‘Pixelating the River’: engagement with contemporary music through graphical inputs
Project Lead:
Faculty of Music
Worcester College
Partner Organisations:
Peter Sheppard Skærved | Violin
Mihailo Trandafilovski | Violin
Clifton Harrison | Viola
Neil Heyde | Cello
About the project:
This project aimed to stimulate engagement with contemporary classical music amongst non-specialist audiences through the composition and performance of an original composition for string quartet, alongside a public lecture focusing on the connection between graphics and music.
Pixelating the River used a map of the River Thames as a functional generator of musical material, rather than simply as a singular metaphor or extra-musical spectacle. The shape of the river, its meanders and straights, impacted specific compositional details at both the micro and macro levels. The project utilised multiple methods of graphical composition to create a musical representation that remained faithful to the spatial layout of the river. Thus, the river metaphor was heightened and rendered more specific—something described as a ‘graphical ekphrasis’ (an extension of Siglind Bruhn’s ‘musical ekphrasis’ (2000); see also the article ‘Graphical Ekphrasis: Translating Graphical Spaces into Music’ (Question, Issue 5, pp. 78–81)). Another aspect of the project was applying the visual phenomenon of pixelation to these graphical inputs and exploring its formal and poetic implications.
The project not only challenged perceptions of contemporary classical music as an ‘inaccessible’ art form through the rationalisation of an often abstract process, but also promoted interdisciplinary collaboration across Humanities subjects and beyond. It potentially encouraged a graphical focus in other creative subjects, fostering a wider community of research and accessibility.
Internationally renowned composer Anne Boyd was in conversation with composer Thomas Metcalf, discussing her life and music ahead of a performance of her String Quartet No. 2, Play on the Water, as part of the TORCH project Pixelating the River: Engagement with Contemporary Music through Graphical Inputs. The work was performed by the Kreutzer Quartet alongside a new work by Thomas Metcalf.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/4_QGSAfWCY8
At the desk performance by Peter Sheppard Skaerved Playing the Spur Semi-Acoustic Violin by Paul Davies (07.06.2020.)
Thomas Metcalf - Memories of a Pixelated River (2020) for Peter Sheppard Skaerved
You can find out more about Thomas's work by visiting his website.
