John Exton: Breathing Space (1972)

Abstract

"Breathing Space was created in the recording studio of the University of Surrey and the electronic music studio of University College, Cardiff. The piece was originally produced in a four channel version, and is here mixed down to two channels. It is a fantasy based upon the quietest sounds of the human voice (sighs, whispers, etc.) extended, imitated and punctuated by other sounds generated either percussively or electronically. There is thus developed a complete spectrum of imtlar quiet sounds, ranging through the human to the mechanical and the synth ic. This sound spectrum is continuous, the different classes of sounds merging imperceptibly into each other. We live in an environment which is becoming progressively (and insidiously) more artificial, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to know whether the sounds that surround us are of genuinely human origm, or made by semi-human operations on tools or machines, or are totally synthetic, generated without human intervention at all. This is the situation which Breathing Space explores. There are no firm landmarks or points of reference within its sound material and, similarly, the piece has no definite beginning or end. Time simply flows with the passing sounds." -- John Exton