{"id":10104,"date":"2020-06-04T14:52:26","date_gmt":"2020-06-04T13:52:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/?p=10104"},"modified":"2020-06-18T16:05:35","modified_gmt":"2020-06-18T15:05:35","slug":"different-risks-for-the-new-normal-a-concert-by-anne-muller","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/2020\/06\/04\/different-risks-for-the-new-normal-a-concert-by-anne-muller\/","title":{"rendered":"Different risks for the New Normal: a concert  by Anne M\u00fcller"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In an era when musicians (and in fact artists generally) are adapting to the current climate by presenting and performing online, I had the fortune recently to watch a streamed <em>Wohnzimmer<\/em> performance by cellist, composer and music-and-electronics exponent, Anne M\u00fcller.<\/p>\n<div class=\"kent-video-wrapper\"><span class='embed-youtube' style='text-align:center; display: block;'><iframe class='youtube-player' type='text\/html' width='474' height='297' src='https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/13jgtigcv1A?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;fs=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;wmode=transparent' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen='true'><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<p><!--more-->Part of the eclectic <em>Erased Tapes<\/em> stables (housing such luminaries as Nils Frahm, the edgy electronica of Hatis Noit and others), M\u00fcller\u2019s bewitching, quasi-minimalist soundworld, rich in sampled loops and circling motifs, was one I first came across thanks to&#8217; Drifting Circles,&#8217; a mesmerising, pulsating soundscape that seemed to combine David Darling or Eberhard Weber with the pulse-driven music of Steve Reich. <em>Heliopause<\/em>, released earlier this year and from which the piece comes, ranges freely over wide musical landscapes; from the murky, restless urgency of \u2018Being Anne,\u2019 the light-footed, lyrical melancholy of a modernised Bach partita in \u2018Solo ? Repeat!\u2019 and the contemplative yearning of \u2018Nummer 2,\u2019 closing with the galactic grandeur of the album\u2019s title-track (listen <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/album\/3SZT7TfzSJaIdoHI8ttOBD?si=MBWfLyS2TvuxaYPg3Is47w\"><strong>on Spotify here<\/strong><\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>Her livestream concert had me both entranced and panicking in equal measure. For anyone who has performed either with electronics or over livestream (or both), the multitudinous pitfalls were further enlarged by her moving between cello and piano \u2013 I found myself yelling \u2018Don\u2019t drop it \u2013 don\u2019t drop it! Watch where you PUT it down!\u2019 inside my head the first few times, testament more to my own anxieties than anything else. I needn\u2019t have worried; there were no accidents, of course.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10105\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/files\/2020\/06\/IMG_20200521_201757.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"3264\" height=\"2448\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/files\/2020\/06\/IMG_20200521_201757.jpg 3264w, https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/files\/2020\/06\/IMG_20200521_201757-150x113.jpg 150w, https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/files\/2020\/06\/IMG_20200521_201757-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/files\/2020\/06\/IMG_20200521_201757-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 3264px) 100vw, 3264px\" \/>What struck me most about the event was the sheer courage that M\u00fcller \u2013 and other performers who similarly engage with audiences over social media and streaming platforms \u2013 demonstrated. The willingness to put themselves on the line, online, in order to continue to perform for audiences is one of the few marvels of the corona-age. And for all the effortless, evocative playing, beautifully expressive and bang-on in tune, you could see that she was actually working extremely hard. It\u2019s easy to forget, hearing seamless playing from someone\u2019s living-room, the amount of hard work and fierce concentration going on underneath, for all the apparently comfortable nature of performing from home.<\/p>\n<p>As anyone who has attempted to livestream a performance or event from their home will know, it\u2019s fraught with uncertainties. No broadcast from my music room is ever complete with my issuing a Cease and Desist order to the entire family&#8217;s online activities for the duration, and charging around the house five minutes before the start yelling \u2018And PLEASE don\u2019t close ANY doors between me and the ROUTER!\u2019 The quality of a product or service, as we all know, is communicated by the professionalism of its video presence; at a time when many organisations and performers are throwing content online for free (a thorny issue in itself), it\u2019s often important that the result is of good quality. Yet if we don\u2019t do it, do we have a presence in the current online culture ? Is it worth risking the compromising of quality in order at least to have an online presence, to reach audiences and to generate revenue ? Where you do strike the balance ?<\/p>\n<p>The home-made nature of artistic creation and broadcasting appeals to me at the moment, a sort of digital revisiting of Victorian parlour-music-making, that era of cosy domestic entertainment. Quarantine has turned many of us into performer-broadcasters, and I don\u2019t mind the occasional bit of shonky camera-work (thanks to conductor and bird-watching enthusiast, Lev Parikian, whose <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LevParikian\"><strong>marvellous Twitter feed<\/strong><\/a> introduced me to this colourful adjective) if it allows the opportunity to keep watching, keep listening and, in the case of Muller\u2019s streamed performance, be able to watch events by performers I haven\u2019t seen before \u2013 a rare instance of quarantine actually facilitating the performance-watching experience.<\/p>\n<p>So it\u2019s the element of domestic risk that makes performances like M\u00fcller\u2019s so fascinating. It\u2019s not the risk being taken in a purpose-built concert venue, with suitable acoustics and technicians and tuners; it\u2019s risks being taken right from the personal, private arena of the living-room, armed with a mobile-phone, a laptop, an unpredictable internet signal, and the desire to embrace these new challenges as a means of continuing to bring the arts to audiences.<\/p>\n<p>Different risks for the new normal \u2013 it\u2019s where we are now.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"kent-social-links\"><li><a href='http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/2020\/06\/04\/different-risks-for-the-new-normal-a-concert-by-anne-muller\/&amp;t=Different risks for the New Normal: a concert  by Anne M\u00fcller' target='_blank'><i class='ksocial-facebook' title='Share via Facebook'><\/i><\/a><\/li><li><a href='http:\/\/twitter.com\/home?status=Different risks for the New Normal: a concert  by Anne M\u00fcller%20https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/2020\/06\/04\/different-risks-for-the-new-normal-a-concert-by-anne-muller\/' target='_blank'><i class='ksocial-twitter' title='Share via Twitter'><\/i><\/a><\/li><li><a href='https:\/\/plus.google.com\/share?url=https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/2020\/06\/04\/different-risks-for-the-new-normal-a-concert-by-anne-muller\/' target='_blank'><i class='ksocial-google-plus' title='Share via Google Plus'><\/i><\/a><\/li><li><a href='http:\/\/linkedin.com\/shareArticle?mini=true&amp;url=https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/2020\/06\/04\/different-risks-for-the-new-normal-a-concert-by-anne-muller\/&amp;title=Different risks for the New Normal: a concert  by Anne M\u00fcller' target='_blank'><i class='ksocial-linkedin' title='Share via Linked In'><\/i><\/a><\/li><li><a href='mailto:content=https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/2020\/06\/04\/different-risks-for-the-new-normal-a-concert-by-anne-muller\/&amp;title=Different risks for the New Normal: a concert  by Anne M\u00fcller' target='_blank'><i class='ksocial-email' title='Share via Email'><\/i><\/a><\/li><\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In an era when musicians (and in fact artists generally) are adapting to the current climate by presenting and performing online, I had the fortune recently to watch a streamed Wohnzimmer performance by cellist, composer and music-and-electronics exponent, Anne M\u00fcller.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":620,"featured_media":10105,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[227831,1111],"tags":[227831,227830,227827,227828,225057,145435],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10104"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/620"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10104"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10104\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10212,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10104\/revisions\/10212"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}