Christian Marclay’s Screen Play

UK premier of a new film by Christian Marclay composed and annotated to be read as a graphical score, interpreted at KYTN by three of the most exciting improvising musicians in Europe. A stalwart of the downtown music scene Marclay’s interests exist across traditional artistic boundaries. A pioneering force in the early 80’s New York, melding the DIY punk/no wave ethos with a healthy slab of Fluxus performance, Marclay turned his attentions on the turntable and thrift shop vinyl, using damaged and re-assembled recording to create his music. More than a musician, his vision also takes in striking video pieces, filmworks and installations, remarkable for the startling simplicity of their ideas and their obsession with sound, its meaning and its representation.

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Christian describes this work as “a musical score in the form of a video projection instead of notation on paper. I composed a silent collage of found film footage partially layered with computer graphics to provide a framework in which live music can develop. Moving images and graphics give musicians visual cues suggesting emotion, energy, rhythm, pitch, volume and duration. I believe in the power of images to evoke sound.”

Steve Beresford has assembles a heavyweight trio to interpret Screen Play. Multi-instrumental Beresford is himself a pivotal figure in the UK jazz and avant-garde scene; here he’s reconvened with John Butcher and Paul Lovens. Butcher is a startling sax player with a beautiful and personal approach to his instrument, soaked in overtones, multiphonics and acoustic feedback. Lovens is one of the most respected percussionists in Europe, with a hand in crafting some of the most breathtaking sides of improvised music to have ever been born of collective toil.