LONDON SINFONIETTA/WARP Rome Jun 10th* Parco Della Musica ( Electronic Symphony!) [Archive]

Maudib

Friday, May 28th 2004, 06:42 AM

Man alive it's been a great year
for Italy..If this shit keeps up
Rome's gonna start giving Barcelona
some stiff cultural competition.

Radio Active man was just here a
couple weeks back and he gave me the
heads up on this one.. ;)

Sounds amazing..
PLUS the "Parco Della Musica" (http://www.musicaperroma.it/default.asp?L=1)
is one of Rome's most beautiful structures (http://www.italiantourism.com/news04.html)
entirely dedicated and built as a musical
landscape for sound lovers...Having
the creative minds of the WARP crew
take over along with the London Sinfonietta
and a wave of digital projection artists
will be beyond belief! It will be a
music lover's paradise for one night.

CHECKIT (http://www.warprecords.com/news/?offset=0&ti_id=593)

**************************************

http://www.rhythmism.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=5521&stc=1

After the success of the UK tour in March,
Warp Artists and the London Sinfonietta play
two dates in Europe during June 2004 consisting
of the "Warp Works and 20th Century Masters show"
that debuted at last year’s Ether Festival.
Rome is on 10th June and Bruges on 17th .
The Rome performance takes place at the awesome
Parco Della Musica, a modern Coliseum
totally dedicated to music.

Full Programme:

György Ligeti Poème Symphonique for 100 metronomes
Conlon Nancarrow / arr Yvar Mikhashoff Study No 7
John Cage Sonatas 1&2 (Sonatas&Interludes for prepared piano)
Boards of Canada / Arr David Horne Pete standing alone
John Cage Sonatas 5&6 (Sonatas&Interludes for prepared piano)
Mira Calix Nunu (unconducted, unscored improvisation)
Aphex Twin / arr David Horne afx237 v.7
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Spiral saxophones, ShortWave radio, live electronics
Charles Ives The Unanswered Question
John Cage Sonata 12 (Sonatas & Interludes for prepared piano)
György Ligeti Chamber Concerto
Squarepusher / arr Morgan Hayes Port Rhombus
Squarepusher / arr David Horne The Tide

Rome
2004 Info:

Rome, Italy 10
June 21.00
Sala Santa Cecilia,
Parco della Musica, Rome
Tickets 10-20 euros
www.santacecilia.it

*Click on thumbs below
to get a view of Rome's
Parco De La musica

Maudib

Friday, May 28th 2004, 06:52 AM

Here's a review
off the WARP site from
their show in London @ the
ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL
8TH MARCH 2003

-----------------------

As people enter the Royal Festival Hallthe sound
of 100 metronomes tick through the surround sound
PA creating a welcoming 3D rattle. Sound Intermedia
(the electronic component of the London Sinfonietta)
have constructed a midi version of György Ligeti's
'Poème Symphonique' and on Screen bluespoon have
synced 100 blue shards to the sound which are
slowly counting down to the start of the show.

The auditorium is full and the atmosphere picks
up as Glenn Max introduces all 2300 people to
the opening night of the second Ether Festival
and thanks them for taking part in this experiment.

http://www.rhythmism.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=5517&stc=1

The London Sinfonietta conducted by Stephan
Asbury take position and as they begin to be
play the audience has become totally silent.
Giant hand drawn caricatures prepared by flat-e
loom over the orchestra and wink at the audience
from the gargantuan screen. The first performance
is Colon Nancarrow's playful ten minute piece,
'Study No 7', which has been arranged by Yvar
Mikhashoff. The audience react warmly and seem
ready for anything.

Now the spotlight picks out Rolf Hind on
the prepared piano for a captivating performance
of John Cage's 'Sonatas 1 & 2' from 'Sonatas & Interludes'
- the auditorium zones-out to the melodic
rustles and clonks of the unique piano sounds.

It is time for the first Warp piece - David Horne's
'Disintegrations 2' interpritation of Boards Of
Canada's 'Pete standing alone'. As James Tindal's
beautiful kaleidoscopic work provides a backdrop,
the crowd strain to take in every element of this
performance. It's obvious that the London Sinfonietta
team have not set out to provide a simple playback
of the Warp tracks. Instead, they have challenged
themselves to transform the original electronic
songs into acoustic works that stand up in their
own right. This stripped down arrangemet for cornet,
double bass, various strings, piano and percussion,
with its intricate changes and subtle melodies seems
to have captured something of the original whilst
building an entirely new piece.

http://www.rhythmism.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=5520&stc=1

The huge audience is then trapped in a state of
intense presence for the performance of
John Cage's 'Sonatas 5 & 6'.

And now it is time for the much anticipated insect
collaboration piece. With only a short rehearsal
time the previous day, Mira Calix, the Sound Intemedia
duo and five members of the Sinfonietta switch t
heir minds to insect mode.

