Janek Schaefer
Extended Play
[2008, L-NE]
There really is no way to avoid or reproduce the “presence” of an art piece. A great deal of aesthetic experiences in the post-formalist artworld investigate the ontology of subjectivity, frequently by grounding the viewer of the art piece in a self-reflexive and participatory creative gesture which feeds back into the piece in question. In terms of audio, the space in which a musical work is installed is usually of principal importance to the meaning of the piece.
L-NE is an offshoot of Taylor Deupree’s 12k label which has been mandated with documenting audio installation work. In 2007, British composer Janek Schaefer exhibited Extended Play at the Huddersfield Art Gallery. The piece reflects upon the wartime experiences of Schaefer’s Polish mother. Schaefer sampled some phrases from a patriotic Polish folk song that was broadcast by the BBC to Polish resistance fighters in order to relay intelligence information on the day that Schaefer’s mother was born. Schaefer, along with Michael Jennings, then arranged this material into a ten-minute chamber piece for violin, cello, and piano. Each instrument was separately pressed onto a 7" record. The vinyl was then played on three motion-activated turntables that would interrupt the recording every time a viewer passed by them, thus invoking randomised intersubjective elements into the piece.
Of course, in order to release a linear audio version in a home-listening format, much of the original’s thematic content had to be removed. Schaefer has offered a more textured and ostensibly minimalist investigation of the original sources than the installation would have allowed. For the first three tracks, he focusses on a single instrument each. Throughout the album, but with these pieces in particular, Schaefer allows ample space for the microscopic textures of the old recordings to be defined. The sounds of the turntables are laid on top of the original, so along with a cello one can hear dust and crackle on the surface of the vinyl, a declination as the power is cut, as well as the jarring sound of the needle as it retracks within a groove.
The phrases are simple and the tones are drawn out to emphasize the texture of strings being played. ‘Accoustic Ensemble’ comes closest to capturing the intentions of the original installation. Schaefer has crafted the piece by using the original recordings played back at a variety of speeds. There is a certain emotional vibrancy to the piece, perhaps due to the density of instrumentation, but more likely due to the subtle overtones of elation – usually carried by the violin – located above the melancholy which encircles the listener through the rest of the album. Like much of Schaefer’s previous work, this is music of muted beauty and complex pleasures.
MP3: Janek Schaefer - Vinyl Cello Duo
