Terminal City Soundscape: seamlessly melded

The Terminal City Soundscape was presented at the Heritage Hall as a collaboration between the PuSh festival, Music on Main and CABINET Interdisciplinary Collaborations.  It is a diverse program of new music, improv and experiments with recorded sounds from Vancouver dating back to 1973.  Works were performed not only on the stage but at the back of the hall and in the audience area as well.  Before the show and during the two intermissions, recorded sounds from various Vancouver sites and events were replayed.  For example, fireworks sounds from last summer in English Bay preceded the opening remarks by the shows artistic director David Pay.  

The program commenced with Hildegard Westerkamp’s 1989 ten minute recording called “Kits Beach Soundwalk”.  She mused about how the perceived loudness of the sound of the waves hitting the beach depended on what else was happening with the listener at the time.  Her thoughts on how certain sounds can re-energize the brain seemed to set a useful tone for the rest of the evening.  Following was a performance at the back of the hall by the twelve member Musica Intima choir of Rodney Sharman’s 2002 piece called “Love”.  Then cellist Peggy Lee did an interesting ten minute improvisation at the back of the hall with a video of her performing projected on screens at the front of the hall.  The first set concluded with the musica intima choir and cellist Ariel Barnes moving to the front stage to perform noted new music composer Jocelyn Morlocks’ 2003 piece “Exaudi”.  The echoes of the almost medieval gregorian chant type music resonated nicely throughout this large hall.  A recording from the 1973 New Years Eve fireworks in Vancouver was played during the 25 minute intermission.

The second set featured two works from the noted computer music composer Barry Truax.  The first work was the 1996 piece “Bamboo, Silk and Stone” composed by Randy Raine-Reusch and Barry Truax.  This involved an impressive performance by Mei Han on zheng at the front of the stage with the computer music played over the speakers from a computer controlled by Barry Truax at the back of the hall.  Mei Han showed that this traditional chinese instrument can combine well with the extensive capabilities of computer to create new audio experiences.  The second work was a 2008 update to a 1986 electronic music “soundscape” composition by Barry Truax called Riverrun.  It provided a great demonstration of how rich and complex sounds can be now be generated with computers that provide an extensive musical voice once the sole territory of organists and large orchestras. At times, it seemed that a dramatic film or videogame was going on somewhere just out of sight.

The final set consisted of six short pieces directed by Mina Shum with composers including Bramwell Tovey - the Vancouver Symphony conductor and composer of the new opera “The Inventor”, Veda Hille - one of the noted guests at the recent Hard Rubber Orchestra 20th Anniveray Concert, Alfredo Santa Ana, Martin Ritter, Ron Samworth - star jazz guitarist who also performed in the PuSh productiion 100% Vancouver, and Brent Belke.  Tovey’s piece was performed by a five piece group (pianist, violinists, cellist, percussionist, clarinetist) with variious Vancouver maps and scenes projected onto the screens.  In the Veda Hille piece, the instrumentalists took turns talking about their memories while the others continued playing.  Two of the remaining pieces had projection of text on the screens that unfortunately did not actually completely fit onto the screens and were thus difficult to read and match to the sound..  The video of the water during the piece by Martin Ritter called Lynn Valley Mist did work well.  The final piece featured performers mixed in with the audience speaking loudly over the music.  

If you can think of how sound can be treated like an abstract painting, then this evening should provide an extended gallery tour for your ears. Those involved in the film production and game design know how important the audio is to creating the desired atmosphere for their creations.  Many of the works showcased how different technologies and musical instruments including voice can be seamlessly melded in interesting ways.  The show took just over two hours including the two intermissions.  A cash bar with refreshments is available.