Das Phonem zwischen zwei Wörtern (a) (2022)

COMPOSER Turgut Erçetin

CORNET Tristram Williams

TROMBONES Benjamin Marks

SOUND Alistair McLean

VIDEOGRAPHY Agatha Yim at Polyphonic Pictures

LIGHTING TECHNICIAN Charis Rajamani

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Daryl Buckley

Filmed at the Primrose Potter Salon of the Melbourne Recital Centre 08.09.2023

Das Phonem zwischen zwei Wörtern (a) (2022) is a work by Turgut Erçetin written for Bb cornet and trombones. It’s performed here by ELISION Ensemble members Tristram Williams (cornet) and Benjamin Marks (trombones).

In the score notes, Erçetin speaks of tuning sounds in relation to physical space. Written into the music are co-ordinates that denote bell movements (ie. angles in which the bells of the instruments should be at specific moments of the piece), as well as directions on how the musicians should be positioned in relation to the space and each other. What eventuates is an interesting work that places as much importance on the reaction of sound in space, as it does on the virtuosic musical performances by the duo.

It was important that we had one camera that covered the sense of space that the musicians were performing in (this was achieved through the use of a 16mm lens) and the other subsequent camera angles were used to show the sonic chemistry between the musicians and the intensity of their spatial gestures.