e80i.3
for amplified piccolo, violin, snare drum, and Fender Rhodes Recorded at Sirius Satellite Radio by Paul Massiello, May 2007

Elemental Etudes
for String Quartet and Drumset

on standby
for shortwave radio and piano

Rama Gottfried

"My recent work has begun to focus on sounds and structures of an unstable consistency. I am developing a method that weaves layers of activity, to overlap, obscure, refract, interfere and combine with each other.

Set in contradiction are: pitch vs. non-pitch: the noise elements of pitch, and the pitched elements of noise; repetition vs. non-repetition: obscured, almost inaudible verbatim repetition, and non-aligned repetition, slightly varied each time; acoustic vs. electronic: acoustic sounds that appear electronic, and electronic sounds that appear acoustic; and melody vs. abstraction: disjunct phrases with melodic flow, and linear phrases with abstracted melodic flow."

Rama Gottfried (b. 1977) holds degrees in composition from the Manhattan School of Music, New York University, the University of Vermont, and is currently studying at the Universität der Künste Berlin with Walter Zimmermann. His primary teachers have included Nils Vigeland, Justin Dello Joio, Reiko Fueting and Joel Chadabe - with other consultations with Mark André, Beat Furrer, Toshio Hosokawa, Petr Kotik, Helmut Lachenmann, Phill Niblock, Michael Reudenbach, Rebecca Saunders, and Christian Wolff. Since 2002, he and Natacha Diels have worked to develop Ensemble Pamplemousse's mission to push forward the medium of sound through advanced instrumental techniques, electronics, conceptual programming, installation environments, and interaction with artists of other mediums.