Rob Smith on Time Travel

Rob Smith

 

 

 

Musiqa's Artistic Board Member Rob Smith took some time to discuss Time Travel, Musiqa's season opener. Each concert of Musiqa's 2013-14 Season features new works that explore the concept of time. Each composer was carefully selected to fulfill Musiqa's goal of bringing the best of contemporary classical music to Houston audiences. Smith's new work, "Dance Music," is inspired by the pop and jazz music of the 1970s. 

 

 

"For this program [Time Travel] we are presenting two of our most important living composers - Louis Andriessen and John Corigliano; three younger composers who are attracting significant notice: Michael van der Aa, Missy Mazzoi and Bill Ryan; and myself," Smith said.

 

Louis Andiessen's "Hout (Wood) and Bill Ryan's "Blurred" are intended to alter our perception of time. "In "Hout," everyone performs the same melodic line in strict canons that are extremely close together, but are asked to play loosely together, thus creating a "blurred" sensation," Smith explained.

In Missy Mazzoli's "Magic With Everyday Objects," everyday musical elements that have been made familiar through their use in previous music are combined to find "beauty and rapture in the midst of chaos." Folk texts by William Butler Yeats and Padraic Colum are given a modern interpretation in John Corigliano's "Three Irish Folksongs."


Michael van der Aa's "And how are we today?" uses a text by Carol Ann Duffy, which views the world from the vantage point of someone who is manic and perceiving time at a different rate from the rest of us.


"Each of the works on this program either travels back in time to borrow ideas from other time periods, or directly effects the listener's perception of moving through time," Smith said.


Time Travel presents Musiqa's most unique concert experience, as it will be outdoors and follow the presentation of visual artist Jo Ann Fleischhauer's new multi-media art installation in the Market Square Clock Tower. Time Travel also features a number of works that are heavily influenced by popular styles, and includes some instruments that Musiqa doesn't often feature: electric guitar, double bass, trumpets and trombones.


Join us this Saturday, Sept. 28, to experience Musiqa's most innovative concert yet! We encourage you to bring blankets and chairs. 



What Time Is It? is organized by Blaffer Art Museum and Houston Arts Alliance.  Major support comes from the Houston Downtown Management District and the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance.  Community partners include Houston Parks and Recreation Department, the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston and the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University.  The exhibition is on view 24 hours-a-day (music component audible daily 7 a.m. to midnight) on the corner of Travis and Congress Streets at Market Square from September 28, 2013 through March 29, 2014.

Written by Mia M. Smith

Musiqa's Artistic Director Anthony Brandt Gives New Music a New Venue

Anthony Brandt

 

With the goal of taking contemporary classical music outside of the concert hall, Musiqa Artistic Director Anthony Brandt has collaborated with composer Chapman Welch and visual artist Jo Ann Fleischhauer to create the public art installation 'What Time Is It?' Musiqa offers this collaborative effort to present a musical performance exploring the concept of time.

 

 

Brandt welcomed Fleischhauer’s approach about collaborating on an installation that would transform the clock tower in Market Square—Houston’s oldest plaza. Now that we all have wrist-watches and smartphones, the role of a clock tower has changed. Without the need for a bell to signify alarms or specific hours of the day, Fleischhauer, Brandt and Welch have transformed the Louis and Annie Friedman Clock Tower into an installation that merges art and music. The installation opens on September 28^th and will be on display until late March 2014.

 

"I don't often get a chance to write a piece where people will be exposed to it for six months,” Brandt said. “It is a unique and exciting challenge.”

 

 

Brandt and Chapman’s solution is to tell time by musical means rather than by counting tolls.  There are twelve Major chords in the Western musical system, just as there are twelve hours on the face of a clock.  At the top of each hour, one of a fixed series of chords will sound for two minutes; over the course of the day, the chords rise and fall with the sun, so that someone who frequents the square will gradually be able to tell time by listening to the chord. The title “C O’Clock” refers to the fact that a C-Major chord sounds at noon and midnight.

 

 

Tommy Gregory from Houston Arts Alliance

On top of those chords, Brandt and Welch have designed a computer program that improvises ringing sounds, evocative of the original bell. The computer chooses from twelve possible “scores:” the scores are rough guides and give the computer a lot of leeway, so that no hour will sound the same and no two days will be alike.

 

 

 

 

Brandt and Welch were very conscious that their music is a “guest” in the Square: their goal is to create an experience that is fresh and attractive, giving listeners something engaging to experience but also capable of comfortably lying in the background.

