Rhys Chatham's "Crimson Grail"

Image taken from "http://www.peterguy.merseyblogs.co.uk/Rhys%20Chatham%20-%20A%20Crimson%20Grail%20-%20Liverpool%20Biennial%20-%20Anglican%20Cathedral-1.JPG"

 On 14th September 2012, Liverpool Anglican Cathedral was host to Rhys Chatham's artwork "The Crimson Grail", performed by 100 guitars and 8 basses. I was really excited to see the piece, although I didn't know what to expect, and admittedly, once it began, I felt a little underwhelmed by the opening. There was a point prior to seeing the piece when I considered the impact of having all of those powerful instruments playing simultaneously under one roof and the sheer noise and tension that they could create.

Image taken from:
 "http://www.bidolito.co.uk/bido-lens/crimson-grail-live"

However, I soon realised that Chatham's composition was not about a "song", as such. There was no real powerful tune or powerful thread that grabbed my attention in the same way any other music does. It seemed more to be about atmosphere.

Set within the beautiful walls of an obtrusive, "old testament" style cathedral, it at first took me a while to see an intention. The sound gradually built and softened, causing the actual music, as well as the audience to become consumed by a kind of unbearable tension. The setting provided an almost ethereal glaze to the sounds emitted from the guitars, which seemed more similar to that of violins. The sound also created harmonies and echoes that were bounced around the different sections of musicians.

Made up of four sections, each entity was instructed by a conductor, who were each being fed messages by Chatham, who stood tall at the front of the cathedral, beside the high-hat. This splitting into sections really utilized the space and it's acoustics.

It was, for me, a completely new way of experiencing art, which in itself was exciting. In addition to this, if the beginning had not convinced me, the end of the piece most certainly did. The sounds created were completely different to those which I expected. As a guitar player, I was interested in the actual notes and  chords they were playing, and at first I felt disappointed that they seemed to be playing no recognisable chords, but holding down all the strings in one fret and moving this up and down the neck, as well as playing vague notes around the frets. However, I realised this was quite a shallow view and the unfamiliarity became admirable and quite fun. The end resulted in a huge climactic episode with guitarists frantically strumming and moving up the fret-boards in turns. I felt the ending to be quite moving and uplifting, almost in a spiritual manner. Although it took me a while to get used to, I really enjoyed the experience, and I thought the layout of the whole piece was great, including all areas of the audience.