PIECE #1:
SOLSTICE (2022)
SOLSTICE is an 60-minute, 8-movement collaborative work with writer Claire Zhang, filmmaker Lukas Mackinney, and NWS fellows Eli Pandolfi and Matthew Kibort that “document[s] a process, a spiral, a cycle, one of transformation, a piece that has quite literally grown with us over time.” It is born from ancient Chinese traditions, friendship, pain, and the cycle of grief and love.
Premiere
New World Symphony
Miami, FL
Date
05/02/2022
Instrumentation
violin, live electronics, tape; Scott Li
spoken word, writing; Claire Zhang
french horn; Eli Pandolfi
percussion; Matt Kibort
film; Lukas Mackinney
Movements
I. SOLSTICE (Summer)
II. CONVERGENCES
III. LIGHTS FISSURING
IV. SOLSTICE (Winter)
V. BURIAL
VI. A SINGLE POINT
VII. EQUINOX
VIII. FIRST,
w/ high-quality audio, mixed by Scott Li.
Excerpt #1: mvmt vii (3:58-7:08)
w/ high-quality audio mixed by Scott Li, film by Lukas Mackinney
Excerpt #2: mvmt ii (0:00-1:40)
View Score/Parts
A link to the full AV recording of the premiere for visual perusal only (post-production still in progress)
PIECE #2:
TOGETHER IS CLOSE ENOUGH (2022)
TOGETHER IS CLOSE ENOUGH is a 25-minute commissioned work created in collaboration with Vim Vigor Dance studio for the University of Michigan Dance Department meant to capture the longing for touch felt in the midst of the pandemic through dance, choreographed to a lush soundscape of distorted voices, ethereal violin lines, and deconstructed ephemera.
Instrumentation
violin, live electronics, tape; Scott Li
spoken word, writing; Shannon Gillen
dance & choreography; Shannon Gillen, Jason Cianciulli, Kiley Dolaway, Marija Obradovic, Jovick Pavajeau
Movements
Prologue
I. waltz
II. whisper duets
III. she is having a dream
IV. quartet
V. solo aperture
VI. stutterman
VII. skyward duets
Epilogue
Premiere
U Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI
Date
09/08/2021
View Score/Parts
Excerpt #1: 22:00-26:00
PIECE #3:
Study for Violin and Electronics after
“Sweet Trip - Pro:Love:Ad” (2022)
This Study for Violin and Electronics is heavily inspired by the eminent IDM and ‘shoegaze’ rock group “Sweet Trip”, which frequently combines simple melodic lines with incredibly dense, complex glitchy percussive textures, making heavily use of Max/MSP-style buffer manipulation and granular synthesis, beat-repeats, pitch shifting, bitcrushing, flanging, and many other effects. This particular patch makes use of an open-source M4L device named ‘Chopper’ available here from Rodrigo Constanzo’s website. In this clip, I improvised a section of electric violin with seagull glissandos, harmonic tremolos, fast portamenti, and artificial harmonics, and ran it all through Chopper, where I performed another improvisation tweaking its different parameters, effectively creating a duet with myself. The automation data can be seen in the clip on the left side of the screen in the arrangment view of Ableton Live.
Instrumentation
violin, electronics, tape; Scott Li
Premiere
Ottobar
Baltimore, MD
Date
09/25/2022
Excerpt #1: 0:00-1:56
Excerpt #2: 3:12-4:34
Excerpt #3 (optional live ver.): 2:50-4:30
Warp Duo is the newly formed collaborative project between sound artists Scott Li and Levi Lu which focuses on electroacoustic improvisation utilizing acoustic instruments such as the voice and violin in combination with live electronic systems, including live processing in Max/MSP, digital feedback, modular synthesis modules, and many other systems. Wails, visceral violin scratching, and broken bow hairs accompany ethereal, reverberant soundscapes and melodies, all guided, above all, by pure feeling.
PIECE #4 (optional):
memoriae (2019)
memoriae is a work for violin, cello, synthesizer/electronics, and fixed media which explores the narratives of nostalgia and melancholic longing for an absent something or someone that one loves—profoundly beautiful memories, places of paradise and tranquility, and incredible people that have inevitably escaped us and our lives. Combining elements of classical chamber music and ambient electronic music with spoken word from monologues in eminent filmmaker Jonas Mekas' experimental video-diary film As I Was Moving Ahead, Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty, as well as home-video footage from the composer’s own life, it expresses the pain of feeling incomplete, the longing for the faded, yet golden memories of youth, the arresting admiration for people who deeply impact our lives, and ultimately, the immeasurable gratitude for having experienced those brief moments of beauty.
Instrumentation
violin; Jerry Tong
cello; Ismael Guerrero
live electronics, tape; Scott Li
spoken word, writing; Jonas Mekas
Movements
i. fragments
ii. empty house
iii. wounds
iv. the most beautiful
v. summers
vi. —
vii. Paradise
Premiere
Peabody Institute
Baltimore, MD
Date
04/26/2019
View Score/Parts
Excerpt #1: v. summers (13:45)
Optional:
Excerpt #2: iv. the most beautiful (10:57)
Excerpt #3: vi.— (20:00)
ADDITIONAL MEDIA #1:
WARP DUO
Warp Duo is the newly formed collaborative project between sound artists Scott Li and Levi Lu which focuses on electroacoustic improvisation utilizing acoustic instruments such as the voice and violin in combination with live electronic systems, including live processing in Max/MSP, digital feedback, modular synthesis modules, and many other systems. Wails, visceral violin scratching, and broken bow hairs accompany ethereal, reverberant soundscapes and melodies, all guided, above all, by pure feeling.