Under Construction Journal Issue 6.1 UNDER CONSTRUCTION JOURNAL 6.1 | 页面 18

conductor's 'shush', storing these sounds for future use. Then, by allowing both decks to spin at different
speeds, one at 45rpm and the other at 33rpm, the DJ produces a series of five stepwise notes. The
turntablist's melody starts from the low C#, progressing upwards through D#, F#, G# and A, with each new
melodic step achieved by simultaneously manipulating the desk's pitch control and crossfading between
decks. Accompanied by hushed winds and muted strings, the turntables perform a fluid melody with
classically undulating contours, resembling at this point the ethereal, 'other-worldly' sound of the
theremin. The DJ introduces the sampled 'shush' and 'inhale' in to the mix, and a moment of tranquillity
prevails. With the turntables and orchestra now symbiotically balanced the music builds in intensity,
ultimately achieving a powerful climax. After sampling this climactic moment, the turntables explode with
a pyrotechnic, double-deck cadenza and the on-the-beat dance rhythm gives way to a syncopated, offbeat
reggae groove, harking back to the Jamaican origins of 'The Remix' itself.
Allegro Gavotte 'Snow Time'
And so, with a joyful affirmation of this cross-pollination between 'old-school' classical and 'new-world'
hip-hop, between art music and folk-dance, the final movement opens with a French Gavotte overlaid
with heavily syncopated Afro-Brazilian rhythms. Now, with the full orchestra and turntables in full voice,
and the rock drum kit, samba bass drum, triangle and shakers leading the procession, the Carnival arrives.
After a concluding cadenza, and a final instruction of 'slow to zero', the soloist alone brings this Concerto
for Turntables to a quietly distorted and grimy end.
Postlude
"I really believe in the classical tradition.
There's a lot more that can be done with it."
Gabriel Prokofiev 16
Maybe this 'low-art' club-land artist, with their Bronx-soiled box of conjure, was viewed initially with
suspicion by an uninformed 'high-art' audience comfortably situated, as they were, within their luxurious
Italianate and Neo-Renaissance surroundings? From the outset, however, and with eloquent virtuosity,
Mr Switch manipulated his hip-hop apparatus as any classically trained musician might 'play' their
16
Gabriel Prokofiev, interview with Thom Andrewes. Andrewes and Djuric, We Break Strings, 53.
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