Christoph Brech Portrait eines Orchesters

	CHRISTOPH BRECH MÜNCHNER STADTMUSEUM NOVEMBER 28 – JANUARY 04, 2009 "PORTRAIT EINES ORCHESTERS"


		Bayern 4 Klassik-Magazin "Leporello" Ein Beitrag von Christin Gottler (4:02 min.).
	It is pitch-dark. 104 small round loud speakers are attached with copper wires to the ceiling, hanging over the heads of the visitors in form of an orchestra. Each loud speaker has installed a tiny bulb, as big as a pea. As soon as one speaker gives a sound, the bulb starts to gleam, once lighter, the other time darker, depending on the volume. The first bars of Gustav Mahler’s fifth symphony begin to fill the room – and the bulbs glitter, glimmer and gleam in the rhythm of the music: Mahler’s fifth symphony performed as a sea of lights. With his installation „Portrait of an Orchestra”, artist Christoph Brech has created an impressive and straight visualisation of music and at the same time a highly sensitive portrait of an orchestra. For three days, Brech accompanied the BR-Symphony Orchestra of Munich, which consists of a total of 104 musicians, during its’ rehearsals. Over nearly each orchestra desk he installed a microphone, which recorded the complete rehearsals. Brech shortened this recording to half an hour length and distributed it over the 104 loud speakers in the exhibition space. The visitor can sit, lie or walk under the hanging speakers around, whilst over him the lights gleam in the rhythm of the music like a star-spangled sky. It feels like if one would be strolling freely through an invisible orchestra: here, the contrabasses sound louder, there the violins, and over there, the blowers. In opposition to common live recordings, Brech doesn’t intend to offer a unique sound performance, but a vivid portrait of an orchestra. Thus, like few others before, Brech has infringed upon the intimate sphere of the training process. The last days of rehearsals previous to a show are specially demanding for musicians. Everybody is intensively devoted to his instrument and in his search for the perfect sound particularly vulnerable. Brech takes this situation as a point of departure for his installation. In order to come up to the diversity of the play on a visual dimension, Brech installs in the 104 bulbs small electric resistances, which are linked to the volume. Any hesitation, any stumble or interruption is been reflected by the intensity of the light. All together, the bulbs form a highly sensitive network mirroring the individual constitution of each orchestra member and their play in a glimmering light sea. With the installation "Portrait of an Orchestra", Brech continues a series of experiments targeted to his effort to visualise music, which forms an omnipresent theme in his work. Thus, Brech has collaborated with the conductor Christoph Poppen, the vocalist Andreas Scholl and Christoph Prégardien and with the French string quartet “Quatuor Ebène”. His work has been awarded several prizes, amongst them the prestigious Will Grohmann prize of the Akademie der Künste, Berlin. Public collections like the Collection of the German Republic in Berlin, the Museum of Modern Art in Frankfurt as well as the private Goetz Collection in Munich own pieces of Brech. „Portrait of an Orchestra“ was performed for the first time in the City Museum of Munich from 29.11.08 to 04.01.09, with a preview on 28.11.08.