Annealing is the process of applying alternating treatments of tension and relaxation to a material in order to better realize its potential. Annealing reorganizes a material from the inside out. For example, after a metal has been through a process of annealing, a process that tests and expands its material limits, it will inexplicably be more durable, flexible, and potentially useful.
Necessary Annealing uses as a jumping off point the exploration of the process of annealing musical materials. In this work musical materials are pushed to their limits of activity and stillness, ultimately revealing a hidden, embedded music at the end of the work.
Necessary Annealing was realized as part of an October 2016 residency with electroacoustic composer Natasha Barrett at the Atlantic Center for the Arts, New Smyrna Beach, FL. This work was composed for the 2017 Yarn/Wire residency at University of Virginia.
Performed and recorded by Yarn|Wire at the end of January, 2017 as part of their residency at University of Virginia.