Music in the University 2015-2016 in association with Sound
Organ (e)
Olivier Dec: Organ | Geoffrey Veyrines: Electronics
King's College Chapel
Tuesday, 27 October 2015
Organ (e) was the outcome of a subtle artistic partnership between organist Olivier Dec and digital electronics expert Geoffrey Veyrines. It was Tuesday’s second collaboration between the sound Festival and its French equivalent, Musiques Démesurées of Clermont Ferrand hosted by Aberdeen University Music.
The work we heard, lasting around forty-five minutes began with an extended chord which went through multiple mutations steered sometimes by the organ, sometimes by the use of electronics seizing on a note and amplifying or changing it and sending it out in little decorative fragments through the Chapel. Sometimes the whole voice of the organ would be changed as if in a dream but never too far away from its original voice.
Thereafter, Olivier Dec threw out a series of different motifs to challenge or lead Geoffrey Veyrines to respond by changing or extending the sounds: arpeggiated chords, lively repeated chords in different rhythmic patterns, undulations and so on using a series of carefully, often only slightly altered registrations. The rhythmic patterns were often simple yet insistent and ultimately rather hypnotic. The collaboration between organ and electronics often supplying echo-like effects was subtle and well managed with signals, rhythmic and otherwise exchanged almost imperceptibly between the two performers. I was reminded of the way in which jazz performers seem able to read one another’s minds.
The overall sound world of the piece was attractively hypnotic – often relaxing, infinitely subtle and hardly ever disturbing.
The more attractive voices of the Aubertin organ were well exploited, the electronics supplying delicate little surprises that rang out through the Chapel. These were often intriguing and fascinating but never alarming. Overall this was a very different sound world from the one we heard earlier in the day in Kevin Bowyer’s recital – like gentler Messiaen perhaps but never much more challenging for the listener than that. There was definitely nothing to be afraid of in this occasionally loud yet consistently gentle music.
