Caroline Adelaide Shaw | M u s i c k

Entr'acte
for string quartet

Allemande
for 8 voices

Sarabande
for 8 voices

Courante
for 8 voices

Passacaglia
for 8 voices

Punctum
for string quartet

By and By
for string quartet & solo singer

in manus tuas
for solo cello

Pedestrial Light
for soprano, violin & piano

» listen to the full “suite” »

Passacaglia
for 8 voices (Roomful of Teeth)
6′

Download the full track here.

premiered on June 26, 2009
Mass MoCA
Roomful of Teeth

This short piece was written for a performance with Roomful of Teeth at Mass MoCA in June 2009. Originally begun as a study of the yodel break and xöömei techniques we had been working on, the Passacaglia evolved into a kind of audible reconstruction of some of Sol LeWitt's work in the galleries down the hall, with text taken from Wall Drawing 305. I had originally been looking for a text without any content (randomly generated numbers, etc), and the LeWitt instructions initially seemed to fit that criteria well. But, as it happened, the piece took on a new personality and featured a neon orange D-major climax, performed by the Teeth with the force of this painting.