Bridgemusic for Henry Hudson Year
Bertolozzi’s Sound installation Brings Free Music to Passersby
Aug 6, 2009
Classical music performed on a bridge? Joseph Bertolozzi’s composition makes it possible. The classical composer and organist had the idea for “bridgemusic” shortly after he had given a concert of his “Bronze Collection” at the 2004 US-tennis open.
The Collection is a series of gongs and cymbals from all over the world, which started his interest for percussion-oriented compositions. “ I have them arranged around me in a horseshoe, there are some at knee level, some at chest and some over my head. And after the concert at the US-tennis open, my wife was standing next to the poster of the Eiffel tower and went like this, like banging a big cymbal or a gong. And I said to myself, yes, that would work. Everything vibrates that would work!“ he explained in an interview on the bridge in July.
Playing the Bridge like an Instrument
Since he had no connections in Paris and did not speak any French he started looking for a domestic monument in his own area, the Hudson Valley, New York. And since the structure of the Mid-Hudson or Franklin Delano Roosevelt Bridge, which spans in a length of 900 meters across the Hudson River reminded him of a harp, he decided to record there.
It took him a while to persuade the authorities. „They did a very thorough background check with all the security issues right now“, Bertolozzi explained to the author in July. But when they found that he was a legitimate composer they agreed.
Recording at a Different Level
Together with some of the bridge workers Bertolozzi climbed out on the bridge. He used mallets, big and little metal hammers and part of a tree to bang on ropes, signs, railings, and support columns. He recorded underneath and down below the bridge, but his most exhilarating experience was, to climb up through one of the pillars. „I am not really afraid of heights, but this was a whole other level. But I figured if I was having musicians out here, anybody out there, I had to be able to do it too. So once I came to that decision I had to do it, it was not a question of being afraid, I had to do it“, Bertolozzi said in an interview in July.
Bertolozzi Collected 320 Sounds
„One of the things that makes this unique is that I wrote fixed compositions, without any kind of processing on the sound“, explains Bertolozzi while he shows how to he did use the hammers, sticks and mallets to produce sound.
All in all Bertolozzi recorded on 150 different surfaces and collected about 320 different sounds. In the end he did not use all of them, because some of them sounded too similar – and he also had to keep in mind, that every composition could be played by live musicians.
Number 18 on Classical Crossover Charts
Since the live performance of “bridgemusic” with 24 musicians would cost about 2.2 Million Dollars, it is questionable if this will happen anytime soon. But the CD has been successfully rated and landed on place 18 of the Classical Crossover Charts and on place 39 of the classical charts.
Music lovers can also visit the Mid-Hudson Bridge, which connects New Paltz and Poughkeepsie. All eleven pieces plus a short explanation about the recording process can be accessed via a soundboard. At rainy days interested visitors can listen to “bridgemusic” in the park around the bridge via the local transmitter on their car radio. For more information please also visit Joseph Bertolozzi’s website.
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