Daniel Corral

composer

Piece Format: Microtonal Multimedia

  • Polytope

    Polytope

    • Polytope live at Think Tank Gallery

      Presented by the LAX Festival on October 17, 2018

    • Polytope album

      Released Sept. 28, 2018 on Orenda Records

    Polytope is a multimedia microtonal performance for MIDI quartet. Performed entirely in darkness, it’s a mesmerizing dance of silhouettes of fingers over colorful glowing MIDI buttons, captured on live feed video and projected large and bright as a moving, visual score.

    Polytope is rhythmically charged in the vein of musical minimalists such as Phillip Glass, Steve Reich, or Arnold Dreyblatt, but harmonically inspired by the microtonal explorations of James Tenney, Erv Wilson, or Harry Partch. The multimedia style of presentation is somewhere between a string quartet, Kraftwerk, James Turrell, and an Indonesian dhalang (master shadow puppeteer).

    Onstage, four MIDI controllers sit on a small square table. A single video camera captures the view from above. The controllers are not traditional keyboards; they are glowing grids of 8×8 buttons, rotated 45° to create tonality diamonds. One musician stands before each controller. In the dark, the overhead camera captures the colorful, changing patterns of grid lights and the fast-moving silhouettes of the musician hands. The live feed video is projected in the space, creating a larger than life, colorful multimedia experience inspired by Light and Space art that also acts as an evolving, visual score.

    • 2018 press for Polytope

      Riting: “Polytope embodies ‘the gold standard’ of ambient music — it can hover in the background and cast a subtle vibe, but will also stand up to closer inspection: delicately layered overtones cascade and recede, forming a spellbinding latticework. In moments, it’s not unlike water drops on a windshield, dripping and streaking reflected light with each movement of the wiper.”

      Sequenza 21: “Polytope is an extraordinary piece of musical and visual art… that is both accessible and compelling.”

      Vital Weekly: “Whatever it is, it sounds simply wonderful… worth your every while.”

      The Stranger: “After five minutes of this silvery, undulant tintinnabulation, I was ready to evaporate into another more sparkly and stimulating dimension than the one in which we currently suffer. This piece sounds like gamelan from Pluto—or maybe ’70s Philip Glass as interpreted by Harry Partch on his Cloud-Chamber Bowls.”

      New Classic LA (Interview):  “Daniel Corral’s latest work, Polytope, premieres at Automata as part of this year’s MicroFest, who have named their season after it. We were lucky that Daniel had a minute to answer some questions about this piece…”

      24700: “Composer, CalArts faculty and alumnus Daniel Corral (Music MFA 07) presents the live debut of his latest release Polytope to Automata in Los Angeles on Sunday (March 18). The concert is the featured performance of this year’s MicroFest 2018.”

      SF Gate: “A mesmerizing visual and musical spectacle”

      MetalJazz:  “Musicians who know the turf”

      The Rest is Noise:  Miscellany


    • Polytope

      Published in Xenharmonikon on January 4, 2022

      This article describes the compositional and performance practices involved in my 2018 piece Polytope. This microtonal multimedia piece is performed by 4 musicians playing Launchpad Pros in total darkness, with live feed video and electronic 4-channel sound.

  • One Line

    One Line

    One Line was composed with a scale described in Lou Harrison’s Music Primer, and continues my work featuring multimedia representations of microtonal systems. Many of my similar pieces use complex tuning structures, but One Line is instead quite streamlined, restricted to only 8 notes.

    • One Line

    • Livestream Launchpad performance, 4/26/21

      A livestream performance of Comma, One Line, and Diamond Pulses

    • Vicki Ray playing One Line

      At Zipper Hall, Los Angeles as part of the Piano Spheres series, April 3, 2018

  • Comma

    Comma

    • Comma live at REDCAT on Aug. 5, 2016

    Comma is a 17-minute solo multimedia performance that combines streamlined rhythms and harmonies with colorful live feed light projections to generate an abstract narrative that is playful and linear, but also steeped in the additive processes of musical minimalism and alternate tuning systems.

    Comma premiered August 4-6, 2016 at REDCAT’s New Original Works Festival 2016, featuring 30 ft. projections and 4.1 surround sound.

