[ISEA95] Artist Statement: Randall Smith — Elastic Rebound

Artist Statement

Concert

This is an electroacoustic composition that explores the nature of earthquakes and their evolutionary patterns. The term was coined by a geologist after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake in describing how tectonic forces along each side of a fault line begin to move in opposite directions causing the rock to bend. The bending rock produces a great strain and in the weakest areas will fracture. This is followed by a rebounding on each side of the fracture. When a fault ruptures, the elastic energy stored in the rocks is released as heat and as elastic waves. The waves are the earthquake. Their intensity is measured by the storage of elastic energy and the duration or time it takes for the rebound to occur.

  • Randall Smith (Canada) is aA self-taught composer who began his compositional career after discovering the music of the Groupe de Recherches Musicales. His work has been presented in Europe, Canada and the United States. He received First Prize at Luigi Russollo in 1993, and the GMEM Prize in Marseilles. He has also received a Canada Council grant and a commission from ACREQ and CEE. Randall has had his music published on CD on the empreintes DIGITALes Label.