National Trust property Ightham Mote in Kent will present Echo by Brian Elias through October 31st. Written for five music boxes, the piece is a collaboration with the composer’s cousin, acclaimed sculptor Sir Anish Kapoor. The display accompanies Ightham Mote’s autumn exhibition ‘Country Houses, Jewish Homes’ and will complement two concerts to be presented at the property as part of the Music@Malling Festival on the 24th and 27th of September.
In the composer’s words, “Anish invited me to his studio and I was totally enchanted by the several models he had produced. The designs were magical, and immediately evoked for me a world of gentle sounds and dreams […] The clockwork mechanisms are contained within the sculptures and are wound in the usual manner. Some of the mechanisms play for 14 seconds and others for 28 seconds, while the large ‘bell’ strikes once every 9 seconds. Like all clockwork mechanisms, they play for a much longer time if left to wind down completely. These different speeds and starting points make for a constantly changing sound and consequently, no combined ‘performance’ is ever repeated.”
