A Wave and waves

Speak Percussion and guests perform A Wave and waves by Michael Pisaro, an immersive work for 100 performers on 100 percussion instruments.

The 2015 premiere at Melbourne Festival was the world’s first live performance of the work. A rare deep listening experience in which the audience sits between the performers, experiencing the music as if part of an ocean of sound. An intimate experience of monumental proportions. Massive waves of sound are formed cumulatively from the tiniest sounds – seeds falling on glass, paper tearing, sandpaper on stone or bowed bells.

As the title suggests, A Wave and waves is inspired by the sound and regularity of the ocean’s waves, as well as by the duality between the collective action of granular sounds (drops of water) and the large event (the wave). In Michael’s words, A Wave and waves is “about confounding the small and the large.

Small sounds.

Many different kinds of them.

Very soft.

On a large timescale.”

Pisaro realises the duality between the small and the large by employing 100 individual percussive sounds in ever-evolving textures across an expansive 74-minute structure comprised of two 35-minute sections and a 4-minute bridge of silence. The first section is one colossal percussive wave lasting the entire 35 minutes. The second section is a series of 100 small waves that move across the grid of performers. A Wave and waves is a massive organism. The proportions of the work, and the sheer beauty of the sound world, will offer an unforgettable evening for both Melbourne audiences and performers alike.

Each presentation included working with 100 community members to rehearse and perform the work.