As the first event of the EMPAC's 10 year celebration the Formosa Quartet did well by not following the traditional routine of such events. In a normal event one would find the audience sitting in the theater seats while the performers sit on the stage for the entire duration of the event. Instead, this event started with the audience seated on the stage of the EMPAC concert hall and the performers sitting on the top balcony, performing from a distance. Following this were 4 more performances, each moving to a different location in the EMPAC, with the final returning to the main concert hall.
A large part of music's interpretation is determined by the environment and means of the listener hearing the music. Things like genre, instruments, and technology can be used to manipulate the listeners environment. This makes use of changing locations is particularly interesting. Rather than using different instruments than what are traditionally used to play the songs, blending genres, or complementing the music with other forms of art such as video, the event sees the listeners moving to a completely different environment. The primary differences in each location are from variations in their acoustic design, and the arrangement of the seating, and some changes in lighting.
My least favorite part of the event would be the first part, in the main concert hall. As described previously, this section featured the performers sitting in the balcony, with the audience sitting on the stage. The information booklet provided to us when entering the show states that the concert hall was "...designed specifically to have any sound come to the audience from any place in the hall with the same quality as if they were playing on stage". While the performance was excellent, and displayed this property well, I found that the distance from the audience made the performance seem more cold and separated when compared to the later sections where the performers were sitting close.
My two favorite parts of the event were our third location, studio 2, and our fourth location, the theater. While I did enjoy that the performers were much closer to the audience, the main thing which I noticed about this part was how the seating arrangement was used to occlude the audience from certain information and views. From my seat I was facing inwards and could see the whole room. However, many members of the audience were facing towards a wall or corner, and so they could only properly view one or two of the performers. The interesting part of this was watching how people responded to this. Some simply closed their eyes and listened, while others picked a spot on the wall opposite of them and focused on that while they listened. The audience could still hear the performers clearly, and were close enough to hear the performance in fine detail, but, this change in perspective made the listening experience different depending on where you were sat in the location.
Finally, the performance in the theater found the audience sitting in the theater seats and the quartet sitting out of sight in the orchestra pit below. The lights in the room were turned low, and a soft red light leaked out from the orchestra pit. This was by far the darkest part of the performance, and with no performers to look at I found that it was easy to let the song take hold and drift away into thought. This song played during this portion was my favorite out of them all. Some of the reasons why are intangible, but I feel that the song was haunting and forceful at times, and provoked many interesting thoughts. I was truly pulled into the performance.
Overall, I think that the Formosa Quartet was an excellent tour of the EMPAC, and all of it's locations, but more than that it showed how changes in environment can alter how the listener perceives music. Whether it be the acoustic qualities of the environment, the lighting, or the arrangement of the seating. Each performance provided the listeners with a different viewpoint to base their thoughts upon.
I want to specifically talk about your comment of the first performance. It's ironic because this performance was one of my favorites of the five. Although it wasn't the top it still amazed me in a way. I thought your remark, "the distance from the audience made the performance seem more cold and separated," to be different than my opinion on the location of the performers. I found the distance to be a great effect in the performance, and it really helped to fit the music that was being played by the performers. They definitely separated us on purpose to create the feeling that was somber and lonely like the song.
ReplyDeleteSimilarly to the previoius comment, although I do agree that the first piece in the main concert hall felt slightly "cold and seperated," I thought that it was an overall benefit to the piece. Much of Haydn's music was influenced by his childhood as a singer in church choirs. I personally felt that the distance in the auditorium highlighted the choral undertones and was almost a more accurate replication of how the piece might have originally been intended. The reverberations, which were increased by the distance, made me feel like I could have have been sitting in a huge cathedral or listening to something echoed from the heavens.
ReplyDelete