Sam Alvarez - touching memory, plastic mirror (2026) - for Trio Catch

touching memory, plastic mirror (2026) by Sam Alvarez Trio Catch Martin Adámek, magnetic tape, bass clarinet Eva Boesch, magnetic tape, cello Sun-Young Nam, magnetic tape recorded live on March 27, 2026. magnetic tape is an obsolete form of memory storage, but not a very old one. it’s a way to store audio and visual data, and these tapes have been recorded on before: these MiniDV tapes hold video of my family in years-old rooms, my partner in candlelight, myself, at my desk, writing this paragraph—the VHS tapes too, old movies cut to strips. when we run our fingers over these tapes, we touch something we can’t access, data stored that we can’t make sense of, memory illegibly rubbing against fingerprints. we can touch these memories, but all we can produce is sound—when we trace our fingerprints over these tapes, or pull them between finger and thumb, vibrations run through them, traversing stored data, activating the resonance of cello and piano strings, making them vibrate. our technical incapacity to access memories is transfigured into sound, the friction of our fingerprints against inaccessible memories creates music. tapes knotted to strings, flickering in the performance space. as players run their fingers over them, their material degrades, pulls, and inevitably snaps: the only way to play this music is to misuse, and ultimately ruin, these inaccessible memories. tapes knotted to strings, players pulling, always pulling, the tape stretching, pliable, changing. these tapes aren’t produced anymore: a nonrenewable resource, something precious must be wasted to play this music. magnetic tapes, strewn through the air, cutting edge only decades ago, their shining, mirrored, plastic surfaces reflecting light in the hall, musicians playing, touching memories, their faces, perhaps briefly, reflecting in the mirrored plastic. commissioned by Trio Catch. written in the winter of 2026, in geneva, switzerland. *Score is available for purchase: email [email protected] with inquiries!*