As part of the Berliner Festspiele the festival MaerzMusik is focusing on cross-over creative projects. This thought is also reflected in the performance of limina by Mark Barden on March 22 at Radialsystem Berlin which combines music, sound and movement.
The work for saxophone, percussion, keyboards and e-guitar is designed to slow down our perception of time and to invite both deep listening into the smallest levels of sonic development and a heightened awareness of the present moment. As the notation demands considerable flexibility, Mark Barden defined specific sonic vocabularies and outlined a choreography of actions that explore these vocabularies. Each musician has their own sequence of gestures and sound materials or playing techniques, which are presented in the form of palettes and pitch sequences. Rather than a polyphonic quartet, musicians should consider themselves four limbs of one body or, better yet, four slowly swirling currents in a massive aqueous body: seek the thinnest sliver of contrast between what is similar and what is identical, embrace the ambiguity when you lose track of your own sound in the sound mass, breathe together, blend. Find your own fascinations and “sweet spots” in these sounds and teach us how to listen to them.
The German premiere of limina is presented by Ensemble Nikel.
For more information see MaerzMusik.
