Invisible Threads

Christian Mason

Invisible Threads (2022–23)

Performance Installation for mobile voices, bass clarinet, accordion and string quartet

Text: Paul Griffiths

 

•    prologue [la vraie vie est ailleurs…] for Harry Vogt

•    I [somewhere else] for Stefan Winter and Mariko Takahashi

•    interlude I [soft ground] for Krassimir Sterev

•    II [canon a 4] for Gareth Davis

•    interlude II [glowing mushroom] for Arditti Quartet

•    III [growing buds–in contrary emotion] for Neue Vocalsolisten

•    IV [the lime wood] for Paul Griffiths

 

Duration 70‘

 

 

Gareth Davis, bass clarinet

Krassimir Sterev, accordion

 

Neue Vocalsolisten

Johanna Vargas, soprano

Susanne Leitz-Lorey, soprano

Truike van der Poel, mezzo soprano

Martin Nagy, tenor

Guillermo Anzorena, baritone

Andreas Fischer, bass

 

Arditti Quartet

Irvine Arditti, violin

Ashot Sarkissjan, violin

Ralf Ehlers, viola

Lucas Fels, violoncello

 

 

During this ‘performance installation’ listeners wander freely through the spaces of the gallery, whereas performers conform to a more formalised ritual of spatial-relationships which transform across the duration of the piece.

 

»I find great inspiration in the idea–and the experience–of spaces enlivened by the focus of attentive ears. In these moments of collective concentration it feels almost as though we grow invisible threads between us, connecting momentarily before we disperse back into the world. The ritual of performance is not only about the music being played, more fundamentally it is an excuse to spend time together in this special state of awareness.«

(Christian Mason)