Bill Vine: Norwich Under the Water

A core feature of this work is Bill Vine's use of Norwich Cathedral's bells. These sounds provided what Vine describes as “a bed for the whole piece.” Various structural elements heard throughout Norwich Under the Water also stemmed from the cathedral bells as well. As such, Vine did not deploy predesigned formal concepts that might have led to a particular compositional result. The compositional foundation drew from a very specific cross-section of activity at the Norwich Cathedral. The composer “made a full hour (and a bit) binaural recording inside the cathedral cloisters between the hours of 4pm and 5pm back in June.” This environmental snapshot points to the composer's creative starting point. Another important sonic feature here is the sounds of visitors' footsteps as they move through the cathedral cloisters. Vine also made use of a recorded thunderstorm, captured in Norwich in May. Additionally, stereo recordings of the River Yare...