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2005/1


Lee Patterson


“Manfred Werder’s 2005/1 is deceptive in its economy and simplicity. The score appears straightforward; it is anything but in its intelligent even witty challenge to musicians and recordists, whose task it is to unpack and expand upon these words. For a practitioner such as I, working chiefly with live sound making and location recording, this word order is a reversal of usual or habitual considerations.


To respond in any valid fashion required a great deal of forethought, several attempts at realisation and several revisions of my approach to working. More than a few occasions found me thinking about previously made recordings and how they might fit the score retrospectively, but I felt that this was an invalid approach as the score suggests sound as a by-product of place then time, not the other way around.


In September 2012, during a residency at Q-O2 in Brussels, several realisations were attempted. After making hydrophone recordings in the fountain pools at Sint Katelijnes - simultaneously picking up aquatic insects, passers-by and the metro line running beneath, I returned there to actualise a realisation only to find that the pool had been drained in the days between. I considered using the earlier recording but eventually decided against it for reasons outlined above.


On an adjacent street, Varkensmarkt / Marché aux porcs, the road surface was at that time being re-laid by a team of labourers hammering the stone cobble sets in place, each using a hammer with its own unique fundamental tone. I chose this location and time to record the realisation presented here.


In my excitement at making the recording, I bought the workmen some beer which they accepted with bemusement. I'm still not sure if I have responded in an appropriate fashion...”


Play track   duration 8:51