Sensation

‘Sensation,’ for prepared piano and electronics, is structured around a 1993 computer demonstration and sales tutorial video from RadioShack, showcasing the Tandy Sensation computer. The work incorporates teleshopping music, commercial jingles, jazz idioms and sound recordings into an eclectic soundscape centred around the concept of ‘sensation.’

The word ‘sensation’ refers to something that has instant, mass appeal. The rapid rate of innovation in the field of computing often means that shiny, new products are rendered obsolete within a few decades. There is something ironic, amusing and strangely touching about watching old adverts for outdated technological products: a kitsch sense of innocence and naivety, a misplaced hope in the utopian promise of the internet.

‘Sensation’ also refers to something tactile and felt in the body, a perception of things happening to or coming into contact with the skin. Towards the end of the piece, a personal sound recording of a Japanese children’s song is looped, evoking the warmth, nostalgia and intimate sensations of childhood and offering a kind of refuge from the artificial gloss of adverts and defunct technology.

‘Sensation’ was premiered in Newnham, Cambridge in January 2019 and later performed in Pembroke in May that year. Both times were performed by the composer.