'A kind of austerity': Ackland combines current exhibit with new musical arrangements

On Aug. 25th, UNC students and community members gathered at Ackland Art Museum to experience an unconventional combination of contemporary paintings and experimental music.

Allen Anderson, a former UNC professor, was tasked with creating a composition for Ackland’s current art exhibition, Arranged, which will be in the museum until Sept. 1. He combined his experience in classical music with a modern electronic track he made to create a sound as abstract as the exhibit itself.

Though music and visual art are two different types of media, Anderson said that music also has color and form, similar to visual art; for him, music is dynamic just like painting is. Through writing movements for five pieces from Arranged, he showed his reaction to the paintings with music. 

After a quick introduction by Anderson, the performance began with the soprano saxophone, played by Susan Fancher. This movement was very dynamic in both its volume and articulation, he said, depicting Anderson’s vision about the painting that was the inspiration for the exhibit, entitled Arranged by Peter Halley.

“There’s an austerity to it [the painting] that pops out, or that caught my attention, and as a result the music that I wrote for it — in this case, movement that is for a soprano-saxophone — also speaks with a kind of austerity as well,” Anderson said. 

Though most of the composition was notated, Anderson allowed for individual creativity. He told performers what sounds he wanted to hear, but allowed for a little improvisation. 

Violist Simon Ertz, a UNC music lecturer, said that Anderson's arrangement was a bit unusual, consisting of a viola, soprano saxophone, electronics, and various percussion instruments. He said that while playing with electronics was daunting, especially because the musicians only had one day of group rehearsal, the performance came together nicely.  

“It makes you listen in a very different way, and encourages you to draw different colors out of your instrument,” Ertz said. 

Ertz’s droning notes took turns uniting and clashing with Fancher’s saxophone, creating both harmony and dissonance. These musical choices were intended to be a bit uncomfortable to the ears, but represented the unorthodox nature of the performance. 

While many movements showcased melodic concepts, rhythm also played a role in the composition. 

One movement in particular, inspired by the painting Late Edition by Greg Drasler, which is a part of the newest Ackland collection, highlighted percussionist Victoria Nelson’s rhythmic style. 

“It was a painting of the back of a bunch of men’s heads in bowler hats, but they were all kind of different colors, three suits were different colors, which I think looked a lot like what my solo piece sounded like, which was moving between three different main palettes of sound,” Nelson said. 

Nelson spent many hours learning Anderson’s technically challenging composition, but said the final product felt very rewarding. 

“The piece at the end of the day, when it starts to come together in your mind and with the other performers, really sounds like something purposeful and particular,” Nelson said.

Though each musician played individually at some point, the most intense part of the performance was during the fifth movement, inspired by painter Jules Olitski’s Cauldron Vision. The four musicians played together in this piece, building up to a large crescendo, before beginning to decrescendo.

Anderson said that though individual expression is important, playing music with other people motivates creativity. 

“Don’t discount the possibility of working in collaboration with others,” Anderson said. “Because that can often create energies and directions that one individually might not think of.”

With the music and arts scene ever-changing, Ackland Art Museum provides a space for multi-media art to thrive, as well as introduces the public to various forms of artistry. “Music in the Galleries” is one instance of Ackland’s experimental art exhibits. 

“This music is, some people might say, 'oh, it's not accessible, it's so avant-garde and modern, with these electronic sounds,' but just the feedback we have from people in the gallery, and also the people that come to the gallery — they're interested in modern art and the modern arts in general — they're very open to this,” Ertz said.

@dthlifestyle | lifestyle@dailytarheel.com