Programme note: The Sinking of the Titanic

[CONCEPT] The Sinking of the Titanic is regarded as a masterpiece of European minimalism. The piece is based on the popular story that the musicians on the deck of the cruise ship kept playing even after it began to sink. English composer Gavin Bryars focuses not on the frenzied activity on deck or the drama itself, but more on the slow descent of the ship and of the music (some of it imaginary) after the fatal collision. What happens to sound when it vanishes deeper and deeper beneath the surface, when the water weights more and more, or when all sorts of currents and cross-currents start playing with it? The Sinking of the Titanic in this way becomes a primarily physical adventure, literally and figuratively a sound bath.

[DIFFERENT VERSIONS] There are several versions of The Sinking of the Titanic. Initially, in 1969, the work was purely conceptual, consisting only of a page of instructions for performing it. In 1972, Bryars made the piece more concrete, among other things by giving a prominent role to the famous English hymn Autumn, which from then on, including in all its later versions, became the core theme of the composition. Another version followed in 1975, which was recorded under the supervision of Brian Eno and which many still consider the ‘classic version’. It is quite introspective and emphasises rich and tranquil timbres, even though there are spoken voices in it. These are references to the testimonies of Titanic survivors; their primary function is to create mood, with the ‘testifying’ more important than the content of the testimonies themselves. After the wreckage of the Titanic was finally discovered in 1985, Bryars decided to thoroughly revise his piece again. The new version is much longer and much more concrete, especially because it integrates more environmental sounds (cracking ice, morse code, more spoken testimonies, etc.), giving the ‘meditative’ piece a more ‘documentary’ connotation. As the third millennium began there came a version with an expanded role for the electronics and in 2012 came a ‘centennial version’, whose main innovation was the addition of archival film images.

[NEW VERSION] The HERMESensemble started with the music from the ‘centennial version’ mentioned above for their version, which forms the basis of a concert in three phases. First the prologue is heard, in which vague but menacing ambient sounds are evoked. Then comes an artistic/documentary short film by Lise Bruyneel about the construction of the ill-fated ship. The third and longest part, beginning with the crash, symbolises the cruise ship’s slow descent. Images inspired by water and ice are projected on an imposing set, a twelve-metre-wide iceberg, throughout the performance. The reflections on a mirrored floor also contribute to a pervading sense of spaciousness. Juan Parra will enrich the centennial version with some new electronic interventions.

Pieter Bergé