Archive[s] (2010/11)
CHAMBER | ELECTROACOUSTIC 5:30
INSTRUMENTATION
amplified violin, amplified cello, video projection
Archive[s] was commissioned by Italian duo E110 for the 2010 SoundScape Festival in Pavia, Italy. It was revised in 2011 for the June in Buffalo Music Festival. It received its European premiere in Prague in 2012.
Archive[s] explores the symbiotic relationship between conductors and instrumentalists, and the performative act of musical expression.
The visual element of the work consists of silent videos of Stravinsky, Gergiev, Rattle, Arnold, and Tilson Thomas conducting the Finale of the Firebird. These conductors, synched to one another, function as both masters and slaves to the new composition.
The performers, each facing a conductor, indulge in this strange marriage of musical expression. It is only at the very end that memories from the original Firebird begin to emerge, signaling, perhaps, that the music can never fully escape its old master…
“Archives mixed a sparse score - somewhat like a dreamscape - with flowing footage of venerable conductors in the thick of interpreting their ‘own’ music. The cellist and violinist, physically present on stage, responded intuitively to the novel environment and seemed to capture the essence of their gesture.
The ethereal tone, coupled with the slowed down visuals, worked very nicely. It was almost as though they were given a little time to crawl inside the internal world of the conductor. ”
AMERICAN PREMIERE
Hertz Hall, Berkeley, CA, 4 December 2010.
Gloria Justen, violin; Kathryn Bates, cello; Sivan Eldar, electronics
EUROPEAN PREMIERE
Studio Alta, Prague, Czech Republic, 19 November 2012.
David Danel, violin; Balazs Adorjan, cello; Sivan Eldar, electronics
ADDITIONAL PERFORMANCES
June in Buffalo Music Festival, Baird Recital Hall, University of Buffalo, New York, 7 June 2011.
Yuki Numata, violin; Jonathan Golove, cello; Sivan eldar, electronics