    • 2016 press for Comma

      New Classic LA: “Comma’s multiple paths of engagement and balanced blend of cooperative elements worked to hold audience attention consistently, slowing time against a steady stream of activity. Enthusiasm for the concluded piece reverberated palpably, as a sense of music’s abiding power to enchant and challenge was affirmed once again.” 

      24700: “The compelling score is inspired by the additive process of minimalist music as grids of light turn on in response to the musician’s movements. “ 

      Los Angeles Downtown News: “A minimalist musical composition using colorful, illuminated buttons on a soundboard. The dark silhouettes of his hands against the backdrop of the light show provide the visual component.”

    • Comma live at the MATA Festival 2019

      New York premiere at The Kitchen, New York, NY, USA

    • Livestream Launchpad performance, 4/26/21

      A livestream performance of Comma, One Line, and Diamond Pulses

  • Diamond Pulses

    Diamond Pulses

    • Diamond Pulses (Live Performance)

      Album release show performance at Automata, 9/12/15
      You can see my hands in the lower left corner of the video

    • Diamond Pulses album

      Released Sept. 12, 2015 on Orenda Records

    Diamond Pulses is a 32-minute musical experience combining just-tuned harmonies, driving minimalist rhythms, noisy ambiance, and electronic timbres.

    • 2015 press for Diamond Pulses

      Downtown Music Gallery: “Is this some sort of Kraftwerk-like nirvana? As the tempo speeds up, so does the the inner pulse and ours as well. The adrenalin is pumping and we have to hold on. The nervous energy actually feels good, invigorating. If this were slowed down, an interesting melody would appear, but that is besides the point of what is really going on. An exhilarating motorcycle ride through a cavern of endless mirrors. A good change of pace for yours truly. “ 

      MetalJazz: “Corral’s new Orenda Records album, ‘Diamond Pulses,’ shines with surging dynamics and subliminal microtonalisms that make for a fresh and involving experience; live visuals, too.” 

      Artificialist: “It’s a nod to minimalism, I guess, but it has less affiliation with the east coast music movement than with the west coast art movement. Think of the Light and Space artists, with their hard edges and industrial materials and loud colors. All references aside, it’s a thing of beauty, a big and bright and fun object that, like all good pop, covers the tracks of its own making so you can’t think about it. You can only feel it.” 

      Living Out Loud LA: “When I first listened to Diamond Pulses, it took me on a musical journey that I’ve never experienced before. Corral’s unique combination of musical influences results in a calming sound that is truly a delight to listen to. Corral is a great composer, and his expression through music transcends into something so unique that no artist can match. By any means, you need to listen to his album because it’s phenomenal.” 

      New Classic LA: “Listen at home, with dedicated ears, to this strangely rigid dance meditation, a fervent solipsism with a disturbingly wild, encroaching reality. “ 

      Mouser: “‘Diamond Pulses’, in its impossible myriad of creation, is quietly drawing a key to unlock the secrets of the universe.” 

      David Segal: “RIYL Rod Poole’s The Death Adder and Seth Josel’s Go Guitars.” 

      Alaska Dispatch News: “Daniel Corral, formerly of Eagle River and now working in Los Angeles, will release his debut solo album, “Diamond Pulses” (Orenda Records) with shows at 8 and 10 p.m. on September 12 at Automata, an L.A. alternative arts venue.” 

      24700: “Diamond Pulses is a 32-minute soundscape that combines classical minimalist influences, Balinese rhythm undercurrents and modern production aesthetics. Corral counts Terry Riley, Dawn of Midi, Harry Partch and late faculty of the Herb Alpert School of Music at CalArts James Tenney as key influences on the album.”

    • Livestream Launchpad performance, 4/26/21

      A livestream performance of Comma, One Line, and Diamond Pulses

    • (antiquated) Augmented Reality (excerpt)

      Created by Christine Marie
      This clip features and excerpt from Diamond Pulses

    • Diamond Pulses (Live Performance)

      Album release show performance at Automata, 9/12/15
      You can see my hands in the lower left corner of the video

    • Diamond Pulses live on Ear Meal Webcast

    • Diamond Pulses live on Dublab

      Live performance of Diamond Pulses on Dublab’s Elevations Through Sound with Ale Cohen!