Like Buckminster Fuller, reversible sweaters, or Mr. Potato Head, Ensemble Pamplemousse's BLOCKS are a rearrangeable construction of elements. Prefab modules by the six composers are reconfigured into new structures of sonic architecture. As each block maintains its own internal logic, the listener is pulled forward through the linear unfolding of time. Intertwining patterns of material emerge and dissolve, connect, obstruct, and confer with each other, unveiling new angles of hearing each sonic unit.

BLOCKS by Andrew Greenwald, Natacha Diels, Kiku Enomoto, and David Broome, with Interruptions by Rama Gottfried and Jessie Marino

Program

kikudave 0-2:20  rama5  block.flt p3 from fry- end  rama2, natacha 4  dave string duo p3-4?  rama6......jessie1....rama5  block.pno 8-10:20  natacha andrew 10:20-12:30  block.pno natacha2 12:30-14:30
rama10...jessie2...rama10  rama12  kiku  block.flt w andrew p1-3  rama9
rama 13...jessie4...rama 13  jessiedave
rama4  daveandrewnatachanatacha3

In music, symbiosis exists between active and reactive parts which come together, coexisting to create sustainable life. For example, a violin bow is crafted to be perfectly balanced, yet it is unable to make sound by itself. However, when its rough hairs are drawn along a tightly wound metal string a tone appears. If either of the parts were absent the sound would not be possible. If we separate the parts of a sound, we can see how each part has its own way of working. The flute uses air and fingers to play a melody - but both air and fingers can make sound by themselves. Playing these parts asynchronously breaks the symbiosis of the instrument. The sounds become unstable, sometimes destroying each other while other times working in completely unrelated realms. The listener then, becomes the third member of a new symbiotic system - the one who hears all of the resulting tones, noises, and sounds and combines them into a living form of music.