Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Requiem for a Planet, for Jean Lenanne (1994-1995)
1. Requiem and Kyrie
2. Dies Iræ
3. Bell Storm and Sanctus
4. Agnus Dei
Commissioned by 2MBS-FM Radio (Sydney). With financial assistance from the Performing Arts Board of the Australia Council.
Radiophonic work intended as broadcast from two channel stereo radio and other like recorded media.
Requiem for a Planet is a four-movement work in the form of the Dies Irae, which was used for centuries in the Roman liturgy for Requiem Masses. It was realized using the composer’s PC-based workstation, which was interestingly employed to synthesize both spoken and sung voices. These voices were then combined with the Windows speech synthesis engine known as Text Assist. One major challenge for Fredericks in this piece was to make the software’s phonetic structures more responsive to Latin words and pronunciation. Another interesting facet of this piece was that it was later (in 1998) used for dance choreography, which prompted the composer to develop two new components of Iansmuse: Score, and a choreographing program called Dancer.
Requiem for a Planet begins slow paced, with a series of vocal sustains that sound realistic at times, but at other times very synthetic, like a warning siren. The intervallic content includes minor thirds and major and minor seconds. Together with the slow tempo these intervals suggest a dirge-like atmosphere. This changes to a frightening quality (especially when listening with headphones) as we hear a loud, clearly synthetic, voice proclaim the Dies Irae. The effect could be described as a dark, sinister counterpart to the happy-go-lucky vocal timbre that Max Mathews used in his pivotal 1961 recording of Bicycle Built for Two (Daisy Bell). The voices are gradually transformed and culminate in a section, toward the middle, where we hear typical sounds from a rainstorm. This is eventually replaced by sine waves, followed by more synthetic voices. --Ross Feller
Art by John Martin
Requiem for a Planet, for Jean Lenanne (1994-1995)
1. Requiem and Kyrie
2. Dies Iræ
3. Bell Storm and Sanctus
4. Agnus Dei
Commissioned by 2MBS-FM Radio (Sydney). With financial assistance from the Performing Arts Board of the Australia Council.
Radiophonic work intended as broadcast from two channel stereo radio and other like recorded media.
Requiem for a Planet is a four-movement work in the form of the Dies Irae, which was used for centuries in the Roman liturgy for Requiem Masses. It was realized using the composer’s PC-based workstation, which was interestingly employed to synthesize both spoken and sung voices. These voices were then combined with the Windows speech synthesis engine known as Text Assist. One major challenge for Fredericks in this piece was to make the software’s phonetic structures more responsive to Latin words and pronunciation. Another interesting facet of this piece was that it was later (in 1998) used for dance choreography, which prompted the composer to develop two new components of Iansmuse: Score, and a choreographing program called Dancer.
Requiem for a Planet begins slow paced, with a series of vocal sustains that sound realistic at times, but at other times very synthetic, like a warning siren. The intervallic content includes minor thirds and major and minor seconds. Together with the slow tempo these intervals suggest a dirge-like atmosphere. This changes to a frightening quality (especially when listening with headphones) as we hear a loud, clearly synthetic, voice proclaim the Dies Irae. The effect could be described as a dark, sinister counterpart to the happy-go-lucky vocal timbre that Max Mathews used in his pivotal 1961 recording of Bicycle Built for Two (Daisy Bell). The voices are gradually transformed and culminate in a section, toward the middle, where we hear typical sounds from a rainstorm. This is eventually replaced by sine waves, followed by more synthetic voices. --Ross Feller
Art by John Martin
