DIVAcontemporary Radio podcast :: ‘sturzstrom’ by Marc Yeats. As part of the studios ‘coast to coast’ programme, ‘sturzstrom’ composed by Marc Yeats, sung by a community choir and recorded by David Rogers and Phill Phelps. Podcast vailable at: http://www.spreaker.com/user/soniccoast/sturzstrom_by_marc_yeats

Part of the Coastal Voices Project in Dorset and east Devon, sturzstrom has no famous participants. It’s a vocal work I stumbled across while reading the blog 5against4.com and is one that expresses – in the words of the composer, Marc Yeats – “the formation and geology of the Jurassic coast concentrating on the phenomena of landslips, mudslides and coastal erosion”. I’m sure we can all agree it’s been a while since we heard one of those. The piece was made using nothing but vocals from community choirs and pebbles for percussion but it was no simple affair. Geologists were offered creative input, while – not wanting to limit the music to conventional notation – Yeats created a variety of signs and symbols for the vocalists to learn and interpret (looking at the score feels more like a maths exam than a piece of music). It certainly sounds different: the volley of shrieks and bellows have a feral quality to them and create genuine excitment. At the same time, crescendos can disappear into whispers just as quickly.
Tim Jonze On Shuffle … Experimental music | The Guardian | 30th June 2012