Resonances (b): Tella (2016) by Turgut Erçetin
for clarinet, violin, viola, and cello
US premiere

Being the second part of the Resonances cycle, the discourse in Resonances (b): Tella engages with acoustic radiation patterns that are composed of compound directivity. The impact field between these directivity patterns and the physical and surrounding acoustic properties has an integral role in our sonic-temporal rendition. The primary goal in this part of the cycle is to explore a tool-bench, by which the pertaining spatial auditory displays would be incorporated with high resolution to accommodate perceptual access points for the complex formal networks. Accordingly, formulating means of sonic-temporal perspectives, which draw diverse perceptual dispositifs into the intensity of the work, constitutes the center point of the discourse. In order to offer a fine-tuned realization, Resonances (b) uses a stochastic space-time diffusion process and formulates the corresponding formal entities accordingly. The data used for the acoustic radiation analysis is the improved version of the measurements used for Resonances (a) in 2014.

Tella is the name of a young Turkish girl I know, who chose her own made-up name as an alternative to her given name. To me, the act of naming reflects a mode of expression pertaining to a language, which yields to communicate with the inner projection of that language. Therefore, the way in which we name things suggests a political aspect, for it refers to a hierarchy that is constructed by the cultural syntax. Given the fact that all naming ceremonies in Turkey are considered as substantial parts of the male-dominated family traditions, choosing one’s own made-up name with no particular meaning or gender is a political act. For Tella's case, it is no different than speaking the first word on a political level. Composed by a struggle between the voiced and unvoiced sounds, speaking as such remarks the solo clarinet part in this work.