" D'ORE AND SPACE"
Sheets of acoustic glass - Music by glass - 2000/2001
Crystal acoustics, “pearly notes”, tinkling ripples of sound, Denys Vinzant’s sound show offers a range of scores written in gold ink on glass sheets, which themselves produce the sound, without any need for loudspeakers. A work of composition, the play betweem transparency, sound and visuals makes a whole, the scores interpreting all of the music you can see. They constitute an enterely which at the same time represents and reproduces the music, and in-between space ensuring the link between the sound and their perception by the senses. “D’Ore et d’Espace” was created for the “Atrium de la Cour des Loges”, at the heart of old Lyon, within the framework of “Lyon, City of Sound” during the “Music on Stage 2000” festival. Extremely popular, the set-up was extended for almost six months. This initial version was made up of twenty sheets of acoustic glass. A new version, orchestrating over sixty glass sheets, integrating new “loudspeaker” systems in glass (technological innovation) was designed for the Lyon National Opera. “Partitions Runes”, “Partitions Mandalas”, “Partitions Ver luisant” (Glow-worm), “Partitions Volutes”, meticulously hand written, tracing out highly complex curves and swirls. The set-up is based on two themes and their multifarious variations (mirrors, augmentations, incrustations, etc.) on a background of computer aided sound flow. Crystalline music, the loudspeakers amplify the sound in the depth and resonance of the glass and contribute their own nuance to these airy waters. D’ore ou d’ores, from latin “hoc hora”: right now. Denys Vinzant’s sound set-up is made up of 76 glass sheets. These are the “glass loudspeakers” that are linked up to a group of 16 CD turnables by the intermediary of 32 amplification channels requiring a 750 metre system of electrical cables. The signal arrives at the central capsule by means of the extremely fine electrical wires that you can see running horizontally, vertically or diagonally through the sheets and which run over the face of the larger sheets. This capsule, which would normally vibrate the membrane in a standard loudspeaker, in this case vibrates the glass sheet. This means using piezoelectric transducers (crystals) generally used for the sharp tones. Their passband however, does go down to 80 Hertz, but without very much power on the low notes. The glass sheets react in a very peculiar manner. The larger, the surface of the sheet, the more it will let out the sound of low notes, while the smaller sheets only let through the sharps. The new modules created in 2001, which have a motor attached to the sheet, acts like loudspeakers wherein the sheets nevertheless play the role of filters, either amplifying or damping certain frequencies. The scores are entirely hand-written. To inscribe them all has taken over 400 hours of work, stretching over two years. This writting is purely ornamental and does not in any manner interact with the sound. For most of the sheets, it represents the music that you will hear on it, music which plays in a cyclic manner, passing from one voice to another offering miscellaneous combinations and a diversity of superimpositions on the basic themes. As the music played on the “Partitions Runes” are particulary complex, the writting is purely decorative. It is made up of three identical series of fragments (over 8, 4 or 2 sheets) of themes from the “Partitions Ver Luisant” (Glow-worm Suite) presented in different combinations. The original acoustic and crystalline sounds have been digitised by means of a sampler. The sequences are computer generated, with some of them, including the water flow sounds, using the computer aide composition software developed at Grame. The music takes up the entire area, and at same time, if you bring your ear close to the glass sheet, offers you another experience : the feeling of entering inside the sound. Plate vibration system design : Michel Stievenard, sound engineer. Technical creation : Guillaume Blanc. Lumières : Jean Cyrille Burdet. Production : Grame, Centre National de Création Musicale in Lyon (pour la version 2001: commande de l’amphithéâtre de l’Opéra National de Lyon).
Sheets of acoustic glass - Music by glass - 2000/2001
Crystal acoustics, “pearly notes”, tinkling ripples of sound, Denys Vinzant’s sound show offers a range of scores written in gold ink on glass sheets, which themselves produce the sound, without any need for loudspeakers. A work of composition, the play betweem transparency, sound and visuals makes a whole, the scores interpreting all of the music you can see. They constitute an enterely which at the same time represents and reproduces the music, and in-between space ensuring the link between the sound and their perception by the senses. “D’Ore et d’Espace” was created for the “Atrium de la Cour des Loges”, at the heart of old Lyon, within the framework of “Lyon, City of Sound” during the “Music on Stage 2000” festival. Extremely popular, the set-up was extended for almost six months. This initial version was made up of twenty sheets of acoustic glass. A new version, orchestrating over sixty glass sheets, integrating new “loudspeaker” systems in glass (technological innovation) was designed for the Lyon National Opera. “Partitions Runes”, “Partitions Mandalas”, “Partitions Ver luisant” (Glow-worm), “Partitions Volutes”, meticulously hand written, tracing out highly complex curves and swirls. The set-up is based on two themes and their multifarious variations (mirrors, augmentations, incrustations, etc.) on a background of computer aided sound flow. Crystalline music, the loudspeakers amplify the sound in the depth and resonance of the glass and contribute their own nuance to these airy waters. D’ore ou d’ores, from latin “hoc hora”: right now. Denys Vinzant’s sound set-up is made up of 76 glass sheets. These are the “glass loudspeakers” that are linked up to a group of 16 CD turnables by the intermediary of 32 amplification channels requiring a 750 metre system of electrical cables. The signal arrives at the central capsule by means of the extremely fine electrical wires that you can see running horizontally, vertically or diagonally through the sheets and which run over the face of the larger sheets. This capsule, which would normally vibrate the membrane in a standard loudspeaker, in this case vibrates the glass sheet. This means using piezoelectric transducers (crystals) generally used for the sharp tones. Their passband however, does go down to 80 Hertz, but without very much power on the low notes. The glass sheets react in a very peculiar manner. The larger, the surface of the sheet, the more it will let out the sound of low notes, while the smaller sheets only let through the sharps. The new modules created in 2001, which have a motor attached to the sheet, acts like loudspeakers wherein the sheets nevertheless play the role of filters, either amplifying or damping certain frequencies. The scores are entirely hand-written. To inscribe them all has taken over 400 hours of work, stretching over two years. This writting is purely ornamental and does not in any manner interact with the sound. For most of the sheets, it represents the music that you will hear on it, music which plays in a cyclic manner, passing from one voice to another offering miscellaneous combinations and a diversity of superimpositions on the basic themes. As the music played on the “Partitions Runes” are particulary complex, the writting is purely decorative. It is made up of three identical series of fragments (over 8, 4 or 2 sheets) of themes from the “Partitions Ver Luisant” (Glow-worm Suite) presented in different combinations. The original acoustic and crystalline sounds have been digitised by means of a sampler. The sequences are computer generated, with some of them, including the water flow sounds, using the computer aide composition software developed at Grame. The music takes up the entire area, and at same time, if you bring your ear close to the glass sheet, offers you another experience : the feeling of entering inside the sound. Plate vibration system design : Michel Stievenard, sound engineer. Technical creation : Guillaume Blanc. Lumières : Jean Cyrille Burdet. Production : Grame, Centre National de Création Musicale in Lyon (pour la version 2001: commande de l’amphithéâtre de l’Opéra National de Lyon).