There’s a certain magic to a Four/Ten Media music video — intimate, provocative shots capture close-up elements of the performance that we’re not usually privy to as audience members held at a distance.
This approach to filmmaking perfectly complements Pathos Trio’s performance of Alyssa Weinberg’s Delirious Phenomena for three players inside a piano. With music strewn across the piano and bow hairs dangling out every which way, our aerial view allows us to see all of the secrets behind the humming factory of inside-the-piano sounds: textured scrapes along ribbed metallic strings, delicate and ethereal pizzicato, and a haunting chorus of bowed strings and voices.
Delirious Phenomena is one of five new commissions on Pathos Trio’s debut album, When Dark Sounds And Classical Music Collide. Featuring works by Weinberg, Alison Yun-Fei Jiang, Evan Chapman, Alan Hankers, and Finola Merivale, the project is the result of over two years worth of close collaborations with the composers to develop new works for piano and two percussionists.
Pathos Trio–Photo by Evan Chapman
Here’s what Alyssa had to say about her piece:
The title for Delirious Phenomena comes from the Surrealist idea of the paranoiac-critical method, a way of perceiving reality defined by Salvador Dali as the “spontaneous method of irrational knowledge based on the interpretative-critical association of delirious phenomena.” Works created with this method often involved hallucinations, optical illusions, and other multiple images. Focusing on a unified and shared setup, I wanted to have all members of the trio work together to manipulate the piano, discovering sounds in the spirit of this “spontaneous method.”
When Dark Sounds And Classical Music Collide will be released Fall 2021. Check pathostrio.com and follow Pathos Trio on Instagram and YouTube for updates.
About Pathos Trio
“Elevated themselves into those elite ranks alongside Yarn/Wire, Tigue, Sō Percussion, Iktus and Ensemble Et Al”, as described by the New York Music Daily, Pathos Trio (percussionists Marcelina Suchocka, Felix Reyes, and pianist/composer Alan Hankers) is committed to engaging classical/contemporary music, while also aiming to bring adventurous music to audiences through collaborations with young, living new music composers.
Through unexplored performance, Pathos Trio seeks to combine aesthetics of classical/contemporary genres with dark, dense sounds, which can be influenced through their personal interests in alternative music, prog metal, rock n’ roll, and electronic synthwave music, in order to create raw, edgy, and powerful soundscapes that will engage audiences in both alternative and classical/new music.
Whether performing with major groups across the U.S., working on large scale commissions with new music composers and ensembles across the country and overseas, or creating exciting chamber music projects with organizations in New York City, we strive in our creative process to be as collaborative as possible with our music, projects, and with the people we work with.
About Alyssa Weinberg
Composer Alyssa Weinberg is best-known for crafting visceral, communicative scores, which have been lauded for their “frenetic yet cohesive musical language” (I CARE IF YOU LISTEN) and “heavyweight emotional dimensions.” (bachtrack) Alyssa finds collaboration deeply inspiring, and her music pulls concepts from her work with writers, dancers and visual artists. Her music has been commissioned and performed by some of the most accomplished artists and ensembles around the world, including eighth blackbird, So Percussion, yMusic, and the Aizuri Quartet, as well as the Minnesota Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, Louisville Orchestra, and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra.
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