Tim Brady with Bradyworks and Quatuor Molinari in a CD/DVD release of four synchronized musical, video & theater works, ambitious and fascinating compositional pieces.
4. Double Quartet (Hommage a Dmitri Chostakovitch): Impossible Pizzicato Machine 7:54
5. Double Quartet (Hommage a Dmitri Chostakovitch): An Infinity of Four 9:39
6. Double Quartet (Hommage a Dmitri Chostakovitch): Hocket, Canon, Fugue 12:38
DVD:
1. Strumming (Hommage à John Lennon) (Brady / Brady, Messier) (2005) 10:46
2. Traces (Hommage à Charlie Christian) (Brady / Messier) (2005) 10:47
3. Hommage à Rosa Luxemburg (Casino Adagio) (Brady / Brady, Suteu) (2003) 19:05
4. Double Quartet (Hommage à Dmitri Chostakovitch) (Brady / Messier) (2005) 30:08
4. Impossible Pizzicato Machine 7:53
5. An Infinity of Four 9:38
6. Hocket, Canon, Fugue 12:37
sample the album:
descriptions, reviews, &c.
"My 20th Century CD and DVD is a multimedia extravaganza from composer/guitarist Tim Brady in collaboration with video artists Martin Messier and Oana Suteu. Linking the history and the music of the 20th century in a single music/video narrative, the four strikingly original compositions are paired with four spectacular videos to create a new and intensified musical experience in this new Ambiances Magnétiques release.
"Strumming" is for multiple guitars, and uses a single musical gesture (strumming) and a single video image (the hand of a person strumming a guitar) to slowly build up a trance-like series of chords, melodies and visual textures.
"Traces" is a strongly jazz-inflected work for guitar, piano, percussion, saxophone and sampler which pays hommage to jazz guitarist Charlie Christian, and which combines with Martin Messier's extraordinary video creation, based on the 2 million letters in the DNA source code.
"Hommage à Rosa Luxemburg (Casino Adagio)" is a slow, haunting work for string quartet and electronic soundscape, played beautifully by Montréal's Quatuor Molinari, and placed in counterpoint to Oana Suteu's evocative images of Île-aux-Coudres and the Casino du Lac-Leamy.
"Double Quartet" is the most ambitious piece on the CD, a 3-movement work reflecting on the life of Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich, and his home town of St. Petersburgh. Combined with archival footage, and impressive and unexpected images of present-day St. Petersburgh, this 30-minute work speaks not only of the tragic history of the city, but also of the strength and determination which it has shown in the past."-Tim Brady, July 2009
In concert the videos are projected in synchronization to the music, and played without interuuption. The 4 works are linked by a series of short texts and theater actions, performed by the musicians.
DVD: NTSC; aspect ratio 4:3 (720x480); Dolby audio; all regions