Warp & weft, no. 1: for string quartet and electronics and Warp & weft, no. 2 for fifteen players

Warp & Weft, no. 1: for string quartet and Electronics and Warp and Weft, no. 2: for fifteen players were composed by Stephan Carlson from 2022 through 2023. They were partially inspired by two other pieces—Un’immagine di Arpocrate by Salvatore Sciarrino and Beyond the Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response by Arshia Samsaminia. Like these two pieces Warp and Weft no. 1 and no. 2 each borrow an idea from the feature of sound called the envelope, which is used to describe how sound changes over time. The pieces use this idea as inspiration for both larger formal as well as smaller, individual gestural choices.

Carlson’s pieces are then further inspired by a collection of electronic instruments and tools, some of which he developed himself during the course of his studies at the University of Iowa. In Warp & Weft, no. 1 these electronics not only played an inspirational role in the creation of the string quartet’s music; they also appear in the piece’s accompanying electronics track. With Warp & Weft, no. 2 Carlson undertook the challenge of realizing similar ideas without the aid of accompanying electronics, and with the added complexity of requiring fifteen players rather than four.

Grounded in the study of sound as well as in processes at work in musical electronics, Warp & Weft no. 1 and no. 2 represent an exploration of and creative expansion on the musical expectations of the musician and listener alike.