Monday 11 February 2019, 7.30pm
BRUNHILD FERRARI WITH CAFE OTO, CLOSE-UP CINEMA, PRESQUE RIEN, MAISON ONA AND ECSTATIC PEACE LIBRARY are proud to present Luc Ferrari's original compositions – interpreted by contemporary composers for an 8-day program of live concerts, talks, films, readings, installations, exhibitions and the launch of the English translations of his Complete Works.
Affiliated with French Radio’s Groupe de Musique de Concrète in 1958, Luc Ferrari (1929-2005) broke away to pave his own path of individualistic expressions of minimalist music, audio plays, musical theatre, soundtracks and installations. His groundbreaking works such as Presque Rien (1967-70) rebelled against the rigid institutions of his day and scandalized the French musical establishment. In 1982 Ferrari opened the electro acoustic studio La Muse en Circuit where he continued to compose unique award-winning soundscapes, absorbing such disparate influences as serialism, musique concrète and Buddhist philosophy. Luc Ferrari’s works resisted categorization during his lifetime and they continue to surprise, inspire and challenge new generations of artists.
As part of this show, Langham Research Centre perform a new piece responding to Luc Ferrari's Les Anecdotiques.
Langham Research Centre came together in 2003 with the purpose of using a studio as their instrument: a studio with microphones and also, crucially, several 1/4” tape machines. From the start they were interested in manipulating sound on tape and in focussing on one sound source, or a small number of sounds. Like an early music group’s use of historic instruments, LRC continue to work with obsolete equipment including tape recorders, gramophone cartridges and sine wave oscillators, to perform authentic versions of 20th century classic electronic repertoire by John Cage, Alvin Lucier and others. They also use this instrumentarium to compose new music, which is the focus of their recent release on Nonclassical, Tape Works Vol. 1. The album has a range of works from their early “musique concrète” miniatures to recent modular works of extended duration. It follows their 2014 release for Sub Rosa, John Cage – Early Electronic and Tape Music, featuring LRC's new releases of John Cage's music.
