June 2025: Jane Chapman, Simon Zagorski-Thomas and I played at the LCM Composition Festival at the University of West London with the world premiere of two new versions of Divertissements and spin-off electronic studies (with video) by Simon.
These versions have arrived mid-way through a project to create a studio version of Divertissements, i.e. one that uses the studio as an instrument with which to sculpt a unique iteration of the piece that is not constrained by the practicalities of live performance. What this means is an enhanced role for Simon as a producer, akin to how this role might play out on a pop recording. Simon is an equal creative partner alongside Jane and I, bringing his research into ‘hyper-production‘ to bear on our piece. A crucial component of the studio version are the vintage synthesisers of the Townshend Studio collection at UWL, in particular the Roland Jupiter 8. The synth material comes from a much older piece of mine, Blag, written for Icebreaker during 1992-4.
The versions performed in June took the original harpsichord and synthesiser materials as starting points with live FX performed by Simon. We first played using the synthesiser parts on ‘tape’ with me adding an additional live layer on the Jupiter, Moog Voyager and a Nord Electro 4. This version inevitably ended up being sonically rather ‘crowded’; an experiment that did not prove entirely successful. On the other hand, our second performance was an improvised account of the score; Jane played through all the materials, improvising with them (as opposed to ‘on’ them), whilst I responded with a range of freely improvised synthesiser materials conjured from my intuitive responses to different patch settings. This version was far more successful with space for genuine dialogue between Jane and I whilst Simon had room to insert FX, enhancing and enlivening the overall sound picture.
A link to this second improvised version can be found on Jane Chapman’s YouTube channel.
