This work began from a series of experiments with instruments developed by combining the delay lines, filters and modulators of a MARS (Musical Audio Research Station), in the context of preliminary work undertaken for an interactive sound installation project in 1996.

During the process of working with different vocal and percussive sounds, resonant rhythmic textures emerged as well as melodic outlines stemming from real-time manipulation of instruments with feedback loops, but neither had a place in the initial project. Voices Part I is a short exploration of the fragile poetry of these materials, with some use of granular synthesis. It is a confrontation between two distinct perceptions of time, one perceived as rhythmic through the use of repetition and another one, seemingly suspended and uncertain.

— Todor Todoroff [English translation: Stephanie Moore, i-19]

Voices Part I was realized in 1997 at the ARTeM (Art, recherche, technologie et musique [Art, Research, Technology, and Music]) studio in Brussels (Belgium) and was premiered on May 30, 1997 at the Palais Jacques-Cœur in the context of the Festival Synthèse in Bourges (France). Thanks to: IRIS (Instituto di Ricerca per l’Industria dello Spettacolo) in Paliano (Italy); Parco naturale La Selva; Prince Antonello Ruffo di Calabria and Sylviane Sapir for the long-term loan of a MARS (Musical Audio Research Station). Thank you also to Birgitte Odgaard Nielsen, whose voice I recorded. In 2000, the piece was included on the CD Présence II (PEP 002).

Premiere

• May 30, 1997, Synthèse 1997: Concert, Palais Jacques-Cœur, Bourges (Cher, France)