Music in Changing Times, Queen Elizabeth Hall

I was eagerly anticipating this event and thankfully it turned out to be as wonderful as I’d hoped. The evening presented an interesting cross section of experimental music from Michael Gordon and Frank Zappa to John Godfrey and Philip Glass. And the performance of Glass’s Music with Changing Parts was the reason I attended. It structurally consists of some 80 small musical units that are related to each other by an additive process. The units are performed rhythmically in unison by the ensemble, but at various points in the work, ‘changing figures’ are indicated. At these times players are free to change to new harmonies.

The fifty-minute piece seemed like fifteen. It was stunningly mathematical. By the end of the piece, the orchestra was a speeding train with the power and intensity of volume, repetition, and precision that only a well-honed and masterful collective can be. Instead of the exit that I expected – one where each instrument would successively bow out – the orchestra simply stopped in unison. Just before they did, the music was at full speed and acute complexity. The resulting silence was even more powerful than the previous sound, which was immediately revealed as illusion.

The Glass concert was an example of a constructed wondrous experience. I’d like my films to provide a similar sense of awe.

Tags: music