BEHIND THE WORD: PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION
WATER, FIRE, SOUND (2023) video projection
The performance starts with a collaborative video piece with an original electro-acoustic soundscape by house composer Hibiki Mukai and slow-motion imagery by Adrian Walton-Smith.
The piece shows the co-existence of apparent opposites: the element of fire contained inside a dynamic skin of water. The music is an original sound collage, suggesting a ‘choral’ resonance containing the turbulent energy of the flames
SHIRAYURI (2023) Hibiki Mukai video projection
The concerts will start with ‘Shirayuri’ (white lily), written by award-winning composer, Hibiki Mukai. As one of the keystones of our ensemble, Mukai has been collaborating with us since day one. This new piece will be a significantly expanded elaboration of a composition he wrote for our ensemble in 2022.
The ‘feeling’ of this video projection is transparent, and reflects the modest and spacious character of the music. This piece is an original composition by ‘house composer’ Hibiki Mukai. Starting from silence, a revolving movement in the centre of a simple glass creates a small vortex . The glass begins to rotate imperceptibly and the water climbs the sides of the glass creating a parabola form. The glass is a ‘ready-made’, the vortex a virtual form created by motion in the water.
OVERTURE on HEBREW THEMES op. 34 (1919) Sergei Prokofiev video projection
This piece has a strong ‘klezmer’ feel, colourful and vibrant. We will show video projections inspired by a fairground carrousel, fast revolving objects in phase with the shutter of the camera create new virtual forms. This phased video image shows small changes until the motor is switched off. As the motor slows down the virtual form changes back to the original ‘solid’ object. It’s starting point is revealed.
PICTURES at an EXHIBITION (1874) Modest Mussorgsky video projection
This new arrangement by Basque composer Joel Merah includes an original libretto of poetry by Alexander Pushkin and Anna Akhmatova.
In slow motion a projection of a large human figure lights a violent blue flame. The camera zooms into the flame. The flame starts to revolve fast, creating a blue halo. The large figure disappears in an instant. A young boy dressed in the same clothes returns in his place, These two figures imply two important moods (the optimism and the darkness) of the piece. The implied narrative of this projection is a kind of ‘sculptural element’, evolving very slowly. It reveals changes in physical form as much as a psychological meaning. The slow motion video – necessary to show the virile blue flame – gives the standing human figure an unusual slowness, making a ‘heroic’ sculpture out of his presence.
FIVE CORDS (2023) Motion sculpture
Five single strings to the left and right of the performers are the only physical ‘sculptures’ present during the entire performance. These minimal strings can revolve at different speeds, creating different rythms and a ‘visual music’. The movement of these strings works as a ‘prism’, breaking the light of the projection into it’s RGB components. This is visible on the strings themselves.
For the
LONG VERSION with drone soundtrack by Mihalis Shammas.
click here…
Throughout the concert, the music will be presented in combination with experimental visuals created by visual artist Adrian Walton Smith. The visuals will be projected on two wide screens and on 5 single strings that will be located around the musicians. These strings will spin at different speeds, their movement acting as a “prism” that breaks up the light from the projected images into RGB components. This is visible on the strings themselves, creating, as it were, sculptures of light. The whole of projections, light, shadow, shapes, and movements will seem like one grand sculpture of which the musicians are a component. In this way, we offer an interdisciplinary performance that draws a clear line to the original compositions, while at the same time bringing something new and refreshing to the field.
Before the musicians enter the stage, there will be projected video work by A. Walton Smith, showing the element of fire in a dynamic skin of water. An electro-acoustic soundscape composed by H. Mukai will be heard along with it.
According to Walton Smith:
“In this multi-media program, we are juxtaposing basic elements of music, visual art, video projections, and language.
To me, the title of our production implies a combination of all these elements which doesn’t depend on a conceptual system… These complex and contradictory elements co-exist based on their physical presence… the presence of the live performance, the rhythm of the visual art, and the human presence of the performers… All this takes place in the subjective experience of each member of the audience… themselves the final piece of the cross-media puzzle”.
Ensemble Orochi
Amsterdam, December 2023
