Five Octave Range Mix / 五個八度混接
Director: Paul Wong, 黃柏武
Duration: 00:29:19; Aspect Ratio: 1.778:1; Hue: 32.480; Saturation: 0.180; Lightness: 0.198; Volume: 0.235; Cuts per Minute: 6.409
Summary: Five Octave Range, a single channel video work by Paul Wong edited from his four channel site specific outdoor installation of the same title proposes a democratizing and queering of the opera, a primarily elitist art form. The work features four performers with diverse octave ranges, a baritone, tenor, coloratura soprano and mezzo singer, who were asked to demonstrate their skills for the camera in free form without any rigours of form or instruction placed upon them. Wong's emphasis is on the gripping affect of operatic overtures that is able to transcend its own exclusivity. Paul Wong further experiments with the recorded performances, by digitally exaggerating and manipulating their overwhelming quality, mutating it into a futuristic form that can be accessed by all—the seasoned opera goer, and non-traditional audiences - actualizing his conviction that art really is more democratic than the circuit it is often allowed to traverse.
〈五個八度〉是黃柏武從同名特定場域戶外四頻道錄像裝置剪輯而成的單頻道錄像創作。作品試圖民主化歌劇,這個原先僅屬於上層社會的娛樂。〈五個八度〉呈現四位不同聲場的演出者,分別為男中音、男高音、花腔女高音,和次女高音。幾位聲樂手在沒有任何指示下,在鏡頭前自由展現聲樂技巧。黃柏武藉此呈現聲樂跨越階級與族群的穿透力,並且透過數位編輯使影像散發未來色彩,進一步觸及大眾(包括有經驗的歌劇鑑賞家、非典型觀眾等)並探索錄像演出的各種可能。藝術家藉此傳達,藝術其實比其所運行的網絡更為開闊與民主。
Commissioned by Vancouver Opera Festival
Five melody lines are composed with sounds made by four vocalists seen on the screen and another vocal that’s outside of the frame. These five melodies don’t appear to be in obvious harmony, but at the same time, they also don’t seem to have created a dissonant interval. Opera arias (such as the aria “Hell’s Vengeance Boils in My Heart” sung by the Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute) are interwoven with vocal scale exercises, similar to the sounds made by those studying opera in a music school, when they practice their singing in a piano room. These sound effects remind one of Apartment House 1776 composed by John Cage in 1976, which consists of four vocalists each singing a song from a different religious practice and also instrumental sounds. Five Octave Range Mix also shows interval points indicating the conclusion of a performance (marked by the sound of applause) by different voice types at different time points. These interval points would then lead to a switch in the positions of the performers. It is as if the melody lines of different instruments in an orchestra are swapped between the performers, which is an expressive approach that is often used in orchestral works.
The colors represent different tonal qualities. The patterns inside the circles and the layering mutations (such as fragments, contortions) are parallel to the mutated processes that the artist has done to all the vocals, including lengthening, slowing down, and skipping.
由畫面上的四個歌手發出的聲音,加上一個畫外音,構成了五個旋律線。這五條旋律線並沒有顯著的和聲關係,但同時也並未製造出顯著的不和諧音程。歌劇的詠嘆調(例如“魔笛”的夜之后的詠嘆調〈地獄的復仇之炎在我心燃燒〉)與發聲練習所使用的音階穿插出現,猶如音樂系聲樂組的琴房傳出的練習聲。這樣的聲響效果,立刻使人想到 John Cage 在 1976 年的作品“Apartment House 1776”。該作品中,不僅同時有四種相異的宗教歌曲被演唱,還伴隨有器樂的聲音。在《五個八度混接》此作品中,還可看到不同的聲部會在不同的時間點迎來表演結束(以掌聲標示)的段落點,在這段落點會切換每個表演者出現的位置。宛若樂團中不同樂器的旋律線互相交給對方演奏,為管弦樂作品中常出現的語法。
顏色代表了音色不同的質地,而圓圈中的花紋與影像層次上的變形(包含破碎、扭曲等)則平行於創作者對所有人生的變形處理,如拉長、減速播放、跳針等。
counterpoint
finale
silence
With the performers exiting the scene one after the other, the completely dark space is slowly perceived by the sense of hearing. This purely black backdrop echoes with John Cage’s notion on “silence”. All types of music come from sounds made in the midst of silence, and it is precisely because of the pause or stop of the music that people begin to realize the existence of silence, which exists only in the form of “duration”. Moreover, silence also indicates the size of the space it covers, and whether the borders of the space are smooth or rugged.
隨著表演者逐一退場,這個純黑的空間慢慢被聽覺意識到。而這純黑的背景,猶如 John Cage 所言的「沈默」(silence)。所有的音樂都是在沈默的包圍中間製造出聲響,而正因為音樂的停頓或停止,人們才開始意識到沈默這個僅有時長(duration)的存在。並且,沈默還標示著其所覆蓋空間的大或小,邊緣圓滑或崎嶇。
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