The Instrument of Troubled Dreams
The Instrument of Troubled Dreams
2018
Medium:
Interactive audio installation with ambisonic sound.
Duration:
Variable
Cardiff & Miller
In the choir of the Oude Kerk viewers are invited to sit at a 60’s Mellotron** and play the keyboard. Each of the 72 keys has been programmed to playback a different sound effect, vocal track, or musical part; so viewers can compose their own film- like sound track, played back in full spherical surround sound over 28 speakers.
A raven flies through the space; a lone rower navigates amongst the pillars in the flooded Church; a boat overflowing with people is hit by a storm off the coast; Sweelinck composes in the organist’s loft; a wave of bombers passes overhead; the police search a small apartment, a Ferris wheel floats past on a barge. Sounds wash over the viewer, and the past, present, and future intermingle, tempered by the soaring presence of the oldest building in Amsterdam.
** From Wikipedia: A Mellotron is an electro-mechanical, polyphonic tape replay keyboard originally developed and built in Birmingham, England, in 1963. The instrument is played by pressing its keys, each of which presses a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, drawing it across a playback head. Then as the key is released, the tape is retracted by a spring to its initial position.
Credits
- All recording, editing, and mixing by Cardiff and Miller (unless otherwise stated)
- Additional mixing by Titus Madelechner
- Mellotron Replica built by Maryke Simmonds; paint by Cody Clyburn
- Production Management by Zev Tiefenbach
- Additional thanks to: Bodo Groen, Pirka Balvers, Roel Gremmer
- Sound Credits (Listed by playback keys on the Mellotron):
- “Theme for Troubled Dreams” composed by Til Ritter, recorded and edited by Titus Maderlechner (Keys 1-7)
- Wind Gusts, Wind Shrieks, Deep Low Wind, recorded by Alan Splet (Keys 9, 10, 12)
- “Guitar Chimes” composed and performed by George Bures Miller (Key 18)
- “String Quartet #1”, composed by Da Jeong Choi, recorded and edited by Titus Maderlechner (Keys 21 & 45)
- “Tango delle Rose”, 1927, composed by Bottero-Schreier, performed by Hélène Cals, (Key 29)
- “Entrance of the Gladiators”, 1897, composed by Julius Fučík (Key 35)
- “Psalm 138”, 1604, composed by Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, Performed by Matthew Baker, Kaspar Kröner, João Moreira and Cressida Sharp. (Key 39)
- “Moody Guitar”, composed and performed by Orion Miller (Key 43)
- Seagulls SFX, recorded by John Leonard (Key 48)
- Traditional Tibetan Prayer, performed by the Nuns from Thrangu Tara Abbey, Kathmandu, Nepal (Key 49)
- Improvisation on the Vater-Müller Organ, composed and performed by Jacob Lekkerkerker (Key 60)
- Lancaster Bomber SFX, recorded by John Leonard (Key 61)
- Improvisation on the Transept Organ, composed and performed by Matteo Imbruno (Key 62)
- “Bowed Metal 1 and 2”, composed and performed by George Bures Miller (Keys 63 and 65)
- Steam Engine SFX, recorded by John Leonard (Key 66)
- “Moody Synth 1 and 2”, composed and performed by George Bures Miller (Keys 68 and 69)
- “Scary Theme for Troubled Dreams”, composed by Til Ritter, recorded and edited by Titus Maderlechner (Keys 70, 71, 72)
- Talking Vocal Tracks by Janet Cardiff
Related Press
-
Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller at Oude Kerk, Amsterdam
By: Teresa Retzer
ArtReview
12 March 2019
-
The Instrument of Troubled Dreams in Oude Kerk, Amsterdam
By: Eva Tisnikar
ArtsTalk Magazine
8 December 2018