OK, this was an art installation with a musical component at the event. The paintings were mostly thick slabs of acrylic black paint smeared across the canvas. But … there were a few splashes of color and a few defined uses of color.
This event was highlighting M. Soulages’ centenary. He is still alive and, with any luck, will be attending his upcoming solo show at the Louvre. His painting style was not quite my cup of tea but, hey—that’s what makes a horse race.
The event I attended featured the world premiere of a piece (commissioned by the Lévy Gorvy gallery) composed by Anthony Vine. And Mr. Vine was there for the premiere. It was played by The Rhythm Method, an all-female string quartet that, according to their own website, is “fierce, fearless, and virtuosic … unapologetically stylistically omnivorous and versatile.” Works for me.
The music was pretty much static. It began with all players playing a unison note (maybe an octave involved?). We then went to harmonics added—notes played very close to the other notes, but not half-steps or whole-steps, These were micro-steps, so that the sound was almost grating on the ear. It created a wall of sound, although a relatively gentle one.
What followed was a duo for violins, the viola added, and then the cello. This exact pattern repeated a second time. It was mesmerizing, though without really grabbing my interest, sounding like the kind of thing that is made up on the spot—but I’m pretty sure it was carefully notated in the score. The aforementioned repeated pattern was repeated yet again. In its favor, when the volume increased, it seemed much more insistent. But that didn’t amount to too much.
One nice thing about these art gallery performances is the inclusion of wine. White wine went well with the white noise. (In this case, one could have chosen sparkling water, but did I mention white wine?)
Kudos to the gallery for presenting an event with an artistic (on several levels) focus.
ConcertMeister
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