On Saturday, M/NM promised us a “unique immersive and meditative audiovisual experience” under the SAT (Society for Arts and Technology) Satosphere dome, with solo piano interpretations by Isak Goldschneider and Eve Egoyan, set to visuals by Elysha Poirier and David Rokeby. A calm, celestial immersion, we observed on site. Etherial ? Saturday night ether !
Isak Goldschneider was asked to play two related works, although composed at different times. First, a work by Quebecer Hans Martin, Variations sérielles, composed in 2024 and premiered before us on Saturday February 15. Video artist Elysha Poirier’s visual environment was conducive to this chromatic language slowly unfolding on the keyboard. Over the 7-minute duration of this new work, each note gently settles, spreading out these explorations of the 12 tones of the scale like a meditation. At first glance, this approach seems familiar, but it doesn’t stand out clearly. You need to listen very carefully to detect its singularity, particularly in the rhythmic ruptures, pedal effects and minimalist chords in a context of assertive serialism.
This was followed by the execution of Palais de Mari, imagined by Morton Feldman almost 40 years ago, a year before his death. The original inspiration lies in the idea of a virtual visit to the palace of King Zimri-Lim, who was the last to rule Mari, a city planted near the Euphrates 4000 years ago. The aesthetic here is similar to that chosen by Hans Martin, whose work dates back to 1986. The punctuations are sharper and the harmonic constructions atonal, typical of this period in contemporary music. Reverberation effects are very present in chords and sustained notes (tenuto), producing a sonic bond and reinforcing the impression that the notes are linked (legato), without apparent interruption. For 25 minutes, the imaginary visit continues in a post-modern, sometimes even futuristic evocation of this several-thousand-year-old palace, of which only shapeless ruins remain. Hence the minimalism of this work, in which motifs are repeated here and there.
Performed by Eve Egoyan, Simple Lines of Enquiry was composed by the late Ann Southam (1937-2010) and extends this ethereal, dreamlike, hypnotic proposition. Once again, note lapping generates reverberation between the slowly constructed motifs. The atonal choices and slowness of the pianistic execution encourage the viewing of David Rokeby’s video Machine for Taking Time. This art video projects almost still images of downtown Montreal, often the rooftops of Saint-Laurent Boulevard, many of which were taken a long time ago – as many buildings have since emerged from the ground. The same shots are repeated over the seasons, contemplating atmospheric changes, snow and/or greenery. Here again, this work is typical of contemporary composers of the previous century, as is the art video projected onto the concave screen, which was not designed for such immersion.
Other creative times, other creative morals…
