Bandcamp/Spotify

Music for Minimoog and Instruments

Inaugural Music was originally commissioned by STARGAZE for the Musica Nova Festival in Helsinki. I wrote it during the time between Donald Trump’s election victory and his inauguration- roughly from November 15th of 2016 to January of 2017. This was a deeply troubling moment in our country and the anxiety and sadness was palpable. Many people felt the ground opening under their feet. We were afraid of what was to follow, which most definitely surpassed our wildest expectations at the time. During this transitional period between presidents, writing this piece was a way to assuage a lot of life and death type fears and anxieties that were bubbling to the surface. It was like therapy for me- a coping mechanism.

Another main pillar of this work is the electronics, which were made on a Moog Model D synthesizer. I was drawn to its subtractive properties- a type of synthesis that involves the removal of certain frequencies from a complex sound, through the use of filters. This, along with many other magical properties of the Model D, became the nucleus of the work and the subsequent material for STARGAZE was the outgrowth. It was a kind of intermingling between complex voltage-created vibrations and the analog of instruments- acoustic sounds generated through breath and string vibration.

The premiere in Helsinki happened on February 5th of 2017 and the recording was made the following year at the Muziekcentrum van de Omroep in Hilversum, Holland. We had access to Studio 2, which is the oldest radio studio room in the Netherlands. I can’t thank STARGAZE enough for commissioning this piece. At the time it was my first opportunity writing for them, and since then we’ve developed a wonderful, long-standing friendship and creative partnership.

released October 26, 2020
CREDITS

Composition and Moog Synthesizer: Qasim Naqvi
Performers: s t a r g a z e

Recorded by Martin Offik at Muziekcentrum van de Omroep, Hilversum on January 12th 2018

Mixed by Andrew Munsey
Mastered by Sarah Register

s t a r g a z e
Bass Flute: Maaike van der Linde
Oboe: Marlies van Gangelen
Bass Clarinet: Ausiàs Garrigós Morant
Horn: Romain Bly
Violin 1: Mayah Kadish
Viola: Thora Sveinsdottir
Cello: Alistair Sung
Contrabass: Lisa De Boos

Conductor: André de Ridder