Weird Instruments

Medieval carnival

Ictus sets to work with several exceptional instruments.The musicians and the audience share the empty space of the Kaaitheater hall in varying configurations.  

In the first part, the notorious intonarumori are set up. These ‘noise machines’ were designed in 1913 by the futurist Luigi Russolo. Composer Mauro Lanza adds bird whistles, harmonicas and a toy trumpet. As is often the case in his music, in this work the atmosphere of the medieval carnival is very evident; a farce, loud, intense and blatantly funny.

After a spring drum solo by Pierluigi Billone, performed by Tom De Cock, it’s time for a 60-minute tour de force by the New York composer Michael Gordon (Bang on a Can). He composed Timber for six simantra players (a ritual percussion instrument used in the Eastern Orthodox Church). The musicians produce complex and seemingly endless rolls that generate undulating and slowly varying textures.