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 This set of pieces were composed for the interdiciplinary stageplay "Angel in the Chamber" by Sun Park and JunSung Yon, and the proposition came through from my old student, Sung Hyun Lee (creneus). The concept of the play was captivating enough for me to say yes to the proposal, even though I never had any experience in such theatrical genre. 

 The set is a culmination of my research on various microtonal tunings throughout many years, and the first attempt in actively using JI (Just Intonation) in my piece. Although initially made in 35 individual sound modules, the set was conceived to work in a continuous storyline, like theatrical music by R. Wagner or R. Strauss. The play is divided in four acts and three quiz-show interludes, so to gather all these different acts together, the pieces required to have recurring themes and  degrees of variation throughout the whole play. The themes in different tunings metamorphose as the story in different forms and atmosphere, almost symbolizing the reality becoming demented as the boundary between the reality and the protagonist's conspiracy theory gradually breaks down.

 The set is a nod to Peter Ablinger as it uses raw-audio to notes conversion technique quite often in the play. The sound of thunder, rumors on the online forum, and even the launching sound of the rocket at the end are fed into a converting algorhythm to turn them into simple MIDI-signals, and then calibrated with microtonal tunings adjacent to 12-equal temperament to make them similar or  totally unrecognizable from their original qualities.

 The pieces use various tunings, like Harry Partch's 29-tone scale, Nicola Vicentino's 31-tone scale, or even the macrotonal Bohlen–Pierce scale, but the whole microtonal quagmire suddenly gets refreshed from very traditional-sounding movements like 4.Félicette or 5.Grand Galop Henharmonique, which use Werckmeister I (III) tuning and 24-equal temperaments each. Especially the use of Werckmeister I (III) in 4.Félicette is quite intentional, as the tuning itself has a theological connotations within (to the point it sounds like the very conspiracy theory the protagonist is obsessed about) and it fits the character quite well - the seemingly useless AI-assistant which knows truth and brings the protagonist to her ultimate ruin, but with its unclear association with the "angels/aliens" or the world itself even. The identity of the dog-puppet host of the quiz-show interludes is even unclear, named exactly same as Kudryavka - a mysterious, disillusioned user of the Angel Archive - yet seperated from the reality while constantly influences the audiences - who are later revealed as the "angels/aliens" in the end - through the strictly democratic quiz-show. The hyperactive music of the quiz show references the style of Franz Liszt's Galops, and also a fragment from his Arbeiterchor, which also shows up in his symphonic poem, Mazeppa too.

 The theme of Félicette is the most recognizable recurring theme in this suite, as it gets metamorphosed into more grotesque versions like 9.Felicette's Lullaby - Kudryavka and 11.Funeral March.  Retaining - or rather joining in - the whole atmosphere of the suite.

 6.Intermezzo I and 7.Toccata II both feature extensive use of prepared pianos, reminiscent of John Cage's mechanical pieces like Sonatas and Interludes. They mainly provide the rhythmical backbone of the movements, and sometimes as secondary melodic instruments.

 As seen above, the set works under the constraint of being consisted only of the sounds of piano or sounds synthesised based on piano. Even though not being a part of the suite, the alarms and other electronic sounds were also produced from granular synthesis based on the recording of a note on piano, giving the impression the chamber that the play takes place in, is a careful construction crafted to deceive the captive into the false sense of security. The suite aims to be the allegory of the inherent nature of multi-layered deceit within the play, conspiracy theory that seemed deceiving turning out to be true, and the protagonist being deceived all along - even though she doesn't know what is going to happen to her in the end. 

(Joonghyun Lee, 2026)