Australian Music Centre | Breaking sound barriers

Work Overview

The Blage Series is a project of Simon James Phillips where he curates and performs one off, site-specific performances. He forms a new ensemble for each performance, and creates a concept that is specific to the performance space. A mix between concert and installation.

For example, the 3rd in the series was an extended installation and performance piece curated by Phillips for the opening of the Tanz im August Festival in Berlin. It was a one-off, five hour uninterrupted improvisation with an ensemble of six of Berlin's most visible experimental artists - Tony Buck (drums and percussion), Werner Dafeldecker (double bass), BJ Nilsen (electronics), Liz Allbee (trumpet), Arthur Rother (guitar) and Simon James Phillips (piano). The ensemble was placed in the centre of a large dance studio and the audience, free to come and go, were admitted only once the work had begun - the five hour duration unknown to the audience. The ensemble created expansive sonic atmospheres that incorporated outside concrete noise, extended techniques and a sense of gradual overlapping thematic development. Communicative and responsive yet with a continual sense of consensual disconnection between the artists.

Blage 3 (a reduced version) has been released as a double CD set on Mikroton Recordings.

Work Details

Year: 2011

Instrumentation: Various site-specific settings (small ensemble or solo).

Difficulty: Advanced

First performance: by Liz Allbee, Tony Buck, Werner Dafeldecker, B.J. Nilsen, Simon James Phillips, Arthur Rother — 11 Aug 11. Podewil, Berlin

The composer notes the following styles, genres, influences, etc associated with this work:
improvisation, microtonal, electronic, echtzeitmusik, microsound, minimalism