by Doug McCulloch
Not many people look at barbed wire fences and think, “musical instrument.”
But for Australian composer Jon Rose, the long stretches of these artificial boundaries crisscrossing the countryside were to him “a network of string instruments waiting to be bowed.” Experimenting since 1983, his sonic venture has finally come to the fore this past year as his music was premiered by world-renowned Kronos Quartet.
Avoiding the seductive snare of difference for difference’s sake that many experimental composers fall into, Jon Rose recognizes the need for artistic fidelity in using his resources strictly for the goal of the work. In writing music for fences, he recognized the use of barbed wire not only as sound-material, but also as a “symbol and tool of division, conquest, ownership, hegemony and paranoia.”
More than that, he found a great means of composing paradox and expanding the instrumental repertoire of contemporary art music: “To find music in such inherently ugly and unlikely artefacts can be a powerful experience… The fence also challenges our perceptions of what a musical instrument can be.”
It was apropos, then, that Kronos Quartet should tackle this project and put down their violins, viola and cello, and run their bows across the unforgiving metal of barbed wire fences. Breaking from the stereotype of what “classical music” is and should be, these musicians have long been advocates of new music and musical techniques, carrying the torch lit by the creative genius of past composers like Beethoven and Stravinsky who chafed under the burden of listeners’ expectations and popular taste.
Music From 4 Fences is both frightening and beautiful: engaging in its strangeness and a breath of fresh air for those who feel the weight of the music industry’s aversion to creative evolution; declaring independence through symbols of confinement makes the music that much more appealing.
“Through our concerts,” Kronos’ founder and artistic director David Harrington said, “Kronos attempts to make statements about our world, and that we are surrounded by fences seems to be an essential part of the time we live in. There might be a way to transform the nature of fences, by bowing them. We will try.”
Link to interview with composer Jon Rose:
Link to Jon Rose’s website:
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