Available to download now, a virtual boxed set of Robert Fripp Soundscapes.
It’s been a 29 year wait but finally we can now hear the results of Robert’s four-day marathon of Soundscaping from March 7-10, 1996 in the foyer of the Queen Elizabeth Hall at London’s South Bank Centre.
This includes one extraordinary session lasting close to 9 hours from the saturday performance, all part of the Now You See It programme of events, curated by Cultural Industry.
From Cultural Industry's programme for the event.
Robert Fripp in an interview with Mike Barnes for The Wire:
“We played in the foyer while people went through to other events, got a beer or a sandwich or a cappuccino, listened or didn't - some went to sleep. In other words, the way in which the audience developed a relationship with the music was open for them to discover and create for themselves. The music was there whether you listened to it or not, the music was available whether you listened to it or not. The music made no demand for itself unless you wished to accept the demand it made of you. it just kind of scans the atmosphere. It was so wonderfully open”.
The main entrance to the Queen Elizabeth Hall.
From Sid Smith’s review:
“For some people in the vicinity of London’s Southbank complex in these four days in March, their experience of the QEH soundscapes may have been fleeting, assumed to have been piped music via the venue’s PA system, or not even noticed. For others, it could well have been a profound, deeply moving encounter. Soundscapes' ability to be experienced in all these ways and more is just part of what makes them special.
Taking the four days together, much of what has been made available will be familiar to the seasoned soundscape listener. But there is also much that is fresh, different, and intriguing. Understandably, not everything lands neatly or nicely. Not all of it opens onto an especially fruitful avenue of exploration. Yet collectively, it amounts to an intimate artistic diary of a truly special challenge. As Fripp would later note, ‘Despite all attempts to constrain the power of music, the act of music is always remarkable’.”
Download:
See Hugh's Archive Deep Dive for a look at the floor plan.
