Adventures in the New Music Fringe

April 2019

Maya Verlaak highly conceptual Evidence-based (2018) asked the performers to reconstruct a pre-composed piece for harpsichord that had been deleted. From various pieces of ‘evidence’, including a written analysis and a melody derived from the ‘natural harmonics’ of the original piece, the performers attempted to regenerate the work. Retro Disco’s examination of the evidence led them in a very 1980s video game direction with the three performers using hand-held controllers to manipulate live electronics while walking constantly around the stage. The piece did seem to be genuinely ‘fun’, and it would be interesting to compare the results of this puzzle with other ensembles’ interpretations to see how close or far apart the musical results happen to be.

Read full review here