Creating a new performance work Tristan Sings
With Tristan as a puppy
Fortunately, titles cannot be put into copyright so the new Netflix film by Jane Campion The Power of the Dog at first is merely an attention puller for this post! However, it is also a film that I feel is a masterpieces of sensual sensitivity with a refreshingly empathetic take. So much is not said and left to our imagination. Benedict Cumberbatch makes an unlikely casting for a macho cowboy who loves men. But he pulls it off with aplomb. The original music by Jonny Greenwood has a classical contemporary music feel which works well. Have you ever seen cowboys riding to the meter of 5/8 r an out like sounding gutted guitar? This is a film I will cherish.
The Power of The Dog: Campion 2021
There is however another power of the dog that’s is on my mind and that is my new performance piece commissioned by Dr Andy Ingamells called Tristan Sings which just premièred at Artefact in Birmingham on March 18th .
Tristan Sings is scored in text for border terrier, soundscape, film and live performance artist (s)
Practicalities: Two performers (any instrumentation) are invited to interactively perform with a film/sound installation which features Tristan Magnus the border terrier howling in response to operatic singing, aleatoric music generated with home-made instruments as well as Wagner and Bruckner.
The Score: The parameters of the score are in a printed booklet and delineated on the film by ceremonial singing bowl cues which provide empty ambient space for the performers to respond to the howling interludes provided by Tristan. The piece concludes with a meditation in which the live performers emulate overtone chanting with their instrument or voice accompanied by a soundscape of resonating singing bowls.
Purpose of The Piece: The act of howling provides a cathartic release through long doleful cries which facilitate a disintegration of pent up feelings. Great calmness results. Tristan Sings is a response to the unknown source of anxious emotions that have resulted from the extended pandemic lockdowns. Outcomes include a calmer mind.
Tristan Magnus Christie is a 7-year-old border terrier. His research involves sniffing out opportunities of catching prey. Tristan's daily practice of interactive howling was initiated from an early age by encountering Dr Self’s singing.
You can experiment interacting with the work yourself by following Tristan’s instructions on this youtube link
A word about the composer/performer, Dr Andy Ingemells: He has an extraordinary way of creating provocative performances many which feel imbued with the spirit of Cage. I was lucky to work with Cage in person the Rocky Mountains on Aria, here I am with him above. This cohort of theatrical almost operatic provocative independents who contribute their avant-garde performance practices are a great gift to conventional opera. For them performance = anarchy and out of the box thinking. In a work that I commissioned from Andy in 2019 called He that plays the English gentleman shall be welcome, Andy dresses in cricket whites and provides as a cricket bat, an inexpensive violin. He invites the audience to throw tomatoes stuffed with numbered letters at him whilst literally batting them off as he delivers a dissertation about contemporary music practice. When the ensuing mayhem has receded he calmly invites the audience to pick up the felt backed letters and collectively create a sentence on the wall which sums up their take on contemporary music!
He that plays the English gentleman shall be welcome, Ingamells: 2019
This approach connects to the legacy of imaginative works such as Ligeti’s Poème Symphonique (Ligeti: 1962), which replaces human performers with 100 metronomes. The methodology and intention of these piece becomes as important as the music. Going a step further, the artist Zimoun (2016: online) creates installations which feature mechanically generated sound which can be experienced by the observer freely rather than through a score which is fixed by a period of time. But back to The Power of The Dog. When I became a full-time composer 8 years ago it seemed to me that I needed a companion and Tristan has certainly been an inspiration and nurturer. He is bold, he can sing and dance and he provides a constant source of interaction which demonstrates the real power of the dog which is the message of Tristan Sings.
Tristan Magnus Christie
The performance score and film to perform with of Tristan Sings will shortly be available from
composersedition.com
No comments:
Post a Comment