The Classical Music Book

328

See also: Ives’s Symphony No. 4 254–255 ■ Janá cˇ ek’s Sinfonietta 263 ■

Pithoprakta 308 ■ Ligeti’s Études pour piano 324

V

isual accompaniments to

music have been known

for centuries, becoming

ubiquitous and infinitely more

varied in recent times. In British

composer Thomas Adès’s In Seven

Days, a depiction of the biblical

creation story, his collaborator Tal

Rosner’s video illustrates, enriches,

and expands on the music—a set

of variations on two themes, for

piano and orchestra. Adès adds

an unusual twist. His themes are

not introduced at the beginning

but at the end, in a short final

movement, which distills the

core essence from the earlier six

movements corresponding to the

six days described in Genesis.

In this music, creation evolves

from chaos into order.

Images enhancing sound

In Rosner’s visual accompaniment

to In Seven Days, images dance

and spin in time with the sounds,

echoing the music’s kaleidoscopic

depiction of the balance between

chaos and order. The video is

mostly abstract, with geometrical

shapes, patterns, waves, and flows,

yet these are actually derived from

pictures of London’s Royal Festival

Hall and the Los Angeles Walt

Disney Concert Hall, which jointly

commissioned the work.

Adès and Rosner call their work

a “visual ballet,” and when used,

the video is generally projected on

screens above the orchestra. The

music can also be played alone, but

together the two create a powerful

multimedia experience. ■

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

Music and multimedia

BEFORE

1910 In Prometheus: The

Poem of Fire, Alexander

Scriabin calls for a “color

organ” to fill the concert hall

with colored light.

1952 John Cage’s Theatre

Piece No. 1, with paintings

by Robert Rauschenberg and

dance by Merce Cunningham,

is staged in North Carolina.

2003 Olga Neuwirth combines

video, music, and theatre in

her adaptation of David

Lynch’s film Lost Highway.

AFTER

2010 Michel van der Aa’s

Up-close combines video opera

(incorporating video images)

and cello concerto.

2016 Everything Is Important

by Jennifer Walsh uses music

and film to explore modern life.

THE MUSIC USES SIMPLE

BUILDING BLOCKS AND

GROWS ORGANICALLY

FROM THERE ...

IN SEVEN DAYS ( 2008 ), THOMAS ADÈS

The better you play it,

and the closer you come

to his idiosyncratic vision,

the more wonderful

it sounds.

Simon Rattle

US_328-329_Ades_Whitacre.indd 328 26/03/18 1:02 PM