 

 

HAA's Tommy Gregory Installing Fleischhauer's Art Piece

 

 

As a part of the 6-month installation, Musiqa has also commissioned six student composers to compose works for brass instruments that will be premiered from inside the tower. Student performers from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music and University of Houston’s Moores School of Music will perform monthly from the tower. The student composers will play once each month, beginning with a solo on Oct. 25 at 12:15pm. The next month will transition the performance to a duo, and the following month will include a performance by a trio. By the sixth month, a sextet will conclude the performances.

 

 

 

“We wanted to create something beautiful in the neighborhood for people to look forward to,” Brandt said. “A historic presence will take on new life."

 

 

To hear the 17-hour sounds of Market Square, join us on Sept. 28 at 7:30pm in Market Square park for the premiere of Time Travel!

What Time Is It? is organized by Blaffer Art Museum and Houston Arts Alliance.  Major support comes from the Houston Downtown Management District and the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance.  Community partners include Houston Parks and Recreation Department, the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston and the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University.  The exhibition is on view 24 hours-a-day (music component audible daily 7 a.m. to midnight) on the corner of Travis and Congress Streets at Market Square from September 28, 2013 through March 29, 2014.

Chapman Welch Adds an Electronic Twist to Time Travel

Musiqa’s Season Opener, Time Travel, will kick-off the outdoor artistic installation What Time Is It?, a collaborative public art installation piece featuring the work of visual artist Jo Ann Fleischhauer and compositions by composers Anthony Brandt and Chapman Welch.  The concert opens with the first “tolling” of the musical installation and the lighting of the historic Market Square Clock Tower.

Musiqa’s collaboration addresses the auditory nature of the clock tower by replacing the scheduled chimes of bells with original musical works inspired by the site. C O’Clock, composed by Musiqa's Artistic Director Anthony Brandt and Chapmen Welch, will run through the entire duration of the exhibition by replacing the ringing of the bell with a progression of chords that rise and set like the sun.  Welch and Brandt each contribute a different musical perspective on the concept of time in C O’Clock: Brandt will ‘tell time’ in a musical fashion, and Welch will use a computer software called Max/MSP, which allows the computer to improvise on top of the chords. There will be a progression of chords each hour. As the chords rise and fall, they will eventually be recognized as a specific time of day.

With a background in electronic music and music composition, Welch created the electronic aspect to C O’Clock with an innovative process using computer technology and real sounds from the streets of Market Square in downtown Houston.  During the creation process, he visited Market Square during the morning, noon, and night hours to record various sounds including traffic and birds chirping.

Composer Chapman Welch

Using Market Square as the sound source to compose a piece for C O’Clock, Welch ultimately created a progression of chords that will in turn serve as a replacement for the tolling of the clock. As the tolling begins on Sept. 28, 2013, audiences will begin to recognize the chords in relation to the various times they were made to illustrate. At noon, the highest chord is heard, and the lowest chord, which is barely audible, plays at midnight.
“Every hour, one minute before the hour and one minute after the hour, the clock will ring,” Welch explained, “The computer takes the morning, noon or night, depending on the time of day, and tunes the sounds of Market Square to sound like the tolling of bells.”

As Welch calls it, ‘tolling’ is the electronic sound that the computer will improvise. There will be a combination of repeating cycles, each lasting between 1 to 3 minutes. The ‘tolling’ coincides with the recurring theme of What Time Is It? : showcasing the changing nature of time in the modern era.

“There’s a certain connection people make to a bell,” Welch said. “They imagine someone ringing it, so what we [Welch and Brandt] are doing is reminiscent of a bell.”

Welch created 12 different types of improvisations for the computer to follow. “The computer has certain rules and improvises on top of the chord,” he said. “There are certain rhythms it [computer] could possibly play. We know what’s going to happen, but not exactly when it will happen.”

With C O’Clock, Welch and Brandt want to explore the concept of time in an artistic and musical way. They composed 12 movements to be improvised with particular rules.

“The combination of chords every hour coupled with the computer improvising every hour is C O’ clock,” Welch said. “No acoustic instruments are used. The chords aren’t generated from synthetic sound, but the sounds of Market Square.”

Musiqa’s Season Opener Time Travel premieres on September 28, 2013, at 7:30pm in Market Square. Stay tuned for more exciting details on Time Travel!

What Time Is It? is organized by Blaffer Art Museum and Houston Arts Alliance.  Major support comes from the Houston Downtown Management District and the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance.  Community partners include Houston Parks and Recreation Department, the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston and the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University.  The exhibition is on view 24 hours-a-day (music component audible daily 7 a.m. to midnight) on the corner of Travis and Congress Streets at Market Square from September 28, 2013 through March 29, 2014.