On the 12 March, Nonclassical had the pleasure of collaborating with the Barbican for the greenhouse effect, a concert exploring our relationships to nature at a time of climate crisis. Performed in the beautiful Barbican Conservatory, this concert gave audiences the chance to enjoy music in this unconventional space.
Gabriel Prokofiev’s London Triangle Orchestra, playing triangles made from ReBar steel, guided the audience through the space, connecting the pieces with their sounds.
We had a performance of the title track from Marcus Vergette’s album, Tintinnabulation, available on our Bandcamp as LP or DG. Marcus was joined by the Abstruckt percussion quartet and pianist Matthew Bourne. This epic performance featured four of Marcus’ Time and Tide bells, moved around the space to alter their sonority.
We then moved into a different section of the Conservatory for a performance of Meltemia, Dasos & Chloris from Quinta’s album Aeolian Mixtape, available as CD or DG. Performers were hidden in an alcove, observed from above and below by audience members as harps, electronics, and stringed instruments combined and sounds dissipated into the air.
Abstruckt returned to perform an excerpt from Steve Reich’s Music for pieces of wood, and Andy Akiho’s Pillar No. 4. The latter featured pots and pans and empty bottles, emphasising the sound-making qualities of many of our everyday objects.
We returned to the main space for Claudia Molitor’s beautiful Polymer Hauntings, performed by the pianists Yshani Perinpanayagam and Katherine Tinker. The grand piano was covered in rubbish, creating unusual timbres. These pieces of rubbish were then played by Abstruckt, in a sound exploration which encouraged the audience to listen more closely.
Linda Jankowska then performed Carola Bauckholt’s Doppelbelichtung, where violins strung from the ceiling acted as transducers, playing recorded birdsong. Jankowska’s violin playing emulated the sounds of birds in conversation with their recorded counterparts.
David Lang’s So Called Laws of Nature (movement 3) ended the afternoon performance, with Abstruckt playing flowerpots, bottles, teacups, and a range of objects in a reflective, quiet end to the concert.
The evening concert culminated with a performance of Mátyás Wettl’s Nocturne, a work which required the members of Abstruckt to switch on and off lamps, creating a piece which was both visually and sonically engaging.
Nonclassical would like to say a huge thank you to the incredible performers, composers, the team at the Barbican, and the amazing audiences and everyone else who was involved in making these concerts possible.
All images by MARK ALLAN / BARBICAN
Watch the video premiere of Ben Nobuto's Baby Lexicon, performed by Abstruckt percussion quartet at our July gig.