This work has something of an unusual starting-point, namely the Chiz Naugahyde album "Romantic Piano for Problematic Evenings". While I was working on "Chiz's" piano parts, I made a serious miscalculation with time-stretching a snippet of a solo section from Rachmaninoff's 2nd Piano Concerto. What resulted was not usable for the vapornoise/uneasy listening project, but it had a different, singular appeal. I made a note to come back to that method on the next ambient release.

And this is the result. All of the sounds that make up this work are derived solely from solo piano sections of Rachmaninoff's 1st, 3rd, and 4th Piano Concerti. These extremely short bits (sometimes less than a second in length) of audio were then treated with massive time-stretching as well as other methods, then when ready, were composited together in various ways.

Interestingly, the dense, complex, late Romantic harmonies that were typical of the source works seem to have been easily translatable to the digitally manipulated end result. But with the altered palette provided by the metamophosed piano tracks, entire new vistas of slowly shifting timbres and juxtapositions of sustained tones emerged as the works were being assembled and mixed. Unlike composing in small, discrete notes, though, composing this was like creating a musical score with a huge poster brush...setting large spans of sound into place in a larger construct, then carefully balancing these during the assemblage and mixing process.

As for the "sinfonia acousmatica" subtitle, I think it fits well. This truly is a music that could not possibly have been easily created without digital methods, and certainly is only capable of being experienced through the medium of audio playback equipment. And the work is in four distinct movements, yet unified by its source material. And although this work is certainly ambient in overall character, it can also be enjoyed through more active listening methods, which I encourage.

And yes, before anyone asks, the title is a bit of a lift from John Cage & Lejaren Hiller's "HPSCHD", and a nod to the upcoming 50th anniversary of that work's premiere here in Champaign in May, 1969.