Forty separately recorded voices are played back through forty speakers strategically placed throughout the space.
Comments by the artist:
"While listening to a concert you are normally seated in front of the choir, in traditional audience position. With this piece I want the audience to be able to experience a piece of music from the viewpoint of the singers. Every performer hears a unique mix of the piece of music. Enabling the audience to move throughout the space allows them to be intimately connected with the voices. It also reveals the piece of music as a changing construct. As well I am interested in how sound may physically construct a space in a sculptural way and how a viewer may choose a path through this physical yet virtual space.
I placed the speakers around the room in an oval so that the listener would be able to really feel the sculptural construction of the piece by Tallis. You can hear the sound move from one choir to another, jumping back and forth, echoing each other and then experience the overwhelming feeling as the sound waves hit you when all of the singers are singing.”
+ info: The forty part motet
Capella MACBA
The Forty-Part Motet, 2001 (A reworking of Spem in Alium by Thomas Tallis, 1573) -Motete para cuarenta voces (Reelaboración de Spem in Alium de Thomas Tallis, 1573-, es una instalación que permite percibir la música de una manera excepcional. La voz de cada uno de los miembros del coro puede ser oída independientemente y en su conjunto al mismo tiempo, de modo que cada intérprete oye una mezcla única de la pieza, según su posición y sus movimientos. Asimismo, esta obra plantea cómo el sonido puede construir físicamente un espacio de un modo escultórico y cómo el espectador puede escoger un itinerario a través de este espacio físico y aun así virtual.
