"Sculpting Sound: Twelve Musicians Encounter Bertoia"

Still riding the tide of residual good feelings from Molten Plains Fest (the zenith of my listening year 2023), I'm reminded of the event that held a similar place in my esteem last year. It happened like this: In conjunction with the Nasher Sculpture Center's retrospective of the sculptor, iconic mid-century modern furniture designer, and sound artist Harry Bertoia, the estimable record producer and writer David Breskin curated Sculpting Sound: Twelve Musicians Encounter Bertoia, a series of concerts where duos of world-class creative musicians would interact with each other and Bertoia's sounding sculptures. 

So it was that on six successive nights, electric guitarists Nels Cline (Wilco) and Ben Monder (David Bowie, The Bad Plus), trumpeters Ambrose Akinmusire and Nate Wooley, saxophonists JD Allen and Ingrid Laubrock, acoustic instrumentalists Brandon Seabrook and Jen Shyu, drummers Marcus Gilmore and Dan Weiss, and pianists Kris Davis and Craig Taborn came to Dallas for an unprecedented, one-time event. All the concerts were filmed in their entirety by Quin Matthews and Daisy Avalos, with audio recorded by Breskin's longtime engineer of choice, Ron Saint Germain. The resulting films, edited by filmmaker Frank Heath, will be available to stream for free here beginning on the Winter Solstice, December 21.

No spoilers here; I witnessed half of the performances, and have since viewed the other three on video. I'll only say that it was a transcendent event. The staging and lighting enhanced the otherworldly sound of Bertoia's "Sonambients" and the musicians' spontaneous inventions. The Sculpting Sound shows were the first live performances I'd witnessed since the onset of the pandemic, and part of my response to them was the overwhelming feeling, after a long hiatus, of being in a large group of people while musical communication was taking place. 

The audiovisual documentation at Sculptingsound.org brings you as close as possible to experiencing the concerts' total sensory environment. In addition, there's a new 30-minute "making of" documentary on the concerts; historical footage of Bertoia and his work, including a 1971 interview with the artist; and an interview I conducted with Breskin for the Nasher's magazine, detailing his vision and process for curating the event. Worthwhile viewing for art lovers and creative music enthusiasts alike.