Five Pieces for Guitar and Live Electronics

*Five pieces for Guitar and Live Electronics* was commissioned under a UC Discovery grant from the University of California's Industry-University Cooperative Research Program (IUCRP) and Gibson Guitar Corporation. It was made possible through the support of the Center from New Music and Audio Technologies (CNMAT), Department of Music, University of California, Berkeley. The aim of the commission was to incorporate into a concert piece for solo guitar the guitar-centered software technology that researchers there had developed. These guitar effects were developed in the Max/MSP environment and I make use of a number of them as well as a few other things that are not in the specific package.

The composition consists of five short pieces and, as might be gathered by the titles of each piece, it is reflective of our current time of conflict. Much of the music in this composition requires a high-level of guitar virtuosity. It was written with the outstanding technique and musicianship of David Tannenbaum in mind.