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The title for this work is a "retrofitted metaphor." While playing and recording the sound, I never directly considered meaning because my instruments are sculptural (made also for observation), inherently awkward, and I was doing my best just to produce sounds and gestures I considered interesting and beautiful. Nothing else. As an artist interested in self change, the opaque nature of these instruments restrains and lifts me from habit. Once a piece is recorded, however, I am naturally displaced and at some distance see and hear the sounds as a patron might. Having ridden many trains in the Czech Republic and throughout Europe over the last 20 years, the inescapable imagery that emerged while listening was of trains passing through a Prague rail yard, of sounds heard in different locations while riding the sometimes rickety trains, and of scenes viewed from the train windows. As I edited the piece over a 2 month period, fluttering-stem-by-stem, these images came so swiftly, strongly and continuously, that I was never able to leave the Czech milieu accept to briefly relocate to a rolling Polish train here and a speeding German train there. At times, too, the work has a "rale" (rattling lungs) sound to it and because there is no doppler effect present, as the trains move throughout the stereophonic field, I briefly considered a titled using the homophonic alternative. But I was uncomfortable with the pejorative of "rale" and settled back on the obvious. Moreover, because the instrument used to make this piece, my Too Flutter (1992), generates sounds using cascading metal "moths" (washers with paper wings attached), which spin along the edges of curved threaded rods, the sounds are in fact "rail sounds," that is, the sound of metal turning on a metal track (see video).
The piece is in 15 sections, with the original composition for Too Flutter composed in February of 2007 in 18 sections. The present sectional breakdown arose out of divisions observed once the editing was complete--their order slightly altered to assist interest. It has a total duration of 62'30".
Czech Rail was recorded and edited at a resolution higher than commercial CDs, at 48k and 24 bits, and is available for performance at this fidelity. High resolution MP3 files are provided, but due to its spectral complexity, these fall far short of the sound intended for performance. The work may be altered to the extent that sections are elided, silences shortened or lengthen between sections, sections re-ordered, deleted or repeated. Theatrical sounds may be also added here and there, such as laughter or babble, to enhance the live action. The work should be played back with the best amplification and, if possible, in the round with stereo coming from the back as well as the front of the audience area. Care should be taken to handle the low frequencies effectively.
Click section to enlarge and hear. .Section 1, 0:52 Section 2, 1:38 Section 3, 8:13 Section 4, 5:39 Section 5, 2:42 Section 6, 7:09 Section 7, 4:01 Section 8, 1:43 Section 9, 2:45 Section 10, 6:28 Section 11, 2:43 Section 12, 5:01 Section 13, 2:43 Section 14, 4:42 Section 15, 6:03