Roger Reynolds FLiGHT

	FLiGHT FLiGHT: An Introduction by Thomas May “The natural function of the wing is to soar upwards and carry that which is heavy up to the place where dwells the race of gods,” observes Socrates in the Phaedrus, one of the greatest of Plato’s dialogues. “More than any other thing that pertains to the body [the wing] partakes of the nature of the divine.” FLiGHT as a dream, a metaphor, and — within a mere blip of the span of human history — a reality: this embodies a fundamental human aspiration that has inspired visionaries across the spectrum, from scientists and philosophers to poets, painters, and, of course, musicians. Conceived by the pioneering American composer Roger Reynolds, the project titled FLiGHT involves a multidimensional reflection on and engagement with this topic in the form of a full-length immersive artistic experience. FLiGHT, according to Reynolds “responds to the varieties of human experience with flight: gods, angels and demons, dreams, birds, kites, balloons, gliders, powered flight, and space exploration.” Completing its journey at the Park Avenue Armory, FLiGHT culminates in a performance event lasting about 80 minutes and synthesizing a wide span of performance components: an acoustical musical composition (a four-movement string quartet), other sound material, the interactive involvement of four actors voicing texts drawn from several millennia and several different cultures on the subject of flight, and a web of visual imagery that is projected onto 30 2 x 2 foot boxes that are reoriented by the quartet members as the performance develops. The quartet members also employ Foley sound devices during the media sections. The process of creation has lasted over three years. FLiGHT is an undertaking that in a sense updates the Gesamtkunstwerk for the hyper-technical 21^st century. Continue reading Thomas May Program note for the New York premiere, 30 and 31 October 2016

FLiGHT

FLiGHT: An Introduction by Thomas May

“The natural function of the wing is to soar upwards and carry that which is heavy up to the place where dwells the race of gods,” observes Socrates in the Phaedrus, one of the greatest of Plato’s dialogues. “More than any other thing that pertains to the body [the wing] partakes of the nature of the divine.” FLiGHT as a dream, a metaphor, and — within a mere blip of the span of human history — a reality: this embodies a fundamental human aspiration that has inspired visionaries across the spectrum, from scientists and philosophers to poets, painters, and, of course, musicians.

Conceived by the pioneering American composer Roger Reynolds, the project titled FLiGHT involves a multidimensional reflection on and engagement with this topic in the form of a full-length immersive artistic experience. FLiGHT, according to Reynolds “responds to the varieties of human experience with flight: gods, angels and demons, dreams, birds, kites, balloons, gliders, powered flight, and space exploration.”

Completing its journey at the Park Avenue Armory, FLiGHT culminates in a performance event lasting about 80 minutes and synthesizing a wide span of performance components: an acoustical musical composition (a four-movement string quartet), other sound material, the interactive involvement of four actors voicing texts drawn from several millennia and several different cultures on the subject of flight, and a web of visual imagery that is projected onto 30 2 x 2 foot boxes that are reoriented by the quartet members as the performance develops. The quartet members also employ Foley sound devices during the media sections. The process of creation has lasted over three years. FLiGHT is an undertaking that in a sense updates the Gesamtkunstwerk for the hyper-technical 21^st century.
Continue reading Thomas May Program note for the New York premiere, 30 and 31 October 2016

	FLiGHT The Composer’s Thoughts The FLiGHT Project is a full-evening presentation on the history of mankind’s aspiration for and ultimate attainment of the ability to fly. At its core is a musical composition for string quartet, composed by Pulitzer Prize-winning Roger Reynolds for the celebrated JACK Quartet. Additional dimensions include real-time computer processing and spatialization of sound, the integrated projection of flight-related images on multiple distributed surfaces, and the reading of an assembled text by a quartet of actors. The completed FLIGHT lasts 80 minutes, constituting an immersive experience: music, the voices of those who shaped the history of powered flight, a montage of images from ancient times to the present and from varied cultures, an integrated dialogue from four actors presenting the revelatory words written/spoken by those who, throughout history, imagined, attempted, experienced, and assessed flight. Flight as prospect, later as experience: so many emotions have been aroused by it. They span the aspiration to escape, fear and arrogance. Who among us has not dreamt of flying? Imagining, Plato writes: “The natural function of the wing is to soar upwards and to carry that which is heavy up to the place where dwells the race of gods.” And having attained the experience herself, Anne Morrow Lindberg wrote, “There was no limit to what the eye could seize or what the mind hold…” and Chuck Yeager described his sensations 45,000 feet above the earth, “where morning resembles the beginning of dusk, you turn on the last of the four chambers. God what a ride!” Still higher, astronaut Michael Collins fulfills Plato’s dream: “the stars are everywhere: above me on all sides … We are gliding across the world in total silence, with absolute smoothness; a motion of stately grace that makes me feel God-like …” The FLiGHT Project responds to the limitless variety of human experience with flight: gods, angels and demons, dreams, birds, kites, balloons, gliders, powered flight, space exploration, and drones. It draws on stories and concepts: the mythic flight of Icarus; diabolical generals and poets in ancient China; Peruvian Nazca images, Indian civilizations’ Vimana, Leonardo di Vinci’s ornithopter; Milton’s Archangel Michael; the Montgolfier brothers’ hot air balloons; the Wright brothers; Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart’s daring, and humanity’s voyaging beyond the home planet. Wishing for, eventually achieving, the ability to fly has been a central theme in humankind’s aspirations – the evidence suggests – since the capacity to imagine first evolved in us. Flight was and continues, quite literally, to be the stuff of dreams.

