Search - Matthew Welch, Lisa Moore, Robert Black :: Julia Wolfe: Dark Full Ride

Julia Wolfe's Dark Full Ride consists of four new compositions, each written for multiples of individual instruments -- nine bagpipes, four drum sets, six pianos and eight double basses. Wolfe says, 'Like staring for a long time at a Rothko painting, I imagined each of these pieces as an exploration of one color. But in truth an instrument isn't really a single timbre. There are a myriad of worlds within each sound.' Working closely with the performers during the composing process, Wolfe uncovers a never-before-heard music. For example, while writing LAD, she uses the initial drone produced while filling the bagpipe with air as the piece's introduction. Says Wolfe, 'With each piece I tried to dive into a psychedelic landscape, at once multilayered, fractured, ecstatic, silent, driving, cacophonous and direct.'