This concert was the ‘classical’ concert of the Moving sounds festival, 2015. An international festival about the broad exploration of sound and music that has been running since 2009. This years edition Liquid Architecture/ Frozen Music, explored the relationship between music, architecture, sound and space and showcased performances, installations, films, discussions and interactive sound walks. The festival ran from Sept. 11 and finishes on Sept. 18th.
This musical Performance was a mix of some very well crafted pieces and some that just pushed the boat out that little bit too much and therefore fell face first in the river. The performers were incredible, with a mix of pieces from solo, duo, quartet and large ensemble, each musician was thoroughly committed to communicating this quite difficult music. The musicians were from the Argento Chamber ensemble, NYC’s premier virtuoso chamber ensemble which has built itself an international reputation for championing cutting edge composers and framing classical music in new contexts.
I have never heard any of Scelsi’s music before, and I think I will try and hunt out some more. The concert opened with his Tre Studi for E-flat clarinet (1954) and the soundworld was beyond Western atonal. The melodies were peculiar but almost seemed natural, as if they were based on music we have all heard before but never quite listened to. Each study was filled with character and each note was written and played with a wealth of life and precision. Like with the microtonal music of today I have listened too, Scelsi’s use of microtonality was expressive and non-intrusive; to the point where one couldn’t quite make out where the microtones were being played.
My favourite piece of the concert was by Tristan Murail, a French Spectral composer. Composed in 1998 and scored for Violin, Flute, Cello and Piano Feuilles à travers les cloches is an impressively visual piece of bells and foliage. Each image is represented by varying musical attacks, the bells through piano chords and pizzicato and the foliage through flutter tonguing and Sautille. The sounds created blended seamlessly and the sense of ensemble was incredible.
Where the concert fell apart for me was the final piece Introduction und Transsonation-Music for 17 instruments with audio material from recorded sound experiments by Giacinto Scelsi (2012) by Georg Friedrich Haas. The piece started off promisingly, with the instrumentalists playing in microtonal glissandi. The effect was brilliant. Unfortunately that pretty much all that happen for the duration of the piece (which was long, too long). The concentration and dedication of the musicians was commendable as it was surely not an easy piece to play, despite at several occasions veering very close to sounding like a bunch of children were just playing around on the instruments. The idea behind the piece was great, transcribing some of Scelsi’s own recorded ‘sketches’ but the final product seemed lacking a compositional goal. You simply can’t have microtonal glissandi from 17 instruments as the only material for a piece lasting close to 20 minutes. I felt left with no development or contrast and the spectral harmony became grating after a while then almost natural as it was not juxtaposed with anything.
Overall it was a great concert and I’ve discovered two composers whose work I would love to hunt out and hear some more of and an ensemble whom I shall definitely be hunting out again before I head home.
fromsilencesound 