MULTIPLE VOICE

BL!NDMAN presents a personal interpretation of polyphonic music from the 12-16th century. Starting from the experience of pure sound, the quartet rediscovers some brilliant pieces in this inexhaustible source of masterpieces. The major canons of Johannes Ockeghem and Josquin Desprez undergo an exciting metamorphosis thanks to the specific sound spectrum of the saxophone and electronic spatialisation. The musicians make use of real-time recording to gradually multiply their parts, until the full range of voices can be heard. These early compositions are brought face to face with contemporary pieces.
Contemporary works have always reflected age-old compositional techniques; the organum technique used by Leoninus and Perotinus, in which the continuous voices develop in parallel, the 13th-century hoquetus technique in which the melody line is divided between several instruments, and also the imitation canon repeating themselves several times.
‘Palindrome’ (Thierry De Mey, 1984) is a pure hoquetus piece, while ‘Ricercare una melodia’(Jonathan Harvey, 1987) evolves from an identical canon to a canon by augmentation. ‘Organum’ (Eric Sleichim, 1992) refers to Leoninus’ and Perotinus’ Notre-Dame school. New music is played alongside early music and the two merge apparently seamlessly into one another. Centuries are made relative, and the consciousness of historical times fades.
In this concert, BL!NDMAN gathers around Athanor, a sculpture by artist Koenraad Tinel, especially designed for this concert and based on the idea of an alchemist oven as the core of light and sound.

Première 23 February 2002 – opening weekend Brugge 2002 Cultural Capital of Europe