The sound piece Vandtrapper was made in an interdisciplinary collaboration that has consisted of both visual and compositional work. During a two month long residency at the Danish Institute in Rome in 2019 we’ve been researching the water supply system of Rome with special attention given to the fountains and with a starting point in Inger Christensens essayistic poem Vandtrapper. Through a succession of conceptual movements, we have transferred this research to sound that we release physically as a vinyl record. The composition is based upon five Roman fountains that figure in the poem.
In working with the material, we have related rather freely to the poem, and thought forward in a more general reflection on hydrology and urban infrastructure.
In our research phase, we have found out, that during different historical periods, carbonated water has been running in some of the fountains. The function of the fountains in public space has been to establish a quiet frame around intimate conversations, where the sound of the water drowns the low-key conversations. Analogue photography and digital video recording has played an important role in our research phase.
In the composition we make use of graphic notation, where the music is represented by symbols that do not belong to a traditional way of notating music. These symbols/emblems are brought in from the figurative ornamentation of the fountains - an architectural ornamentation task that was sponsored by the noble families of Rome. In this way every motif symbolizes the house that has partaken in the financing of the fountain. The work with the graphic scores has been equally much a work with visual as well as auditive expression. Methodologically we have attributed musical value to the architecture of the fountains, as a starting point for making the graphic scores, that contain the music in the same way that the fountains contain the water. But like with the water you can only attempt to contain the sound, it is not completely controllable. It waves, fails or floats across its banks. During our research stay in Rome there were severe flooding in Italy, and the roof of the Danish Institute was leaking, as it could not keep the water out during cloudburst. The systematization and attempt to control the water, that the fountains are the most flashy example of, turns out to be a more an more impossible task.
In the vinyl release the string quartet Halvcirkel perform the graphic scores, that are open to interpretation. In that way we have let go of the full control over the sound and the music, like it is the case with the uncontrollable water.
The piece is composed for string quartet and choir, and involves an electronic layer with hydrophone recordings (underwater microphones) from the five fountains among other things. In the vinyl release there are 2 posters with printouts of the graphic scores as well as Inger Christensens poem Vandtrapper, in danish and in an Italian translation by Bruno Berni.
The choir section of the piece can be performed by trained and untrained voice types alike. The release is supported by The Danish Arts Foundation.
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