Composer’s Notes

Streaming on Netflix.

Premiere: DocNYC 2018.

Memory Games follows four memory athletes competing for the title of World Memory Champion. The athletes use visualization techniques - depicted with computer animation - to show the mind’s seemingly limitless capacity for memorization.

The athletes’ “memory palaces” use wild, playful images to represent numbers, names, or faces, assembling them into a single visual scene from which details can be decoded.

In developing the score, we wanted to capture the mind’s ability to be quirky (and bizarre!) while achieving crazy-high levels of performance. In on example, the world record for memorizing the order of a shuffled deck of cards is now under 13 seconds.

In this spirit, we emphasized a live score, avoiding reliance on computer playback. The ensemble was soloist-oriented, to emphasize individual self-reliance. To accompany the wild memory palace images, the arrangements were elaborate with frequent texture changes. Finally, we frequently used the four woodwinds in unison - flute, clarinet, oboe, and bassoon. Something of a rare combination, with enough oddity to fit this very striking story.