Alarm Will Sound Releases Episode 4 Of 'Video Chat Variations'

Alarm Will Sound-"one of the most vital and original ensembles on the American music scene" (The New York Times)-continues its Video Chat Variations series of live remote performances on May 18th with American maverick and Pulitzer Prize-winner David Lang's if. This premiere follows presentations of Meredith Monk's Anthem in August,Tyshawn Sorey's Autoschediasms in November and John Fitz Rogers's Respiration in February. Archived videos of those performances are here.

It is inspired by a tweet from Senator Bernie Sanders: :

Lang performs Sanders's words while Alarm Will Sound reinforces the recitation on instruments. The musicians perform at their own pace, either following Lang's speech or leading with their own performance. The result is a music-making process that is analogous to democracy. Like all the works in the Video Chat Variations series, if was composed to be performed in real time over the internet. Lang's approach of using recitation as a pole star to which the musicians can orient themselves is a creative approach to the challenges of the medium.

Alan Pierson, Alarm Will Sound Artistic Director, says of if, "One of the most powerful and most democratic possibilities that the internet offers is the possibility that many voices can amplify the voice of a single individual. David's if expresses that possibility, asking the members of AWS to use their instruments to amplify David's voice, which in turn is amplifying Senator Sanders'."

Alarm Will Sound will continue Video Chat Variations through 2021 with new music by Jlin, Rohan Chander, and Daniel Neumann.

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