Written by Nikoleta Chatzopoulou-
A site-specific quadraphonic work performed at the archeological site of the Roman Agora, Athens in September 12, 2020. This piece is part of a larger project, a case study which is included in my current doctorate research in music and architecture. As a starting point is the philosophical concept of “chora” and the concept of silence. In this context, silence is defined as the space created through the interpretation of the visual environment into sound.
For the quadraphonic set up, each speaker was set on a corner of a 20mx25m rectangle (approximately). The audience was facing the clock of Kyrristos, the view of the Fetihye mosque was on their left, acropolis on their right, and the main entrance, the gate of Athena on their back.
Each side of the “rectangle” was photographed and its main elements were traced on rice paper. Each of the resulting sketches served as a “score” for the piece, where each sketch-score is used to compose one part. The visual elements on the traced images correspond to the sounds used in the composition, as autonomous sound events as well as relationships of one visual and sonic element to another. This process is part of an original method of space-time composition and typological organisation of sounds and shapes, which is based and inspired largely by the theoretical works of Kandinsky (point, line, plane) and Klee (the pedagogical sketchbook). Despite this methodological approach , the correspondence between the visual and the sonic elements is intuitive and abstract, from the tiniest detail to the overall form and character of the music. All sounds were recorded on tenor and 7-string viola da gambas and were consequently edited and mixed without any effects. The recording accompanying this score is a rough, stereo mix of the original quadraphonic tape and will be released on vinyl as part of a debut album.
Performance – composition : N. Chatzopoulou
Year of composition : 2020
Duration : 18 min
A commission by the National Contemporary Museum (ΕΜΣΤ) and Greek Ministry of Culture, as part of the project Deeper Than Silence : A series of works on silence, pause and waiting, curated by Daphne Vitali.