Performances of GAME 5-4-2

Bernhard Lang portrait

Plus-Minus Ensemble

20:00, Monday 1 May 2023
Cafe OTO (external link)
18-22 Ashwin St, Dalston
E8 3DL London
United Kingdom

Repetition does not change anything in the repeated object, but it does change something in the mind that looks at it. (David Hume, quoted by Gilles Deleuze)

Austrian composer Bernhard Lang (external link)’s ongoing series Differenz/Wiederholung (Difference/Repetition) explores the potential of repetition in music in its many varied forms. Lang’s work ranges from the strictly notated to graphical, from fully specified to semi-improvised, and from highly abstract material to quotes from other composers and samples from the soundtracks of Boris Karloff films.

The concert will include the launch of a new book on Lang by musicologist Christine Dysers and an interview with the composer.

Bernhard Lang portrait

Plus-Minus Ensemble

19:00, Wednesday 3 May 2023
Reid Concert Hall
Edinburgh College of Art
EH8 9AG Edinburgh
United Kingdom

Repetition does not change anything in the repeated object, but it does change something in the mind that looks at it. (David Hume, quoted by Gilles Deleuze)

Austrian composer Bernhard Lang (external link)’s ongoing series Differenz/Wiederholung (Difference/Repetition) explores the potential of repetition in music in its many varied forms. Lang’s work ranges from the strictly notated to graphical, from fully specified to semi-improvised, and from highly abstract material to quotes from other composers and samples from the soundtracks of Boris Karloff films.

Morphing Time

Plus-Minus Ensemble

Deep Time

19:30, Sunday 19 November 2023
Fruitmarket
45 Market St
EH1 1DF Edinburgh
United Kingdom

Plus Minus Ensemble presents a diverse programme, inviting the listener into contact with the material nature of sound, rather than what it represents. Franzson’s time stretching work slows down the body and mind to draw one into the grain of sound. Lim (external link)’s duo is titled after the Viking rune symbolising fertility and imagines a ritualistic creation of sound itself. Crane sustains the most elemental of musical objects to create a feeling of timelessness and space. Lang (external link)’s Game series creates a dynamic and reactive environment for the performers who negotiate an overlapping stack of interacting loops. Shiori Usui (external link) has created a new piece for Deep Time exploring the layering of instrumental and electronic sound.

Games and Songs

Plus-Minus Ensemble

22:30, Saturday 24 February 2024
Centro Cultural de Belém (external link)
Praça do Império
1449-003 Lisbon
Portugal

Plus Minus Ensemble presents a diverse programme, inviting the listener into contact with the material nature of sound. Bernhard Lang (external link)’s Game 542 creates a dynamic and reactive environment for the performers who negotiate an overlapping stack of interacting loops. Liza Lim (external link)’s duo is titled after the Viking Rune symbolizing fertility and imagines a ritualistic creation of sound itself.

Davíð Brynjar Franzson’s time-stretching work slows down the body and mind to draw one into the grain of sound. The instruments meld with each other, fusing into a single pulsating entity, and creating a hypnotic experience. The witty and playful 8 Songs by composer/performer Francesca Fargion are joyfully observant of everyday scenarios. The concert ends with Laurence Crane’s tribute to Danish road cyclist Bjarne Riis, as slow changing organ chords trigger gentle responses from clarinet and cello.