Double Toil, Double Coil

On February 14, 2021, Arcomusical recorded six new works by composers at the University of California, Davis as a culmination of Arcomusical’s ACI digital residency that began in May of 2020. The works premiered on Arcomusical’s YouTube channel on Thursday February 25, 2021 at 12PM PST as part of UC-Davis Artist in Residency Shinkoskey Noon Concerts series.

Sarah Wald’s “Double Toil, Double Coil” is a quartet comprised of two duos of identical tuning. In each, one instrument leads in an composed yet improvisatory way, constantly churning out new material, while its duo partner “captures” and loops certain fragments of the improvisatory part, weaving around the lead part in an unpredictable and playful manner. The compositional style is highly influenced by the process of looping common in electronic music.