London has more green space than many people realize, but the oldest part of what is now known as the City of London appears to be today’s concrete jungle. But the City’s urban nature lover can head to his third floor of the ultimate concrete estate, the barbican center of barbarian architecture, and enjoy the hidden botanical gardens in its conservatory. With multiple water features and balconies drooping with exotic plants, the venue is also used for performances, and on March 12th, Nonclassical took over the space and unveiled a program on the theme of the climate crisis.
Founded in 2004 by composer Gabriel Prokofiev, Nonclassical promotes new music through live events and recordings. They were pioneers in presenting cutting-edge new music in unconventional venues, often with electronics, and while the rest of London’s scene has caught up with many of their ideas, Nonclassical is his 20th. We continue to support new music even after the anniversary.
The program was offered as an acoustically guided tour of the Barbican Conservatory.Prokofiev’s playfulness Trace contours, lines and planes guided us to the venue. It was performed by London His Triangle Orchestra (a group of non-classical associates) playing a steel-framed rebar triangle at the Barbican Centre. I hit and stroked these gritty found objects. Performers used triangles to signal to the audience that they should move to another area of the conservatory.
We started with a central artificial turf covered space surrounded by four giant bells designed by UK-based American musician and sculptor Marcus Berghet. tinnitus, for recorded bird calls, piano (Matthew Bourne), contrabass (Berguet), and abstract four percussionists, playing jazzy walking bass, nervous high-pitched piano that mimics birds. , and a strange combination of multiple bell sounds. The audience participated in an ocarina-like clay instrument representing a bird, also made by Bergette. However, the magnificent bell sound was the piece’s most striking feature.
A non-classical present Greenhouse effect – Photo by Mark Allan/Barbican
Fifth aeolian mixtape, a four-stringed, electronics and handcrafted Aeolian harp inhabiting a haunting world of sound, once again interacting with a bird from which stringed instruments were recorded. Aeolian His harp, made by Quinta during his stay in Greece, is actuated by the breeze and its natural spontaneity represents a true fusion of nature and music.
Abstruckt’s percussionists appeared in various parts of the Conservatory, playing a selection of ensemble pieces from the United States and impressively negotiating complex phases of Reich excerpts. music for wood chips While walking to the new performance area.Andy Akiho fourth pillarfor percussion quartet, combined delicately struck and tuned instruments with found objects, including plastic bottles, as in David Lang’s third movement. so-called laws of nature, mugs and flowerpots blended with chime bars. Abstruckt played with the nimble virtuosity, wit and flair that characterize the best modern percussion ensembles.
Claudia Molitor polymer hunting It was a surprise. Back in the piano playing space, Bösendorfer was covered in plastic sheets and debris, with many plastic bottles and bowls on the strings. Molitor describes the piece as a requiem against single-use plastics that “aim to become non-functional in the near future” when this type of packaging is phased out. It starts out with a fairly conventional, albeit distorted, piano shape, especially in the lower register where pitches were hard to hear, as if smothered by plastic. polymer hunting played by an adventurous pianist Catherine Tinker Yshani Perinpanayagam, Tinker ventured inside the piano and plucked the strings, Perinpanayagam wore a bubble wrap coat and urged the audience to make sounds with plastic trash.
A non-classical present Greenhouse effect – Photo by Mark Allan/Barbican
Carola Bauckholt’s double exposure (“Double Exposure”) for amplified violins and electronics began. This is his one in a series of Bauckholt works based on birdsong. The recorded bird diffuses from one speaker to another, as if in flight, and the violinist mimics the bird as closely as possible. Linda Jankowska and her violin were strange bird imitators. The dialogue between the recording of nature and the simulation of its instruments was perfectly suited to the natural environment created for the Barbican Conservatory.
Non-classical concerts were typically journeys of discovery, perfectly performed in an enchanting space. The change of pace and the lack of seating in some places made the visit uncomfortable or difficult for some. He suggested that it could encourage people to “think about”, especially their relationship to the modern climate emergency. Various works showed how we make use of the environment, domesticate it, interact with it, and – in Molitor’s work – destroy it.
I CARE IF YOU LISTEN is an editorial independent program of the American Composers Forum, made possible thanks to the support of generous donors and institutions. The opinions expressed are solely those of the authors and may not represent the views of ICIYL or ACF.
You can support the work of ICIYL with a tax-deductible donation to ACF. For more information about ACF, see the “At ACF” section or composersforum.org.
Other Articles
How the double standard became hip-hop’s standard : NPR
