Arcanum 17 and Borromean Rings

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Friday, September 7th, 2012
8:00 PM

Victoria � Open Space is excited to welcome duo Reidemeister Move consisting of bassist Christopher Williams and tubaist Robin Hayward. This duo will present their multimedia composition, Arcanum 17, for contrabass, microtonal tuba, text, and field recordings as well as Borromean Ring for contrabass and microtonal tuba.

This concert will be a unique opportunity to hear Hayward�s microtonal tuba, capable of playing every conceivable pitch throughout the instrument�s five-octave range, in all tuning systems and temperaments.

To create a 3D sonic experience for Arcanum 17, a state-of-the-art modular speaker system, designed by sound artist and musician Charlie Morrow, will play field recordings collected by Williams and Hayward at the Roche Perc�. Sounds will surround the audience from above and below.

Arcanum 17 is based on Surrealist Andre Breton�s 1944 book of the same name in which he sees �love and loss, aggression and war, pacifism, feminism, and the occult� through the prism of Rocher Perc�, a massive natural arc on the east coast of Quebec. This contemporary reinterpretation of Breton�s metaphor of the crumbling Rocher Perc� uses sustained-tone music in �just intonation,� delicate noise, and angular rhythms of French and English text. The sounds of instruments and voices drift in and out of the recorded wildlife and seascapes of the Gasp� Peninsula creating a blend of concrete geographies and abstract sonorities.

Borromean Rings will highlight the flexibility of Hayward's microtonal tuba. "Performing Borromean Rings might be best compared to playing a board game such as chess. Notation is used to define a field of possible moves for navigating within the harmonic space. Unlike chess however, the idea is not to overcome the other player, buy rather to challenge them to explore contiunally fresh avenues within the harmonic framework and rhythmic timbral and noise-based delineations laid out by the score."

On Saturday the University of Victoria will host workshops with Reidemeister Move. See Open Space's website for more details.