For the second year running, Robert Jarvis has won the new media category of the British Composer Awards, this time for his installation Magic Stones.
Commissioned by the Millennium Court Arts Centre, in Portadown, N. Ireland, the work takes its inspiration from the South East corner of Lough Neagh and issues surrounding its ecological sustainability. The music, interspersed with comments from local resident Eddie Franklin, questions our relationship with the landscape, its musicality and the stories within it.
The award ceremony can be heard in full on BBC Radio 3 on Monday 27th November at 7:30 pm together with musical extracts and interviews with the winning composers. The broadcast will also be archived for seven days (http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/performanceon3/pip/evy2j).
Both Magic Stones and last year's award winning composition, Disappear, can also be heard on Robert's latest CD. To listen to extracts or obtain further information please go to http://www.chameleonlectra.co.uk/MagicStones.html.
Discussion(Eyewitness reports, descriptions, discussion):
Congratulations Robert, on your (well-deserved) 2 year winning streak!
Magic Stones - Robert Jarvis's sound installation for the Millennium Court Arts Centre in Portadown, Northern Ireland, has won this year's British Composer Award in the New Media category. The award was presented at London's Hayward Gallery on 24th November, and you can listen to the BBC Radio 3 coverage of the ceremony (archived for the next 7 days only) at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/performanceon3/pip/evy2j.
Inspired by the south east corner of Lough Neagh and its surrounding countryside, the Magic Stones installation takes its title from a listening game played by young visitors to the Portmore Nature Reserve who would be invited to take a 'magic stone', grasp it, and with their eyes closed see what they could hear. Jarvis used Kyma to compose and spatialize an atmospheric score including recordings taken from around the lough and segments of an interview with local resident, Eddie Franklin. The layered sounds tell their own story of a countryside on the verge of change - an area being taken over by the 'progress' of our time. Magic Stones invites the listener to pause and to reconsider this relationship. The composition can be heard on Robert's latest CD, released on the Motile label, together with other compositions inspired by time and place, including Disappear - winner of last year's British Composer Awards in the New Media category. CD information at http://www.chameleonlectra.co.uk/MagicStones.html.