Stockholm Harbour Symphony

10 ship's sirens and horns


Duration: 8'00''
Composed: 2011
live

Stockholm harbour Symphony was composed by Robin McGinlay and Girilal Baars for a performance in Stockholm's waterfront harbour on the Swedish National Day 6 June 2011.

The sirens ranged from gigantic cruise boat, ear-shatteroing monsters to wee horns on some of the small local ferries and even one brass bell. Playing the sirens was a binary on/off affair and so the graphic and time-based score and essentially instructs the 10 musicians when to "play" the siren and when to be silent. To keep time most us used the on-board super-synced ship's clocks to stay with the score. Due to the large distance between the ships and the limits of the speed of sound, it wasn't possible to coordinate one's own performance with other players.

 


A view of the harbour and most, if not all, of the vessels, 6 June 2011.

 


My instrument console.

 


The ensemble.





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