For many years the Hubble space telescope has been sending back to earth images of astronomical events that stretch further and further back into the history of the universe. Deepfield is a sonic exploration of these terrae incognitae — a world of violent explosions, extreme temperatures and velocities. The structural model for the work are the most distant stars yet discovered — quasars (quasi-stellar-astronomical-radio-source) — discovered in 1963. A quasar is an object of stellar appearance of exceptionally high luminoisty. The spectrum of a quasar shows emission lines that have very high redshifts. They are the nucleus of primordial galaxies at the centre of which is a huge black hole which is continually sucking in all surrounding gas. The quasar accretes material in the form of a spiral faster than the speed of light. This material is subject to huge pressures as it collapses passing through the event horizon into a singularity — where an infinite mass occupies an infinitessimally small space. The material for the work is derived from the sounds of rocks of various sizes and gas cylinders.

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Deepfield was realized in 2000 at Césaré (Reims, France) and premiered on October 24, 2000 at the Planétarium de Reims (France). It was commissioned by Césaré and the Planétarium de Reims (France). The work was awarded an Honorable Mention at the 23rd Luigi Russolo International Competition (Varese, Italy, 2001) and the Concurso Internacional de Composição Electroacústica Música Viva (Portugal, 2002).

Premiere

• October 24, 2000, Concert, Planétarium de Reims, Reims (Marne, France)

Awards

• Mention, Fixed medium, Concorso internazionale Luigi Russolo di musica elettroacustica 2001, Varèse (Italy)
• Mention, Concurso Internacional de Composição Electroacústica Música Viva 2002, Parede (Portugal)