Glass / Works
Works in Glass
Glass / Works is a Kontakt player instrument which collects together 3 extremely unusual and rare musical instruments which use glass to generate sound : Le Cristal Baschet, The Glass Armonica, and a set of Cloud Chamber Bowls.
Just locating these instruments was a challenge in itself - the third in the collection, Cloud Chamber Bowls, proved so elusive that after a lot of research and enquiries, we realised that if we wanted to sample some, we would have to build a set ourselves. The first two instruments - both as strange and beautiful as each other - required us to make a trip to Paris:
Thomas Bloch -The Glass Master
When beginning to research the Glass / Works instruments, we found that one name was ubiquitous; that of Thomas Bloch. A classical musician specialising in rare instruments, Thomas is a virtuoso who has worked with many famous names - Radiohead, Gorrilaz, John Cage, Tom Waits, and Milos Foreman to name very few. He is best known for 3 instruments - Ondes Martenot, the Cristal Baschet and the Glass Armonica. We contacted Thomas, and to our delight, he agreed to work with us. We travelled to Paris, and down a quiet street in the freezing January weather, we found Thomas Bloch. Working in his garden studio, we spent the next few days exploring the amazing range of sounds stored within. Soniccouture would like to thank Thomas once again for his hospitality in Paris.
After Harry Partch - Building Cloud Chamber Bowls
The Cloud Chamber Bowls are an instrument built in the 1950s by maverick American composer Harry Partch. It consists of hanging “bowls” which are sections of 12-gallon glass carboys. Since we were unable to locate a set whose owner was willing to let us record them, and since most sets are 'home made' anyway, in the spirit of Partch we decided that we would make our own set.
As with many things in life, it wasn't quite as simple as it looks - sourcing glass carboys that large is hard enough, since these days most people use plastic. Once we had found some, the cutting and drilling turned out to be a delicate and extremely time consuming task, taking a glass-worker several full days to complete.
Glassworks is a Kontakt player instrument.
