Quintet, camera lucida [2009]

for guitar, percussion, viola, cello, and bass

duration :: 4’

Commissioned by the Ensemblia Festival for their thirtieth anniversary

First performance :: Art Ensemble NRW — Ensemblia Festival (Mönchengladbach, Germany), 22 May 2009

Evan Johnson · Quintet, camera lucida (2009) for viola, cello, double bass, guitar and percussion

[ Art Ensemble NRW, cond. MIro Dobrowolny :: Live, 2009 Ensemblia Festival (Mönchengladbach, Germany), 22 May 2009 ]

Roland Barthes is beside the point; I mean the camera lucida, the optical device that allows an image or scene to be superimposed upon a blank drawing surface for tracing purposes. Here, the two ensembles—the string trio basso and the guitar/percussion duet—are in a state of equilibrium, projected image upon blank surface, trading stripped-down, more or less repetitive gestures that each make their own attempts at transparency and traceability but are each also resigned to a fundamental obscurity that will not lift.