A monster mosquito-eye-zoom takes place on screen
courtesy of Mat Tizard and as layers of sound are
brought into the mix from Mira on the front desk,
live insect images dwarf the orchestra. Strung out
violin chords gently build and people seem to be
enjoying this Nunu experiment. More super close-up
images of hand-reared flat-e locusts twist people
in their seats and the Sinfonietta recede to leave
only the live insects chirping and scratching.
This beautiful performance triggers a huge response
and will remain the highlight for many.

http://www.rhythmism.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=5519&stc=1

The applause continues as titles come up for the next
performance - Aphex Twin arr. David Horne
'Disintegration No 3: afx237 v.7'. This time Horne
stays closer to the original than the Boards rework,
the Sinfonietta smoothly perform this complex and
energetic score whilst hectic DV footage from
Nick Kilroy fills the screen.

The stage empties as Simon Haram takes position for
the Stockhausen piece 'Spiral' (for shortwave radio,
solo saxophone and electronics). The original piece is a 20 minute monster Stockhausen journey through dissonant radio noise and effected drones. The sax becomes more and more effected until it sounds like an Autechre patch, with scapes being thrown around a 3D environment. The performance tonight is reinforced by mind bending industrial images from flat-e, later in the track the visuals crossfade to a bluespoon effect where the audio movement is perfectly tracked by shimmering light.

A 30 minute film interval gives those bursting for the toilet or a drink a chance to escape whilst most stay on to watch the following:

1) Monkey Drummer. Chris Cunningham. Music by Aphex Twin
(Thanks to The Anthony D'Offay Gallery)
2) Perpendicular / vector. Markus Wambsganss. Music By Anti Pop Consortium. info here
3) Little Numba. Daniele Lunghini. Mira Calix
(part of the creative review animation competition)
4) Blink! Simo Rouhiainen. A 2 minute strobe extraviganzer - web link
5) Gob Coit. Lynn Fox. Music by Chris Clark
(part of the creative review animation competition)
6) New Family. Bob. Music by Plaid.
Bob is Plaid's visual production unit
7) Simone. Pleix Collective. (More work from the French Pleix Collective who made Plaid's excellent Itsu video)
8) Gantz Graf. Alex Rutterford. Music By Autechre. info here

The London Sinfonietta return with the beautiful
soft strings of 'The Unanswered Question' by
Charles Ives. The melancholic atmosphere of this
unique piece is accentuated by flat-e's shadowy
figurines gracefully hovering above the orchestra
and, for 6 minutes, London seems like the most
peaceful place on earth!

The final John Cage piece 'Sonata 12'
continues the vibe and then it's time for
György Ligeti's 21 minute orchestral work-out,
'Chamber Concerto'.

The four movements of 'Chamber Concerto' are entitled
'Flowing,' 'Calm, Sustained,' 'Precise and Mechanical'
and 'Rapid'. Each are around 5 minutes and generally
grow in intensity. As the Sinfonietta expertly deal
with the irregular timings, minimal effects on screen
from bluespoon and Beeflix react to the sounds
building to a crescendo for the final movement as
violent string sounds create 20 feet high lightning
streaks across the screen.

The final two Squarepusher pieces are next
and everyone knows it - respect to the
Sinfonietta for their programming skills!.

http://www.rhythmism.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=5522&stc=1

First is Morgan Hayes 'Port Rhombus' rework,
where Tom Jenkinson's melody drenched drum and
bass classic is stripped down to the bare bone
and fondled gently before our eyes. The memorable
Rhombus riffs twinkle through plucked violins and
vibraphone as the delicate arrangement moves through
the Sinfonietta's instruments and a huge alien flat-e
construction towers over the stage.

The final piece is David Horne's 'Disintegrations 1:
The Tide'. The original track is on the
Budakhan Mindphone mini-album and can be all
too easily overlooked. Not so with the Sinfonietta.
This is one of their all time favourite Warp tracks
and their enthusiasm to perform this piece was clear
from the start. David Horne stays true to the original
as deep brass sounds, percussion and erratic piano
layer up to form powerful woooshes of sound that build
to swamp the Festival Hall. bluespoon pick up the
movement with a stark white effect that rips across
the screen and builds perfectly with the music.

The hall roars and the Sinfonietta and conductor
look happy. As everyone takes their bows, mysterious
images of mutant instruments built by Michael England
of Meam (SKAM) fill the screen.

Shout outs:
The London Sinfonietta massive - Gillian Moore, Jane Williams, Sound Intermedia, Cathy Graham, Claire Willis and everyone else who helped make this happen - we really look forward to working with you again!
The Royal Festival Hall / Ether crew (Glenn Max, Eddie, Jane Beese & Joana Seguro)
The PRS foundation for their help.

Visual Contribution:
flat-e
bluespoon
James Tindal
Nick Kilroy
Beflix
Mat Tizard - Insect zoom man.
M. England (MEAM) - Gescom Instruments.