Stephen O’Malley

Multichannel music performance of This Is How You Will Disappear

Performed by Stephen O’Malley, based on a piece by Gisèle Vienne

Music by Peter Rehberg & Stephen O’Malley, 2005-2010, 75′

Dedicated to the memory of Peter Rehberg (1968-2021)

 

Organized by the Association du Salopard and Cinema Bellevaux.

-> Reservation

 

For the first time – and with the agreement of Gisèle Vienne, Peter Rehberg’s family & the DACM company – Stephen O’Malley will perform the multichannel music of This Is How You Will Disappear as a stand-alone intensive listening experience on the Cinéma Bellevaux’s sound system.

 

This Is How You Will Disappear is a staged live performance piece created in 2009-2010 by Gisèle Vienne in collaboration with Stephen O’Malley & Peter Rehberg (music), Fujiko Nakaya (fog installation), Shiro Takatani (video), Patrick Riou (light), Dennis Cooper (text), Jonathan Capdevielle, Margrét Sara Gudjónsdóttir or Nuria Guiu Sagarra & Jonathan Schatz (performance & interpretation), José Enrique Oña Selfa (costumes), Les Ailes de l’Urga Patrice Potier, Simon Potier & Martial Vernier (hawks & owl handling) and others. The piece premiered in July 2010 at the Avignon festival and toured between 2010-2015, a total of 69 performances between 2010-today. In 2020 the team reprised the work for performances at Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris (FR) (cancelled because of covid-19), which at last premiered January 2022 at La Maison des arts de Créteil (FR) as part of the Festival d’Automne de Paris. The show will also perform in 2022 at Théâtre National de Bretagne, Rennes and Sadler’s Well, London.

The original intensive and immersive music score was composed and created by Stephen O’Malley & Peter Rehberg in collaboration with many players/musicians and was recorded and produced in Tokyo, Seattle, Austria, Bretagne and other places. The piece utilises a vast multichannel spatialisation setup incorporating IRCAM SPAT technology for the first time for the DACM company and composers. It was performed as a live mix/diffusion by O’Malley and Rehberg. The expansion of the spatialised sound diffusion possibilities marked a turning point in the extent of the music presented in O’Malley and Rehberg’s collaborations with Gisèle Vienne. The duo would continue working with these multichannel tools for the subsequent original scores for Vienne’s pieces.

After Peter Rehberg’s sudden death in August 2021, O’Malley was tasked with recreating the technical performance aspect of the extensive score. To preserve Rehberg’s music’s legacy and integrity and rebuild the ability to perform the entire score in the performance alone, and maintain the possibility to continue to perform it in the future as a multichannel tape piece. As part of this process, O’Malley worked on the production system in the multichannel studios at INAgrm in Paris, Music Unit with Manuel Poletti in Montrieul, La Becque in La-Tour-de-Pielz, and at Cinema Bellevaux, Lausanne.

 

*Note : due to the mutichannel aspect of the score, the music of This Is How You Will Disappear has never been released as a stand alone album. But, the recording session which produced the track Sexy Angel later developed into the Ensemble Pearl album, released by Drag City in 2012.

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THIS IS HOW YOU WILL DISAPPEAR

Presentation by Gisèle Vienne

www.g-v.fr

 

“The music (of This Is How You Will Disappear) reflects the various inner harmonies and conflicts. The compositions of Stephen O’Malley and Peter Rehberg range from displays of Dionysian beauty to spiritual music. This disparity underlines the show’s dramaturgy, whereby speech sometimes becomes impossible and gives way to the intensity of the music, which serves as a Dionysian mirror of the world. The music evokes a demon arising from the depths and plays a purging role while paralleling the theatrical presentation in such a way that makes us face that which lurks within. Thus, the music adds a metaphysical thrust that allows us to go beyond speech and image. We wish to probe and fully exploit this force and metaphysical aspect.” –Gisèle Vienne, Paris 2010

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ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK

 

From The Skies (O’Malley/Rehberg)

Guitar, bass: Stephen O’Malley

Batterie: Masami Akita

Electronics: Peter Rehberg

Recorded 0909 GOK Tokyo by Jim O’Rourke, 0210 Aleph, Seattle by Randall Dunn

Edited 0610 Brest

 

Bowing 2.1 (O’Malley)

EMS Synthi, Hammond: Stephen O’Malley

Piano: Jim O’Rourke

Violin: Eyvind Kang & Timba Harris

Recorded 0909 GOK Tokyo by Jim O’Rourke, 0210 Aleph, Seattle by Randall Dunn

String arrangements: Timba Harris

Edited 0610 Brest

 

Fieldwork1 (Rehberg)

Electronics: Peter Rehberg

Recorded 0110-0310 Klosterneuburg, Stein, Wien

Edited 0610 Brest

 

Dynasty (O’Malley)

Guitars, Piano: Stephen O’Malley

Piano: Jim O’Rourke

Tuba, Trombone: Greg Powers

Trombone: Stuart Dempster

Violin, Trumpet: Timba Harris

French Horn: Josiah Boothsby

Violin: Eyvind Kang

Recorded 0909 GOK Tokyo by Jim O’Rourke, 0210 Aleph, Seattle by Randall Dunn

Brass & string arrangements: Timba Harris

Edited 0610 Brest

 

Olympia (O’Malley/Rehberg)

Electronics: Stephen O’Malley & Peter Rehberg

Recorded 0210 HOH Rainforest & 0310 Stein

Edited 0610 Brest

 

Sirens (O’Malley)

Percussion, Electronics: Stephen O’Malley

Recorded 0809 Golden Hum, London

Edited 0610 Brest

 

Mepry (Rehberg)

Electronics: Peter Rehberg

Recorded 0605 Twisted Studio, Wien

Edited 0610 Brest

 

Expected To Survive (Rehberg)

Electronics: Peter Rehberg

Recorded 1209 Twisted Studio, Wien

Edited 0610 Brest

 

Concrete Breathing (Rehberg)

Electronics: Peter Rehberg

Recorded 0510 Twisted Studio, Wien

Edited 0610 Brest

 

Sexy Angel (O’Malley / Cooper)

Vocals: Noriko Tujiko

Lyrics: Dennis Cooper

Guitar: Stephen O’Malley

Guitar: Michio Kurahara

Bass: William Herzog

Batterie, Percussion: Atsuo Mizuno

Horns : Chet Scott

Recorded 0909 FLASH Tokyo by Masahto Suzuki, 0210 Aleph,

Seattle by Randall Dunn

Edited 0610 Brest

 

Cold & Sexy (Rehberg)

Electronics: Peter Rehberg

Edited 0610 Brest

 

Bowing2.3 (O’Malley)

EMS Synthi: Stephen O’Malley

Piano: Jim O’Rourke

Violin: Eyvind Kang & Timba Harris

Singing bowl : Chet Scott

Recorded 0909 GOK Tokyo by Jim O’Rourke, 0210 Aleph,

Seattle by Randall Dunn

String arrangements: Timba Harris, Stephen O’Malley

Edited 0610 Brest

 

Olympia/Fieldwork2:Outro (O’Malley/Rehberg)

Electronics: Stephen O’Malley & Peter Rehberg

Recorded 0610 Bretagne & 0110-0310 Klosterneuburg, Wien

Edited 0610 Brest

Photo credits: Seldon Hunt