Alarm Will Sound | Sploopy @alarmwillsound | Uploaded July 2022 | Updated October 2024, 1 day ago.
Celka Ojakangas, composer
celka.net
Performed by Alarm Will Sound
alarmwillsound.com

Live at the 2021 Mizzou International Composers Festival, July 29, 2021
http://composersfestival.missouri.edu

From the composer:
"Sploopy" is inspired by the Creature from the Black Lagoon, Messiaen, Frank Zappa, Fausto Romitelli, Charles Mingus, and more. I wanted to create a swampy piece with campy horror film references. (“Sploopy” sounded like a sticky word, so it eventually stuck.) Knowing how well Alarm Will Sound can execute both avant garde and groovy pieces, my intention was to go from a lumbering, thick set of textures found in 40s horror films (and elsewhere) to a fast-paced groove reminiscent of cartoons, jazz tunes, screwed-up wind band marches, and more!

This being said, the piece is supposed to be darkly ironic. The title intends the listener to not take it too seriously, sounding akin to the Boogie Man. (I can imagine people shouting “Beware the Sploopy Monster!”) But just like how a cheesy movie like Invasion of the Body Snatchers can keep me up at night (darned overactive imagination), the music itself should still enter, scream, and horrify, all within the parameters of that delightful horror movie campiness. (And it should be groovy, too.)

Alarm Will Sound:
Alan Pierson, conductor and Artistic Director
Erin Lesser, flute
Christa Robinson, oboe
Bill Kalinkos, clarinet
Elisabeth Stimpert, clarinet
Michael Harley, bassoon
Laura Weiner, horn
Tim Leopold, trumpet
Michael Clayville, trombone
Matt Smallcomb, percussion
Chris Thompson, percussion
John Orfe, piano
Courtney Orlando, violin
Stefan Freund, cello
Miles Brown, bass
Daniel Neumann, audio engineering

Executive Director, Gavin Chuck
General Manager, Annie Toth
Production Manager, Jason Varvaro
Assistant Director of Artistic Planning, Peter Ferry
Librarian, Chihiro Shibayama

Special thanks to Kyle Lombard (violin), Ayane Kosaza (viola), Eli Lara (cello), Gina Cuffari (bassoon), and Amanda Collins (horn).