Back There on Earth, Exeter Phoenix, Sunday 27th May, 8pm
Back There on Earth has been created to spark imagination and curiosity, and to encourage individuals to examine their own relationship to the moon and the earth.
Combining string quartet, pre-recorded audio and film, this bill of three separate pieces will appeal to people looking for innovative work where music intersects with video and performance art to stunning effect.
Exeter-based Simon Belshaw’s Between the Moon and the Earth uses audio and visual recordings from the 1968 Apollo 8 moon mission, particularly astronauts’ descriptions of seeing the moon and the earth from a unique perspective. This piece is not a record of the journey, but concentrates on the idea of floating in the middle. The music follows a similar pattern: whilst there is a linear progression (provided by pre-recorded keyboards) the quartet plays floating, random elements over the top.
Steve Reich’s Different Trains is for two recorded and one live string quartet, together with recorded reminisces about train journeys across the USA and Germany before, during and after the seond World War, combined with recorded American and European train sounds from the 1930s and 40s.
Paul Whitty’s …bury my love like treasure… focuses on Devon’s red earth. Source material will be traditional Devonshire songs about the earth, recorded and projected using tiny speakers inside the instruments. String players will sing and play, field and underground recordings will be made using camera and geophone. Paul Whitty grew up outside Tiverton, and is now a Professor of Composition; Research Director for Film, Fine Art and Music; and CoDirector of the Sonic Art Research Unit at Oxford Brookes University. The performers will collaborate with Paul Whitty to develop this piece.
There will be hands-on opportunities for participants at each performance with displays of Apollo missions memorabilia, models and games. There will be also an open-rehearsal at 3pm, free of charge.
Sunday 27 May, 8pm tickets cost £10 (£8). Open rehearsal at 3pm, FREE
Box office: 01392 667 080 or online at www.exeterphoenix.org.uk