Two Minutes From Home
20 x 2 Minute
Online Composition
Commissions for 2020
DECIBEL NEW MUSIC ENSEMBLE
Like many other ensembles and art organisations, Decibel had its activity for 2020 cancelled or delayed indefinitely. With members split across Perth and Melbourne, we wanted to keep playing and commissioning music while we were in and out of lockdown and looking to an unknown future, whilst providing some support for our community of artists and audience.
"'An internet opera in 20 parts" Daniel Portelli, Resonate Magazine.
"beautiful, eye-catching miniatures" Angus McPherson, Limelight.
"an interesting and challenging new take on playing and commissioning music" Ara Jansen, SeeSaw
We devised the 2 Minutes from Home project, where we commissioned 2 minute works from artists we have worked with in the past, or had planned to work with in 2020, from Australia and overseas.
Each work was presented as a fortnightly video release on social media between July and December 2020. They show the ensembles playing their parts in their homes, alongside the score in motion, in a series of uniquely designed videos created by videographer Karl Ockelford. These create a fascinating myriad of different music styles, video and score approaches.
The 21 works are created by the 6 ensemble members and videographer, as well as Lionel Marchetti (France), Marina Rosenfeld (USA), Bergrún Snæbjörnsdóttir (Iceland/USA), J.G. Thirwell (USA), Haruka Hiriyama (Japan), Jon Rose, Thembi Soddell, Pedro Alvarez, Gail Priest, Erik Griswold, Dominic Flynn, Amanda Stewart, Dan Thorpe, and Cathy Milliken.
Each new work is created for the Decibel ScorePlayer, an iPad application developed by the ensemble to enable the coordinated reading of graphic notations. Viewers follow the music as the musicians play it, enjoying the wide range of notational approaches the composers bring. The ongoing making of the project was challenging, as performers and composers each faced different stages and impacts of the pandemic at different times. This is elaborated in an associated series of podcasts that reflect these anthropological details, in addition to extra information about each work itself.
The 21 videos have been made into a 46 minute film that has been shown at the Festival Montréal/Nouvelles Musiques, (Canada, February 2021), Earth Day Art Model Festival (USA, April 2021), TENOR International Conference on Music Notation and Representation, (Germany, May 2021) and Classical: NEXT Encore Showcase (The Netherlands, May 2021).
The live program was premiered at the Revelation Film Festival in June 2022, and has since been performed in Melbourne at the Recital Centre in July 2022. It will have it’s UK premiere as part of the UK/Australia Season in November 2022.
There are blog articles about this project in LoudMouth, and Resonate, an interview in SeeSaw, and paywalled articles in Limelight and The Saturday Paper.
You can read reviews of the digital program in Resonate and Limelight, and read a review of the live show here.
The Commissions
Haruka Hirayama created a piece entitled "Tsumotta Yuki" for the 2 Minutes From Home series of new music commissions, performed by the Decibel New Music Ensemble. Haruka talks to Decibel artistic director Cat Hope from her home in Tokyo, Japan, in the last of the series.
Cathy Milliken created a piece entitled "View From Vega II" for the 2 Minutes From Home" series of new music commissions, performed by the Decibel New Music Ensemble. Cathy talks to Decibel member Louise Devenish from hotel quarantine in Queensland.
Tristen Parr created a piece entitled "Angel of Retribution" for the 2 Minutes From Home" series of new music commissions, performed by the Decibel New Music Ensemble. Tristen talks to Louise Devenish, reflecting on his experience of 2MfH and his piece
Amanda Stewart created a piece entitled "Soup (Tautology 12)" for the 2 Minutes From Home" series of new music commissions, performed by the Decibel New Music Ensemble. Amanda talks to Decibel artistic director Cat Hope about the basis of this piece and life in Sydney during COVID 19.
J.G. Thirlwell created a piece entitled "Angel of Retribution" for the 2 Minutes From Home" series of new music commissions, performed by the Decibel New Music Ensemble. JG talks to Decibel artistic director Cat Hope.
Pedro Alvarez created a piece entitled "Chronotype Situation No. 2" for the 2 Minutes From Home" series of new music commissions, performed by the Decibel New Music Ensemble. Pedro talks to Decibel artistic director Cat Hope about his work and a composers life during a pandemic.
Aaron Wyatt created a piece entitled "Glisten" for the 2 Minutes From Home" series of new music commissions, performed by the Decibel New Music Ensemble. Aaron talks to Decibel member Lindsay Vickery.
Stuart James created a piece entitled "Counterpoise" for the 2 Minutes From Home" series of new music commissions, performed by the Decibel New Music Ensemble. Stuart talks to Decibel member Louise Devenish.
Thembi Sodell created a piece entitled "Let Go of Control" for the 2 Minutes From Home" series of new music commissions, performed by the Decibel New Music Ensemble. Thembi talks to Decibel artistic director Cat Hope from regional Victoria, Australia.
Bergrún Snæbjörnsdóttir created a piece entitled "SOAP" for the 2 Minutes From Home" series of new music commissions, performed by the Decibel New Music Ensemble. Bergrún talks to Decibel member Lindsay Vickery from New York.
Jon Rose created a piece entitled "data data" for the 2 Minutes From Home" series of new music commissions, performed by the Decibel New Music Ensemble. Decibel cellist Tristen Parr talks to Jon Rose about his piece.
Cat Hope created a piece entitled "Delay taints" for the 2 Minutes From Home" series of new music commissions, performed by the Decibel New Music Ensemble. Cat talks to the performers Tristen Parr (cello) and Laura Boynes (dance) in this episode.
Marina Rosenfeld created a piece entitled "a martial exercise in togetherness" for the 2 Minutes From Home" series of new music commissions, performed by the Decibel New Music Ensemble. Marina talks to artistic director Cat Hope from New York.
Dominic Flynn's "Always Quiet" is a peice for the 2 Minutes From Home" series of new music commissions for the Decibel New Music Ensemble. Dominic talks to Decibel member Lindsay Vickery about his work.
Lindsay Vickery created a piece entitled "Mueller" for the 2 Minutes From Home" series of new music commissions, performed by the Decibel New Music Ensemble. Lindsay talks to Decibel percussionist Louise Devenish about his work.
Erik Griswold created a piece entitled "Pandemic" for the 2 Minutes From Home" series of new music commissions, for the Decibel New Music Ensemble. Erik talks to composer and reeds player in Decibel, Lindsay Vickery about his work and using the Decibel ScorePlayer.
Gail Priest created a piece entitled "6 Grades of Grain" for the 2 Minutes From Home" series of new music commissions, for the Decibel New Music Ensemble. Gail talks to percussionist in Decibel, Louise Devenish about her work and approach.
Lionel Marchetti created a piece entitled "La Patience" for the 2 Minutes From Home" series of new music commissions, for the Decibel New Music Ensemble. Lionel talks to artistic director of Decibel, Cat Hope about the work and his approach.
Daniel Thorpe is second composer to be featured in the "2 Minutes From Home" series of new music commissions for the Decibel New Music Ensemble. Daniel talks to artistic director of Decibel, Cat Hope about their composition.
Louise Devenish is the first composer to be featured in the "2 Minutes From Home" series of new music commissions for the Decibel New Music Ensemble. Louise talks to artistic director of Decibel, Cat Hope about her piece, 'Taut'.
