This is a short demonstration of the performance of Glass II in Postx (10 0ctober 2020). You get the best impression by first playing the audio recording (duration: 26 minutes) and next, while listening, looking at the successive pictures and text explanations. The audio recording was made in the audience space.
0'00'' to 5'50'' In the beginning only the outdoor soundscape from the outdoor microphones is audible in the audience space. Next, performer 2 starts to walk outside at a large distance towards the concert space. After a while he becomes audible (acoustically and through outdoor microphones) and visible for the audience through the front windows.
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0'00'' to 5'50'' Performer 2 (outside) plays by striking the spokes of a small, bicycle wheel.
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0'00'' to 5'50'' Performer 1 (inside) plays on a bicycle, amplified with several contact microphones, by pedaling, bowing, etc. He also controls the mixing and processing of the inputs of the outdoor microphones.
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5'00'' to 5'50'' Performer 2 enters the audience space while playing the same small wheel and closes the door. Performer 1 continues playing.
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5'50'' to 8'00'' The performers play together (both amplified and acoustically) in the audience space.
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8'00'' to 11'10'' They also play together on the same bicycle, fixed on stage, performer 1 bowing and performer 2 pedaling. At 10'00'' a window is openend and the acoustic sound from outside enters the audience space. The window is closed again at 11'10''.
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11'10'' to 18'10'' Performer 2 walks outside (via a visible workshop space in the back) while playing a rotating spinner and holding it against small objects. He walks outside through the side door and becomes visible through the side windows.
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11'10'' to 18'10'' As performer 2 passes by the side (outdoor) microphones his ticking sounds (spinner) become audible as part of the outdoor soundscape. Performer 1 plays the stage bike, by pedaling backwards, beating the spokes of the front wheel and attaching a clothes peg with soft rubber to the back wheel.
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18'10'' to 19'20'' Performer 1 stands in front of the building near a fixed bicycle. He is visible through the front windows for the audience and audible through a contact microphone. There are no environmental sounds in the audience space. First he plays an intimate duo with performer 1 (inside), by bowing the spokes (with a contact microphone).
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19'20'' to 22'10'' Next there is a sudden ensemble between inside and outside, with both players at their amplified bikes pedaling and playing with wooden hammers attached to the turning wheels. There are sudden shifts in perspective: performer 2 is heard through the contact mic, the outside (omni) microphones and acoustically (very soft, at a large distance). Next, at a high speed the inside (stage) bike is let rolling until it gradually stops.
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22'10'' to 26'00'' (There is no picture of the end section). After rubbing on the wheel of the outdoor, fixed bicycle, performer 1 re-enters the audience space. The outdoor microphones become audible again for a while (it starts to rain). In the end both players play together on bicycle wheels on the stage, first amplified, netx without any amplification.
All pictures by Wouter Cox