I would like to say in latin: musicus silet.(…) this frightening reality they don’t want to be aware of: time
, and what silence
is.
René Daumal, On Hindu music
-
11 LP vinyl discs, coated with tar. Each of them contains one of the original recordings chosen in 1977 by Carl Sagan and the NASA, to be part of a now famous gold-plated copper disk, the
Voyager Golden Record —which is among the most distant objects from planet Earth ever sent by humans.
The Golden Record was sent into space to hypothetical beings of another galaxy. Its B-side displays a manual, where it is proposed to play the disc at the speed of the transition of the hydrogen atom; this drawing is inscribed above the discs inside the plexiglas boxes.
Coated with tar, these original discs become black holes or molten planets. Thanks to its properties, bitumen can perfectly preserve the music, yet preventing its immediate playback. It is a potential, silent music which emerges from this piece.
-
Chosen tracks
Morceaux choisis:
- J.S. Bach,
The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2, Prelude and Fugue No.1 in C major by Glenn Gould
- W.A. Mozart,
Die Zauberflöte, Queen of the Night aria No. 14 with Edda Moser from the Bavarian State Opera, conducted by Wolfgang Sawallisch
- Blind Willie Johnson,
Dark was the night, Cold was the ground
- Chuck Berry,
Johnny B.Goode
- Kesarbai Kerkar,
Jaat Kahan Ho
- Beethoven,
Cavatina from the String Quartet No. 13 in B flat, Opus 130, Budapest String Quartet
- Beethoven,
Symphony No 5, First Movement, Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Otto Klemperer
- Stravinsky,
The Rite of Spring, Sacrificial Dance, Columbia Symphony Orchestra conducted by Igor Stravinsky
- J. S Bach,
Gavotte en rondeau from the Partita No. 3 in E major for Violin, Arthur Grumiaux
- J. S Bach,
Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F, First Movement, Munich Bach Orchestra conducted by Karl Richter
- Louis Armstrong and his Hot Seven,
Melancholy Blues
Original LPs and EPs, tar, plexiglas
LP: 40,7 x 38,7 x 4 cm and EP: 27 x 25 x 4 cm
see also Echoes and
Sour Times