On 1 November at 17:15, Mads Emil Dreyer's Miniature 4, Miniature 5 and Miniature 6 are performed at the Danish National Gallery. The pieces are performed inside the exhibition space, adding a new perspective to the dark paintings of the Baroque.
Mads Emil Dreyer shares his thoughts on the relation between his Miniature pieces and the Baroque:
"At first glance, my Miniature works may seem far away from the Baroque. They are composed for a combination of small toy-like percussion instruments and electronics; there are i.a. glockenspiel, xylophones, a small guitar and a lot of cables going back and forth between a computer and some small keyboards and foot pedals that the musicians also play.
Over the past few years, I have worked with a serial format, where each individual piece is part of a larger context of works. In my Miniature works, I investigate in different ways the connections between acoustic instruments and discrete electronic sounds. The electronic sounds consist of simple sine tones that are transmitted through small speaker components called surface transducers that are attached to the acoustic instruments. In this way, the sound boxes of the instruments are transformed into small loudspeakers, which thereby reproduce both the acoustic and electronic sound. This integration affects both the character of the sine tones, but also affects the acoustic timbre in somewhat unpredictable ways.
On the surface, there is not much that connects this type of music with Baroque composers, but still: An important source of inspiration in working with the pieces has been Johann Sebastian Bach, who is an absolutely central figure in Baroque music.
Each work in my Miniature series has its own defined focus and uncovers a small corner of the overall field. The inspiration for this working method comes directly from Bach's works, especially his Das Wohltemperierte Klavier, which consists of small pieces for keyboard arranged by key: the work consists of two sets of preludes and fugues in all 24 major and minor keys. In their own way, the pieces display small expressive nuances in the keys and demonstrate various technical ingenuities typical of the Baroque.
My music is far from as complex and technically refined as Bach's, but in my miniatures, I have tried to transfer the approach of putting together small individual works, each with their own characteristics, into a larger unifying structure.
An eternally fascinating feature of Bach's works for keyboard instruments is their simultaneously restrained and expressive atmosphere. The music is often without great gestures, and if you look at the scores it can look mechanical and often almost mathematical, but when you listen to it, the meticulous constructions come to life and become small universes of musical drama – sometimes complicated, other times simple, but always expressive. I don't know if you as a listener will make this connection to Bach's baroque music when you hear my Miniatures, but for me, this way of expressing myself is close to my own musical temperament."
The pieces are performed by Ekki Minna Duo, Lorenzo Colombo and Marta Sogetti.
The performance is presented in a collaboration between Klang Festival and The Danish National Gallery.