Painting the Music

Two years ago today saw the first performance of Sound + Sight, the performance piece featuring artists Irina Pisarenko and Maria Bablyak creating two pieces of art before the audience’s eyes.  The composer received input from the artists, requesting certain musical characteristics/elements, and I checked in at wide-ish intervals, the idea being somewhere in between Does it seem that the music is doing what you expect? and Where the music deviates from what you perhaps expected, does it nevertheless feel comfortable?

The construction of the fixed media was a particular pleasure.  Still I vividly recall the impression, when I had finished “cooking” the fixed media, that it seemed complete on its own.  But I took that feeling as indicating, not that that the addition of the live instruments was anything superfluous, but that all the components enjoyed complete integrity.