A Core and yet Absent: Using Electroacoustic Technology to Mediate between String Quartet and an Ancient Text

Different Islands, for dancer, string quartet and live elec- tronics, began as a project to investigate creative ap- proaches to an Old English text known as Wulf and Eadwacer. By embedding the untranslated text within disparate elements of musical composition, dance and live electronics, the project seeks to explore the text through its thematic content, sound, and structure. In choosing not to present the text in its translated form, the project intends to focus on the ambiguous, layered and fragmentary nature of the poem. Rather than presenting a definitive translation, the creative re-presentation of the poem allows it to remain open to different interpreta- tions. In developing this project, the analogy of the text as a fossil provided a useful starting point. Electroacoustic technology, in the form of analyses and live electronics, provides the medium into which the textual ‘fossil’ leaves its imprint. This paper focuses on the development of the composition and electronics.