In this piece for Marieke (violin), Bertel (saxophone), Nico (guitar), and Yves (percussion), I have been diving into speech transcription as the basis for instrumental material. I’m embracing an interplay of music and language cobbled together from recorded conversations between myself and the members of Nadar, primarily from the first time we spoke to each other on a video call. By carefully selecting and composing with these conversational snippets, I showcase facets of the performers’ individual musical and off-stage personalities, whilst repeatedly raising the question “who’s talking?”

The piece meditates on the notion that all compositional prescriptions, whether pitches and rhythms, expression markings or prompts for performativity, carry with them the potential to recast the performer as an altered version of themselves. By working with this reality, the composer has a potential to become a narrator of sorts.

In To put words in my mouth, as the performers’ words, mouth movements (visemes) and instrumental sounds intertwine, the latent musicality in their speech is revealed while the line between reality and absurdity becomes blurry. Questions are raised surrounding agency, creative control, and authenticity.

Matthew Grouse