SOUND ART INSTALLATION
Chromatic Counterpoint
Amy Kang (painter & cellist) and Ursula Kwong-Brown (composer & pianist)
This collaborative sound art installation explores color and vibration translational adaptations of Prelude of Bach's Cello suite #1. Influenced by Sir Isaac Newton’s 1704 treatise “Opticks: Or, a Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light,” in which he proposes a correlation between sound frequencies and light spectrum, Amy has explored systems of color-coding in which each pitch is assigned a particular color, and each note is represented by a single stroke on a large grid-like surface. The resultant works give a pictorial summary of the music, in which the well-known Bach prelude is translated into a kind of cryptic geometry.
What are we listening to?
A recording of a cello & piano being played through a transducer attached to the back of a sheet of stainless steel. There are NO live performers and NO traditional speakers!
What is the effect of the sheet metal?
It gives the recording a shimmery "antique" sound, and blends the sound of the instruments together.
What is the music that we hear?
1) an extremely slowed-down version of the Bach prelude in which each cello chord is heard with all the notes simultaneously sounding to create beautifully complex textural drones,
2) the original Bach prelude played pizzicato on the cello, spatially divided so that the bass, middle and treble notes of a chord sounded from separate surfaces
3) an improvisation on the Bach prelude in which we add piano to the mix and each distinct color within Amy’s painting serves as a source of energetic, motivic and registral inspiration.
Below: the Cello Part for the Improvisation section
A recording of a cello & piano being played through a transducer attached to the back of a sheet of stainless steel. There are NO live performers and NO traditional speakers!
What is the effect of the sheet metal?
It gives the recording a shimmery "antique" sound, and blends the sound of the instruments together.
What is the music that we hear?
1) an extremely slowed-down version of the Bach prelude in which each cello chord is heard with all the notes simultaneously sounding to create beautifully complex textural drones,
2) the original Bach prelude played pizzicato on the cello, spatially divided so that the bass, middle and treble notes of a chord sounded from separate surfaces
3) an improvisation on the Bach prelude in which we add piano to the mix and each distinct color within Amy’s painting serves as a source of energetic, motivic and registral inspiration.
Below: the Cello Part for the Improvisation section
Early Explorations
Sample panel (24" x 12")
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Showing the transducer on the back of the sheet
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