Displacement

  • 2020-2022
  • Displacement 1 (2020) 20′
  • Displacement 2 (2022) 19′
  • piano, soundtrack & video
  • première: Saskia Lankhoorn, Musical Utopias 14 January 2023
  • commission: Hilvaria Studio’s, Fonds Podiumkunsten, New Music NOW Files

A diptych for piano, soundtrack and video.

A work for piano, soundtrack and video, made for pianist Saskia Lankhoorn. The premise of Displacement is a principle from psychology in which an emotion is “displaced” to another person or object. In each part, the music played on the piano is displaced into a distorted shadow world in the form of a soundtrack.

Displacement 1 was specially made for the unusual shape and acoustics of the Ei, an infinity space in the Hilvaria Studios in Hilvarenbeek (NL). The skeleton of the music is made up of tightly repeating tones that slide over each other; one moment active and expansive, the next reserved and oppressive. The sounding space has a suctioning effect on the piano playing. The pianist seems to resist that force; as if in every part the relations between the subconscious and the environment are being redefined.

In Displacement 2 the piano gets an extra layer in the soundtrack in which it sounds like a wobbly gramophone record. The music of this movement is built entirely around one note that is present throughout the entire piece; sometimes fluent in rhythm, then straight forward, sometimes clearly present and then again masked by other note material.

 

This composition and audiovisual production were realised thanks to Dutch Composers NOW, Buma Cultuur, the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds and het Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschappen.

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In de pers

Mark van de Voort, Concertzender16-01-2023
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about Displacement
“In his two-part 'Displacement', Bisschops plays with musical realities, where the live piano playing interacts in an extremely intriguing way with a perfectly timed soundtrack of processed piano sounds. ... Melancholic microtonal piano music, which is anchored in tonality, and gives you as a listener a wonderfully indefinable feeling. The live film images have the same, disorienting effect.
Ben Taffijn, Nieuwe Noten19-02-2023
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about Displacement
“Displacement 2 is built entirely around one central note. Sometimes very prominent, as in the beginning of the piece, regularly also more hidden, absorbed in the overall structure. But the most extraordinary thing in this part is 'the displacement' through the electronics. Impure sounding, like a cassette tape that has had its day. A special part, especially later on when a cadence creeps into the piano playing and the whole gets something compelling further on in that unadulterated rhythmically repetitive passage. In short, a particularly fascinating piece in which Bisschops once again shows that he belongs to the most interesting composers of his generation."
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