"A Game of Curtains, Glass Door, Twice Closed"
for Oboe
(Commissioned by EssilorLuxottica)
A Game of Curtains, Glass Door, Twice Closed is not a narrative composition. It is a visual and sonic apparatus, a typological field in which equivalence replaces hierarchy, and documentation replaces emotion. The score asks the performer to operate with detachment—but not apathy. It asks them to see the score, to interpret through optical logic, and to allow the listener to experience a world where seeing becomes hearing, and hearing becomes a study of surfaces.
It is music, but it is also showroom, lens factory, design archive. It is notation-as-device.
Alain Robbe-Grillet, the master of the nouveau roman, often constructed narratives that meticulously cataloged surfaces and objects, stripping away traditional psychological depth in favor of a stark, almost photographic rendering of the visible world. His titles, like "La Maison de Rendez-vous" or "Dans le labyrinthe," hint at enclosed spaces and repeated actions, suggesting a world observed with a detached yet persistent gaze.
This score delves into the very act of seeing, its limitations, and the subjective filters through which we perceive reality. The oboe aims to explore the boundaries of the individual and the universal, the normative and the real, through the contrasting juxtaposition and direct comparison facilitated by a unique system of notation.
The core of this notational system lies in the employment of typologies. This approach, seeks to establish an equivalence between diverse visual elements.
The score immediately introduces a crucial paradox: despite this pursuit of equivalence, the notation remains a highly challenging and complex notion. How can one translate the nuanced visual world into a system of musical notation without inevitably imposing a form of subjective interpretation? The oboe, an instrument capable of both piercing clarity and melancholic introspection, is placed within this paradoxical regime.
On one hand, the typological approach promises a systematic recording of people and objects based on extreme objectivity... a score that functions as a precise catalog of visual data, translated into a sonic language. The oboe, with its distinct timbre and dynamic range, could meticulously trace the contours and qualities revealing itself as a disturbing and potentially subversive act. The very act of selecting and categorizing visual phenomena into musical equivalents is inherently subjective.
The interplay between the seemingly objective nature of typology and its underlying arbitrariness, as translated through the singular voice of the oboe, becomes the central tension of this artistic endeavor, prompting us to question not only how we see, but how the act of notation itself shapes our perception of reality.
A Game of Curtains, Glass Door, Twice Closed is not a narrative composition. It is a visual and sonic apparatus, a typological field in which equivalence replaces hierarchy, and documentation replaces emotion. The score asks the performer to operate with detachment—but not apathy. It asks them to see the score, to interpret through optical logic, and to allow the listener to experience a world where seeing becomes hearing, and hearing becomes a study of surfaces.
It is music, but it is also showroom, lens factory, design archive. It is notation-as-device.
Alain Robbe-Grillet, the master of the nouveau roman, often constructed narratives that meticulously cataloged surfaces and objects, stripping away traditional psychological depth in favor of a stark, almost photographic rendering of the visible world.
This score delves into the very act of seeing, its limitations, and the subjective filters through which we perceive reality. The oboe aims to explore the boundaries of the individual and the universal, the normative and the real, through the contrasting juxtaposition and direct comparison facilitated by a unique system of notation.
The core of this notational system lies in the employment of typologies. This approach, seeks to establish an equivalence between diverse visual elements.
The score immediately introduces a crucial paradox: despite this pursuit of equivalence, the notation remains a highly challenging and complex notion. How can one translate the nuanced visual world into a system of musical notation without inevitably imposing a form of subjective interpretation? The oboe, an instrument capable of both piercing clarity and melancholic introspection, is placed within this paradoxical regime.
On one hand, the typological approach promises a systematic recording of people and objects based on extreme objectivity... a score that functions as a precise catalog of visual data, translated into a sonic language. The oboe, with its distinct timbre and dynamic range, could meticulously trace the contours and qualities revealing itself as a disturbing and potentially subversive act. The very act of selecting and categorizing visual phenomena into musical equivalents is inherently subjective.
The interplay between the seemingly objective nature of typology and its underlying arbitrariness, as translated through the singular voice of the oboe, becomes the central tension of this artistic endeavor, prompting us to question not only how we see, but how the act of notation itself shapes our perception of reality.
No comments:
Post a Comment