “a haunting evocation of Australia”, while the Prix Italia Award’s International Jury Report stated that it, “... lived up to the claim … that here was a patchwork sonic quilt that can be passed down the generations.”

In 2009 Black was commissioned by Deutschlandradio Kultur's Klangkunst to create a feature length radio art work from field recordings made in East Germany entitled Kilian’s Antipodean Dream, which as a result of achieving final selection round status in the 2010 Prix Phonurgia Nova, was broadcast as part of the Semaine De La Creation Sonore [Week of Sound Creation] festival in France. Prior to this in 2008 Black had been invited by Czech Radio’s rAdioCUSTICA program to create Soundprints: The Prague Pressings for both broadcast and CD release. For the Australasian Computer Music Conference 2008, held at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music (Australia), Black created his sound installation work The Extended Enviro-Guitar (XEG). In 2007 Black composed and produced a major musical/radiophonic hybrid work entitled Longing, Love & Loss for performance and broadcast on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation network. Black also created the Butter Churn sound sculpture installation in 2007 for Lismore’s Heritage Park (Australia).

For more Information see www.colinblack.com.au