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SCRUTINY | The Music Leads The Blind In John Oswald's Blackout

By Michael Vincent on May 28, 2016

 

composer, John Oswald
composer, John Oswald

21C Music Festival: John Oswald with Element Choir and Radiant Brass Ensemble at Conservatory Theatre. Friday, May 27.

Well, you don’t see that every day. And by seeing, I mean seeing absolutely nothing. Toronto contemporary music bad boy John Oswald resurrected his “pitch” project as part of RCM’s 21C Music Festival, and what an experience it was.

Titled Blackout, groups of six were led by ushers (who can apparently see in the dark) into RCM’s Conservatory Theatre holding onto each other’s shoulders in a clumsy caravan towards their seats.

All sources of light were policed. Glowing watches were confiscated. Cell phones discouraged. But as the sense of sight was cut-off, other senses became heightened —  especially hearing, which was made acute in the total absence of light.

Once seated inside, heads darted about the room seeking to make sense of RCM’s makeshift sensory deprivation tank. The sound came from all directions, and over 45-minutes, included soundscapes coloured with trumpets, trombones, voice (spoken and sung), bells, hurdy-gurdy, and a self-playing ghost piano that emanated mysteriously from somewhere in the centre.

A single bell triggered members of the Element Choir planted in the audience and conducted by Christine Duncan to speak in tongues of Vietnamese, Italian, Hindi, and English. The global narrative opened a Pandora’s box of cascading sounds that washed across various servo-drive subwoofers that shook the floor beneath our feet.

The series of seven or so vignettes explored various shapes and densities built from electronic foundations organically furnished with live instrumentation from the Radiant Brass Ensemble. Oswald originally formed the group in 2010 to accompany a dance piece choreographed by Holly Small. Inspired by the possibilities of spatial performance, the eight members decided to stay put and form an official ensemble centred on exploring unconventional, site-specific performances.

The blacked out space was further transformed with soft animal-like calls emanating from all around the space. Intersecting elements remained abstract and yet the blind experience gave a forceful context that was highly effective and thought-provoking. Oswald’s blackout experiment showed the extent to which more traditional concert experiences have, through inertia, become unchallenged and expected.

The unexpected ended with the lights turned on, and another surprise: a woman standing naked in contrast towards a door. Without saying a word, she slowly walked out of the space and down the hall to stand silently in front of a window.

Oswald invited the audience to remain and listen to a 16-minute Conlon Nancarrow–inspired composition for Disklavier — a Yamaha piano fitted out with a mechanical system that can play itself. The audience looked on with their new found sight at the piano playing a strange and schizophrenic sonata.

From the perspective of a visual artist, Oswald has offered an opportunity to help us better understand ourselves, and in this case, appreciate the way in which we hear. Elemental as it is, it was a perfect fit for RCM’s ambitious 21C Music Festival.

#LUDWIGVAN

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Michael Vincent
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