Sam Pluta - Actuate/Resonate
October 18, 2023
The Contemporary Music Ensemble performs Sam Pluta’s Actuate/Resonate, conducted by Ben Bolter.
About this Work
Actuate/Resonate was commissioned by the Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition for the Grossman Ensemble. The piece begins with an attack of synthesized drum sounds and instrumental orchestrations of those same drum sounds. After a brief introduction, time freezes, and we enter ten minutes of relative stasis, as if we have zoomed into a single attack to examine its gradual unfolding. Suddenly, around the 11-minute mark of the work, we continue where we left off in the fifth bar. The ensemble has become a giant synthesized drum machine. Electronics can’t help but join in on the fun. The piano goes on a rogue mission.