Signs and Portents

for synthesizer (2014; 15 min.)

Signs and Portents is one of several pieces I’ve written to be performed live on the Roland V-Synth GT synthesizer. Like other sophisticated synthesizers, the V-Synth can produce sounds with a richly-detailed inner life that spurs human creativity- so much so that I consider the instrument to be a compositional partner that draws on otherwise untapped recesses of my creativity. The directions I was pulled in while building the sounds of this piece and shaping their musical drama conjured an atmosphere of cosmological awe, of a storm gathering on an astronomical scale. The Biblical phrase of doom-laden prophecy thus felt appropriate for the title.

performed by David Vayo