Search - Bryars, Heaton, Smith :: Listening Room

This "listening room" is an installation that takes the form of an acoustic map of the Chateau d'Oiron in France. Specific music was written in order to establish the architectural acoustic of each space and to animate the spaces in which the music was played. This was recorded ambisonically, and a listening room was established in the chateau where the listener can hear the natural acoustic of each source room. This room is, therefore, both a map of the space and a space in itself. Along with Gavin Bryars himself, this recording features two members of his ensemble as well as his sound designer and engineer. In addition, he uses members of the village band (La Fanfare d'Oiron), accepting the eccentricities of their performance and adding three players to the ensemble for two rooms. This is a unique recording of that installation, which has played in the chateau since 1993 and has been exhibited at the 2006 Alvar Aalto Architecture Symposium and in the Musée d'Angers in France.