All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace
Four Sopranos and Electronics (5 mins)
1. I like to think
(and the sooner the better!)
of a cybernetic meadow
where mammals and computers
live together in mutually
programming harmony
like pure water
touching clear sky.
2. I like to think
(right now, please!)
of a cybernetic forest
filled with pines and electronics
where deer stroll peacefully
past computers
as if they were flowers
with spinning blossoms.
3. I like to think
(right now, please!)
of a cybernetic forest
filled with pines and electronics
where deer stroll peacefully
past computers
as if they were flowers
with spinning blossoms.
Richard Brautigan, 1967
All Watched Over… was written as part of a collaborative project between the composition and vocal departments of The Royal Conservatory of The Hague. The piece is a setting of the Richard Brautigan poem of the same name, and is scored for 4 sopranos of similar voice type and electronics. The text is an ironic, tongue-in-cheek vision of a technological utopia written in a child-like and naive tone which feels as pertinent today as it did in the 60s.
The musical ideas are derived entirely from the text itself, with a simple, sweet melody being sung across the 4 voices which is gradually subverted and distorted as the piece develops. The piece opens with a recording of Brautigan him reciting the poem on a cassette player above an ominous spectral drone.
