Additional Information
It is on Friday, November 7 at 5 PM, in the Agora of the Judith-Jasmin Pavilion of UQAM, in downtown Montreal, that Field of Vision by American composer Michael Gordon will be performed for the first time in Canada. The latter, a master of the contemporary post-minimalist school and creator of several imposing works for percussion, wrote this vast piece of about sixty minutes in 2022 for 36 percussionists, and which is supposed to be performed outdoors. Since Montreal in November is, let’s say, rather uncertain in terms of weather, it was decided to offer this gigantic score in a large indoor space. This will be the first time this has been done and, for the occasion, the composer may even be present! The opportunity to rub shoulders with a true living legend, because that’s a bit what Michael Gordon is, founder, among other things, of the famous Bang on a Can festival in New York. In addition to Sixtrum and their French colleagues from the Percussions de Strasbourg and the Architek ensemble (from Montreal), to reach the number of 36 required by the score, the organisers also called on the EP4 group and percussion students from McGill University, the University of Montreal, UQAM, and the Montreal Conservatory! Imagine the joyful racket that will make in the Agora of UQAM! To talk about the work and the composer Michael Gordon, I met with the Deputy Artistic Director of Sixtrum, Fabrice Marandola.
PAN M 360: Tell us about Michael Gordon. Who is he and what does his music represent?
Fabrice Marandola (Sixtrum): Gordon is a composer from New York who founded, with Julia Wolfe and David Lang, the Bang on a Can festival about forty years ago. He is a representative of the new stylistic school associated with New York, a school of thought that relies heavily on pulse, beat, in contemporary musical creation. It’s a school that has a significant resonance in contemporary music, and Michael Gordon’s contribution is particularly notable, especially for percussion, as he has created several works for percussion ensembles. For example, Timber, an extraordinary score for six 2×4 wooden beams, the kind you can find at your local hardware store, quite simply. It’s crazy what he manages to create in terms of tones and sounds.
He is someone who is making a very strong mark on the contemporary percussion landscape. And the piece we are going to play, it has already been performed several times around the world.
It means it’s someone who attracts percussionists and who, at the same time, has a way of writing that makes programmers want to program this kind of somewhat crazy stuff.
PAN M 360: Is he part of the repetitive, “minimalist,” American school?
Fabrice Marandola (Sixtrum): I would say yes and no, actually. It’s perhaps more what we now call post-minimalist. There are differences with, for example, the original “repetitive” artists such as Steve Reich, who are in the exact repetition of the same cells, with gradual and subtle modifications. With Gordon, we are dealing with something that is in repetition but also in constant, more marked evolution. I’m going to make a big caricature: we’re perhaps somewhere between Steve Reich and Xenakis.
Why do I mention Xenakis? Because the timbres he uses are in wood, metal. Gordon really likes resonant metals, especially wood for Timber, where he explores this in depth. Xenakis liked that a lot too.
And then, there is a very interesting energy due to these large waves that rise and fall, which are quite typical of his writing.
PAN M 360: What is Field of Vision? Describe the music to us.
Fabrice Marandola (Sixtrum): Field of Vision is a large one-hour piece for 36 musicians (percussionists). And it was originally designed to be played outdoors, in parks.
The idea is to go into a large space, and have the musicians move from one place to another with their instruments. There is a somewhat ritualistic aspect to it. It’s a piece made up of four movements, of different lengths, and which notably begins with resonant things. Then there is a moment when we are with stones and with bundles of wood. There, it’s the ritual side where everyone moves around in a circle with the stones. Those who have the bundles of wood raise them above their heads, etc.
At other times, we use 24 brake drums in two circles of twelve.
PAN M 360: Brake drums?
Fabrice Marandola (Sixtrum): Yes, yes, the stuff for car brakes! It has a metallic tinge with a tiny bit of resonance, but not much. And then, it doesn’t cost much… We add bass drums and tam-tams in a circular arrangement.
Then we move again. There is a lot of movement. The spectators, on the other hand, are free to wander wherever they want. The idea is that there is no specific place to listen. We can walk, we can evolve, we can move around, since it was designed for the outdoors.
Since we’re in Quebec and it’s early November, we didn’t want to take the risk of being outside. And so we’re going to be inside. And it’s the first time it will be played like this. UQAM welcomed us in its Judith-Jasmin Pavilion. When you get out of the subway station and go into UQAM, there’s this atrium that’s about four or five stories. We will be downstairs, on the first and second floors, while moving around. The spectators will be able to be downstairs, they will also be able to go to the second, third, and fourth floors. We will be able to see everything that happens, all the action.
