Chromatic Variations

Chromatic Variations is the second programme in which Eric Sleichim and BL!NDMAN travel through time. In three different programmes the saxophone quartet explores polyphonic music from the 12th to the 17th century and creates a highly personal and contemporary reading of this century-old music.

In Chromatic Variations BL!NDMAN plunges into 16th and 17th century polyphony. This time the Leitmotiv is the range of instruments: for this creation the saxophone quartet is joined by a countertenor. During the performance BL!NDMAN plays the concert space as an instrument, a ‘listening room’ that reveals even in its furthest corners the sound of a music that was written to serve the word. The composers of the ‘Seconda Prattica’ (second half of the 16th to the 17th century) made extensive use of chromatics in order to transpose the expressiveness of the words as well as possible. The quartet, ranging from sopranino to bass sax, blends with the voice of the countertenor to give its own form to this mannerist style, partly by the use of electronics. The basis for the programme is the ‘Sybilline Prophecies’ by Orlando Lassus, whose music unites all the trends expressed in renaissance music.

BL!NDMAN brings the early works face to face with contemporary works where colouring is used explicitly.