A SWEETER MUSIC | LIVE 2009 piano by Sarah Cahill video by John Sanborn
"A Sweeter Music" (2009) is an evening length performance of new compositions for piano and 3 channel video- on the subject of peace. Sarah Cahill commissioned the new works, and each artist responded with a different approach to the subject. Sanborn then created a video setting for each composition. The work premiered in January 2009 and has played in festivals including the Mendicino Music Festival, the Spoleto USA Festival and the Mill Valley Film Festival.
These videos document the live premiere performance of "A Sweeter Music" at Cal Performances in Berkeley, CA
A Sweeter Music | Terry Riley
"Be Kind to One Another (Rag)" composed by Terry Riley. Fluid sounds and shapes celebrate the flow of life forces and the lack of barriers invites us all to dance. A touch of ragtime gives us hope and gets our minds to a calm place.
A Sweeter Music | Preben Antonsen
"Dar Al-Harb" composed by Preben Antonsen. Identity is composed of fragments of will and actions. Our job is to find ourselves in a world fractured beyond recognition. There we are.
A Sweeter Music | The Residents
"drum no fife (Why we need war)" composed by The Residents. The intrusion of a character inside this rhythmic world breaks through the empty silence of conflict and draws us out past the pain to a pasture of fire.
A Sweeter Music | Yoko Ono
"Tuning" composed by Yoko Ono. Simple and direct can be the path to peace. Order and discipline help us to reduce the noise and focus on the things that are important to us, and to the world.
A Sweeter Music | Mamoru Fujieda
"The Olive Branch Speaks" composed by Mamoru Fujieda. Can we hear what nature is telling us? Can we float above the fray of modern life to find the peace we seek? Watch.
A Sweeter Music | Frederic Rzewski
"Peace Dances" composed by Frederic Rzewski. Tension and release, call and response - 2 bodies on 3 screens - formal and sensual. Performed by Joseph Copley and Margaret Cromwell.
A Sweeter Music | Jerome Kitzke
"There is a Field" composed by Jerome Kitzke. The beauty in the profane is what happens when artists interpret war and peace. Here are the words of Whitman, the images of Brady, the sounds of Kitzke - and the performance of Cahill and Sanborn. The purity of violence allows the Civil War to show us where we need to met.