Just Constellations
Completed in 2016 and recorded in the ultra-reverberant acoustics of the TANK Center for Sonic Arts in Rangely, Colorado in 2017. The work is comprised of four interconnected constellations of justly tuned chords: I. The Opening Constellation: Summer; II. The Romantic Constellation: Autumn; III. The Magic Constellation: Winter; IV. The Acoustic Constellation: Spring.
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Recording
Just Constellations → “…glacially beautiful… luminous… Harrison's glacially beautiful 2015 piece Just Constellations made the deepest connection to the place [The Tank]: as luminous chords accumulated, it was difficult to tell which pitches were coming from live singers and which were coming out of the walls.”
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“'The Opening Constellation' section proved particularly arresting, a celestial soundscape of gorgeous harmonies that became even more alluringy ambiguous in the ensuing 'Romantic Constellation.' In the concluding 'Acoustic Constellations,' the notes rang out like a jubilantly microtonal choir of bells.”
“Michael Harrison's Just Constellations explored the opposite of reckless heterogeneity. Influenced by seminal minimalist La Monte Young, the music isn't repetitive so much as it settles onto a single chord and evolves so subtly it's like watching a landscape in changing light.”