Elevated

Composer David Lang presents four new works in conjunction with films by four ground-breaking visual artists: photographer William Wegman, filmmaker Bill Morrison, videographer Doug Aitken, and conceptual artist Matt Mullican. The compositions in ELEVATED range from the densely orchestrated Men (trombone, English horn, bass clarinet, baritone sax, keyboard, viola, cello, and double bass) to the spare and delicate Wed, whose solo piano provides an apt accompaniment to Wegman’s film of one of his haunted Weimeraners at play. Morrison’s grainy footage of an iceberg rising majestically above a heaving sea is paired with the martial drumbeat and sinuous, meditative cello and guitar of How to Pray. And Lang reworks the Velvet Underground classic Heroin as a somberly beautiful duet for voice and cello. All pieces are performed by Canada’s Contact Ensemble. The resulting collaboration forges new pathways—both neural and aesthetic—between music and cinema, hearing and sight.