FLiGHT The Composer’s Thoughts

The FLiGHT Project is a full-evening presentation on the history of mankind’s aspiration for and ultimate attainment of the ability to fly. At its core is a musical composition for string quartet, composed by Pulitzer Prize-winning Roger Reynolds for the celebrated JACK Quartet. Additional dimensions include real-time computer processing and spatialization of sound, the integrated projection of flight-related images on multiple distributed surfaces, and the reading of an assembled text by a quartet of actors. The completed FLIGHT lasts 80 minutes, constituting an immersive experience: music, the voices of those who shaped the history of powered flight, a montage of images from ancient times to the present and from varied cultures, an integrated dialogue from four actors presenting the revelatory words written/spoken by those who, throughout history, imagined, attempted, experienced, and assessed flight.

Flight as prospect, later as experience: so many emotions have been aroused by it. They span the aspiration to escape, fear and arrogance. Who among us has not dreamt of flying? Imagining, Plato writes: “The natural function of the wing is to soar upwards and to carry that which is heavy up to the place where dwells the race of gods.” And having attained the experience herself, Anne Morrow Lindberg wrote, “There was no limit to what the eye could seize or what the mind hold…” and Chuck Yeager described his sensations 45,000 feet above the earth, “where morning resembles the beginning of dusk, you turn on the last of the four chambers. God what a ride!” Still higher, astronaut Michael Collins fulfills Plato’s dream: “the stars are everywhere: above me on all sides … We are gliding across the world in total silence, with absolute smoothness; a motion of stately grace that makes me feel God-like …”

The FLiGHT Project responds to the limitless variety of human experience with flight: gods, angels and demons, dreams, birds, kites, balloons, gliders, powered flight, space exploration, and drones. It draws on stories and concepts: the mythic flight of Icarus; diabolical generals and poets in ancient China; Peruvian Nazca images, Indian civilizations’ Vimana, Leonardo di Vinci’s ornithopter; Milton’s Archangel Michael; the Montgolfier brothers’ hot air balloons; the Wright brothers; Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart’s daring, and humanity’s voyaging beyond the home planet. Wishing for, eventually achieving, the ability to fly has been a central theme in humankind’s aspirations – the evidence suggests – since the capacity to imagine first evolved in us. Flight was and continues, quite literally, to be the stuff of dreams.

	THE REALIZATION PROCESS The FLiGHT Project is a multi-staged, multi-year undertaking during which a number of layers were developed: a text, montaged from historical sources; a 4-movement composition for string quartet; real-time computer sound transformations; an image-bank (drawings, paintings, photos, and film clips); and the design of a multi-element projection environment. Their layering allows differing dimensionality. Different combinations of “layers” can be presented, depending upon the nature of the occasion. Each layer has an interactive, performative character in tribute to the string quartet medium. So, for example, the text will evolve out of singular narration into a four-voiced conversational phantasm. The image bank will be simultaneously projected on multiple surfaces/planes so as to allow a counterpoint of visual materials reflecting the musical “conversation”. As a multi-staged collaborative effort, FLiGHT sought partnerships with institutions that could support the work-shopping of one or more Project layers. The collaborators were committed to in-process presentations: workshops that allowed for exploration of new materials and juxtapositions as they are developed. During such presentations, listeners/viewers were able to share in the evolution of the project. At later stages, full performances with differing layers of material occured, in venues that were particularly inviting in relation to the theme of flight, such as the National Gallery of Art in Washington. This project needs space – temporal space, physical space, mental space. A potentially attractive aspect of FLiGHT is that collaborating partners could have multi-year continuities in their programming, and, thereby, perhaps appeal to continuing, and developing segments of their audience base. Collaborators: Roger Reynolds (concept and composition), JACK Quartet (collaborating performers), Ross Karre (videographer), Paul Hembree (computer musician). – Roger Reynolds Read the vocal texts for FLiGHT here

THE REALIZATION PROCESS

The FLiGHT Project is a multi-staged, multi-year undertaking during which a number of layers were developed: a text, montaged from historical sources; a 4-movement composition for string quartet; real-time computer sound transformations; an image-bank (drawings, paintings, photos, and film clips); and the design of a multi-element projection environment. Their layering allows differing dimensionality. Different combinations of “layers” can be presented, depending upon the nature of the occasion. Each layer has an interactive, performative character in tribute to the string quartet medium. So, for example, the text will evolve out of singular narration into a four-voiced conversational phantasm. The image bank will be simultaneously projected on multiple surfaces/planes so as to allow a counterpoint of visual materials reflecting the musical “conversation”.

As a multi-staged collaborative effort, FLiGHT sought partnerships with institutions that could support the work-shopping of one or more Project layers. The collaborators were committed to in-process presentations: workshops that allowed for exploration of new materials and juxtapositions as they are developed. During such presentations, listeners/viewers were able to share in the evolution of the project. At later stages, full performances with differing layers of material occured, in venues that were particularly inviting in relation to the theme of flight, such as the National Gallery of Art in Washington. This project needs space – temporal space, physical space, mental space.

A potentially attractive aspect of FLiGHT is that collaborating partners could have multi-year continuities in their programming, and, thereby, perhaps appeal to continuing, and developing segments of their audience base.

Collaborators: Roger Reynolds (concept and composition), JACK Quartet (collaborating performers), Ross Karre (videographer), Paul Hembree (computer musician).

– Roger Reynolds

Read the vocal texts for FLiGHT here