David Taddie

TRACER (FOR PIANO AND ELECTRONIC SOUNDS) Use of the stereo field produced by electronics to increase the apparent acoustical space of a solo instrument is a process which has interested me for a long time. Tracer makes extensive use of digitally processed piano samples as well as purely synthesized sounds to provide expanded resonance of the harmonic fields implied by the piano's lines and to expand the piano's apparent acoustical sound space. At times, the roles are reversed as the piano supplies harmonic and/or gestural intensification of the electronics. Overall, the piece involves a kind of developing variation where the material is developed and varied, those variations providing the basis for further variation. In addition to "traditional" electronic type sounds, the electronic part often serves an orchestral function. Tracer was commissioned by and is dedicated to pianist Mark George.

David Taddie, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in composition from Cleveland State University and the Ph.D in composition from Harvard University. His principal teachers were Donald Martino, Bernard Rands, and Mario Davidovsky, Edwin London, Bain Murray, and Rudolph Bubalo. He is currently Assistant Professor of Music at West Virginia University where he heads the Electronic Music Studio. His works have been performed throughout the United States and in Europe by soloists and ensembles such as the Cleveland Orchestra (educational series) Alea III, the New Millennium Ensemble, The Cleveland Chamber Symphony, the California Ear Unit, the Core Ensemble, the Cabrini Duo, the Mendelssohn String Quartet, the Gregg Smith Singers, the University of Iowa Orchestra, harpists Ann Yeung and Jocelyn Chang, flutist Elizabeth McNutt, pianist Mark George, and many other soloists and ensembles. Among his awards are a Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Fromm Foundation Commission, the Adelbert Sprague, Francis Boot and Bohemians prizes from Harvard University, the Kaske Fellowship to the Wellesley Composers Conference, and in 1995 he was named the Music Teachers National Association-Shepherd Distinguished Composer of the Year.