A VISUAL CONCERT
The audiovisual project Beethoven Recomposed commissioned by german broadcasting company WDR is a unique approach to make the music of Ludwig van Beethoven tangible for people with and without hearing impairment.
In order to let the whole audience experience a classical concert with their eyes, the symphony was translated into a visual journey through three generative worlds following the melodic motion, rhythm and changes of mood.
The audiovisual project Beethoven Recomposed commissioned by german broadcasting company WDR is a unique approach to make the music of Ludwig van Beethoven tangible for people with and without hearing impairment.
In order to let the whole audience experience a classical concert with their eyes, the symphony was translated into a visual journey through three generative worlds following the melodic motion, rhythm and changes of mood.
These visuals were projected on a large monolithic canvas hanging above the orchestra. On each side of the canvas three LED strips were added to open up the stage scenery in form of the orchestral pit. While the projection aimed at telling a coherent story and reflect the narrative and emotional aspects of the music, the lower resolution and different light intensity of the led strips was used to convey the music in a rather didactic way.
THE ART OF PRECISION
To ensure an extremely accurate translation of the music, the realtime rendered visuals and light impulses were not only based on the live audio signal, but the complete musical score for all 27 instruments was digitalized beforehand. A custom built tool by Johannes Lemke made it possible to use every single of the 30.000+ notes in the score to trigger forms, motions, lights or colours. In this way the generated visuals could be based on musical parameters like rhythm, pitch, note length or polyphony for every single note played by any musician on stage. To guarantee that visuals and music stay in perfect sync over the course of the whole concert, the 50-piece orchestra was synchronized via click track.
To ensure an extremely accurate translation of the music, the realtime rendered visuals and light impulses were not only based on the live audio signal, but the complete musical score for all 27 instruments was digitalized beforehand. A custom built tool by Johannes Lemke made it possible to use every single of the 30.000+ notes in the score to trigger forms, motions, lights or colours. In this way the generated visuals could be based on musical parameters like rhythm, pitch, note length or polyphony for every single note played by any musician on stage. To guarantee that visuals and music stay in perfect sync over the course of the whole concert, the 50-piece orchestra was synchronized via click track.
Credits:
Client: Westdeutscher Rundfunk
Software & Visuals & Stage: Design schnellebuntebilder
Software Architecture and additional Visuals: Johannes Lemke
Orchestra WDR: Funkhausorchester
Musical Direction: Wayne Marshall
Composition: Stefan Behrisch
Direction: Annechien Koerselmann
My Role: Realtime-generated Motion Graphics & Stage Design
Client: Westdeutscher Rundfunk
Software & Visuals & Stage: Design schnellebuntebilder
Software Architecture and additional Visuals: Johannes Lemke
Orchestra WDR: Funkhausorchester
Musical Direction: Wayne Marshall
Composition: Stefan Behrisch
Direction: Annechien Koerselmann
My Role: Realtime-generated Motion Graphics & Stage Design