For many people, visual stuff gets in the way of enjoying, say, a Beethoven piano sonata. Conversely, the spareness of some minimal of pattern music serves as a fine invitation to other forms of expression.
I was reminded of the simple beauty of British composer Howard Skempton‘s creations last night at the Minimalist Dream House Project, when Marielle Labèque played some excerpts from his Images, a work from 1989.
Images was written as an accompaniment to TV documentary celebrating the history of photography, not as a standalone suite. This puts the music in a different perspective that in no way diminishes its impact.
Skempton offers a crystal-clear view of how simple note patterns and rhythms can be delicately varied with interesting results.
Here is an example of another collaboration between musical and visual media, in this case Skempton and visual artist Alexander Gorlizki, for an arts festival in Poland. The pianist is John Tilbury in Miniatures — 9 Intermezzos for Television:
John Terauds