Entry is free. So, whoever wants to can come, stop, enjoy. And then, if they like it, they stay. If they don’t like it, they are free to continue on their way. The idea is to bring the music where the people are.
As soon as there are humans gathering, there is often a ritual aspect. There is always a more or less conscious organisation of how we interact with each other. And so, Gordon, he ritualised the piece with movements 1, 2, and 4 that are very rhythmic and the third one that is very open with big breaths, big crescendos, and decrescendos.
At the end, we will have 36 suspended blades, with a dozen gongs facing each other on the other side, and bass drums. It will be like a very powerful, energising final ritual.
PAN M 360: Perhaps this is the beautiful quality of Michael Gordon, that he manages to offer avant-garde music, contemporary music that is quite rigorous, demanding, but at the same time very accessible… Is this the first time you’ve played his music?
Fabrice Marandola (Sixtrum): Yes. We wanted to do Timber, but our colleagues from Quebec, EP4, ended up taking care of it. Since then, we were looking to do another piece by Michael Gordon and at the same time we were looking for works to do outdoors. I was flipping through and I came across Field of Vision. I said to myself, OK, this fits exactly with what we want to do. I then contacted the composer. This will be the first Canadian, and moreover, the first indoor performance. For these reasons, Gordon might be present! I don’t know yet.
And on top of that, we will have the Percussions de Strasbourg with us, for whom it will also be the first interpretation of Field of Vision. Imagine the honour and quality that will bring! With students from McGill, UQAM, the University of Montreal, and the Conservatory, plus colleagues from Architek and EP4, it will be the entire classical percussion community of Montreal, maybe the whole of Quebec, that will be there.
PAN M 360: What does it feel like to play with a legendary ensemble like the Percussions de Strasbourg?
Fabrice Marandola (Sixtrum): It’s fantastic, of course. We went to play with them in Europe, and they showed us their instrument reserves. I think there’s six or seven meters of instruments on shelves! The number of instruments they have is absolutely incredible.
We are lucky to have them in North America this time because they are coming to play for the 50th percussion convention in the United States called PASIC, Percussive Art Society International Convention. And it’s the first time they’re going to play at this festival, which is the largest gathering of percussionists in the world. It’s 6,000, 7,000 percussionists who gather for 3 days.
They will arrive in Montreal directly after. And so, we were lucky to have a small window to be able to have them with us.
Music lovers will have the great chance to enjoy them because they will give a concert at McGill on November 5 with music by Steve Reich, notably (Mallet Quartet among others). And then, on the morning of the 6th, they will give a masterclass at McGill.
And on the 7th, we’re having a concert at UQAM.
PAN M 360: Let me go back to Michael Gordon. What is the difficulty in playing his music?
Fabrice Marandola (Sixtrum): It’s music that is deceptively simple. It’s very rhythmic, so that, already, is reassuring. But it’s very precise in the way we “pass the baton,” actually, from one musician to another with the changes in speed. Each individual line has to be completely flexible and give the impression that they are very simple speed changes. But at the same time, we can’t afford to take a little bit of liberty on those changes because the next person follows on our speed. There are many, many details in the game. You have to be extremely precise for it to work.
Also, it’s an hour non-stop. You still need to stay focused for an hour.
The advantage, on the other hand, is that we get immediate pleasure from playing this music.
PAN M 360: There has long been snobbery displayed by the contemporary scene towards this musical aesthetic….
Fabrice Marandola (Sixtrum): Yes, especially from the European point of view. But that’s changing.
PAN M 360: Gordon participated in a certain democratisation of contemporary music with Bang on a Can, which we talked about earlier. A festival of non-dogmatic, relaxed creation, in which we could hear artists coming from scholarly academicism, jazz, rock, electro, free improvisation, etc. Can we dream of a Montreal Bang on a Can?
Fabrice Marandola (Sixtrum): That would be great! Yes, it would be entirely possible! The colour would be different, as Montreal has a more European personality, but the diversity of artistic creativity here is fantastic and would lend itself perfectly to that.
PAN M 360: The indie-rock portion of the city would also bring something original and unique…
Fabrice Marandola (Sixtrum): Ah yes, indeed, that would be fantastic!
PAN M 360: We can dream about it. In any case, PAN M would be present!
