Output details

"The Comedy of Change, for ten instruments" (co-commissioned by Rambert Dance and the Asko-Schoenberg Ensemble)

The research goal of "The Comedy of Change" was an interdisciplinary analysis of, and commentary on, behavioral change in the natural world. It was co-commissioned by Rambert Dance and the Asko-Schoenberg Ensemble to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin’s "On The Origin of Species…." The research was carried out jointly with Prof. Nicky Clayton – an animal behaviour specialist of Cambridge University.

The research focused on two evolutionary principles summarised by the researcher as "same yet different" and "conceal/reveal". The research process re-imagined these central modifiers of life as sound and movement by allowing them to energise all dimensions of "The Comedy of Change": music; dance; scenery and costumes.

"Same yet different" describes the process of species speciation through which slight changes in behaviour or physiognomy can have radical and unpredicted consequences. The research process saw this generative and iterative principle applied to sound partly though the use of IRCAM software. In movement 1, for example, the partials of a single marimba pitch gradually grow to a tipping point at which the evolving polyrhythmic texture suddenly fragments: same yet different.

"Conceal/reveal" describes a behaviour pattern in which animals in courting rituals alternate concealment and display. The research process reimagined this progenitive tactic in sound by varying the content and duration of slow (concealed) passages with alternating faster sections that often reveal themselves in concerted flourishes of display.

"The Comedy of Change" was first performed at Concertgebouw, Amsterdam in September 2009 and later that month in the UK by Rambert Dance with choreography by Mark Baldwin. A commercial recording by the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Alan Gilbert, is available. "The Comedy of Change" is published by Faber Music.