Gruyères Bells

2022

fixed medium - ambisonic

5’ 26”

Awards:

Shortlisted - Scottish Awards for New Music 2023

More information on electrocd and electroprésence

[Gruyères, Fribourg, Switzerland - 16 July 2015]

Gruyères Bells uses a single recording of a herd of Red Holstein cows, carrying bells around their necks. The higher the ranking of the cow in the group, the deeper the bell tone, so there is a huge range in this particular herd. At the same time as enjoying this  keynote sound of the area, I am concerned about the damage this is doing to the animals’ hearing and aware of the inevitable tension between the desire amongst certain stakeholders to preserve this emblematic sound and the possibility of silent GPS devices doing the same job in the future.

The piece forms part of the Aides… mémoires… project with Jonty Harrison, consisting of short form pieces (3-6’) made from single field recordings. To visit the project, please go to https://bit.ly/aidesmemoires where hi-resolution concert performance versions of the piece can be downloaded.