An 18th Century Requiem (in a 19th Century Container) for 20th Century Derry in the 21st Century (2013)
This piece was the sonic element of an installation in the former ‘bridal suite’ area of Austins Department store. It was premiered at ‘The Big Shop Show’ (5th and 6th December 2013), a series of situated art and performance pieces at Austins Department Store as part of Derry~Londonderry City of Culture, curated by my colleague Paul Devlin. It’s a 21st century digital ‘music box’ process, helped with by the time travelling German–British composer, G.F. Handel (who didn’t quite make it to Derry during his ‘original’ lifetime, though he did make it to Dublin) reflecting on the upheavals of Derry’s 20th century from within the walls of a 19th century container (Austins department store).The piece features a brief digitally processed choral sample from a 1916 recording of Handel’s ‘Messiah’, which is transposed based on intervals from a setting of the 19th century Anglican hymn ‘There is a Green Hill Far Away’, whose words were composed in the city.
You can find out more about the overall project at: http://austinsmemoryandplace.com/about
You can hear an excerpt of the process via Soundcloud.[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/123510039″ params=”color=6ea9e0&auto_play=false&show_artwork=true” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
