Interregnum
Interregnum is a provocation, setting these proud 100 years of national park preservation in relief against their geologic timescales. Man’s entire existence can be roughly represented by the time needed to form one stalagmite, our written culture by the life of a single tree. We are, it turns out, merely keepers at the watch and, if we can manage to acknowledge it, stewards of our own survival.
Its two intersecting musics--one using traditional instruments, the other using bowls of water--represent man and Nature respectively. Nature's music is timeless and, like the parks, exceeds and ignores our human scales and our delusions of order and control. The nested chamber piece entertains this "dominion" narrative, layering references to the music of Chopin, Beethoven, Ives, and even Paul Simon, in a vain attempt to glorify our temporary reign. These parks were here long before us and they will be here when we are gone.
Kevin Ernste
Kevin Ernste is a composer, performer, and teacher of composition and electronic music at Cornell University, where he is Director of the Cornell Electroacoustic Music Center and a co-founder of the Cornell Avant Garde Ensemble (CAGE). He was the Acting Director and lecturer at the Eastman Computer Music Center and Co-director of the ImageMovementSound Festival.
digital.music.cornell.edu/kevinernste/