To hear on Sunday 6 and 13 February 2001, 2 pm - 9 pm:
Uncertain Memory (German Premiere)
by Robert Dow
I photograph to find out what something will look like photographed.
(Garry Winogrand)
Robert Dow on 'Uncertain Memory' [Duration: 10‘00‘‘]
Uncertain Memory (2010) is constructed from a series of sonic ‘snapshots’ taken of various, mostly urban, settings recorded at different times in my past. For me, there are only these diverse images and my uncertain memory of the real events—sampled and now recontextualised.
With thanks to Joe Anderson for helping collect some of the ambisonic recordings used as source material in this piece.
Uncertain Memory was realised at EMS, Stockholm and the University of Edinburgh with funds made available from the Scottish Arts Council (Creating New Music Grant: Creative Development). It was premiered at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in March 2010 and further performances include those in New York (NYCEMF 2010); Sheffield (Sound Junction); Ireland (Sonic Vigil); Bournemouth (Sounding Out 5); Aberdeen (Sound Festival); St Andrews (Younger Hall) and London (SoundFjord Sonic Art Gallery).
Robert Dow
is a composer of electroacoustic music working in Scotland. He graduated with degrees in Science, Music, Law and Film Studies at the University of Edinburgh, and holds both an MA and a PhD from the University of Birmingham where he studied under Jonty Harrison. Formerly, he was a member of BEAST— Birmingham ElectroAcoustic Sound Theatre—and with them, has participated in numerous concerts of electroacoustic music throughout Britain.
His present musical output is predominately acousmatic in nature, concentrating principally on the use of strongly associative sounds whose origin may be easily discerned, for example environmental sounds, instrumental sounds and vocal sounds. He is also concerned with the aesthetic and technical problems that the performance of electroacoustic music brings, particularly where real-time spatialisation of such music is involved.
He has benefited from a number of awards, for example those from the Scottish Arts Council, the Carnegie Trust, the DAAD, the AHRC, the Swedish Institute, the Hinrichsen Foundation, the Cross Trust, the Hope Scott Trust, the Barber Institute and The University of Edinburgh. He has been guest composer at both the TU-Berlin and the Swedish Institute for Electroacoustic Music in Stockholm.
In Scotland, he been important in establishing electroacoustic music: as the Director of the annual Soundings... festival of electroacoustic music, which takes place in Edinburgh, and by working regularly with groups such as the BBC SSO, the SCO, BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio Scotland, the Dunedin Ensemble, the Paragon Ensemble, One Voice and ECAT.
Robert Dow is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Edinburgh. He specialises in sound theory and the composition and performance of electroacoustic music. Recently, he was guest composer at the Institute for Electroacoustic Music in Sweden (EMS) funded by the Scottish Arts Council.