An Obsession with Pleasure

Video work for the 'Obsessions' series at the London Song Festival November 2021 Moving Image

Founded in 2007, the London Song Festival takes a different theme each year, often using composers' or poets' anniversaries as a starting point, and fashions an innovative programme of recitals that express great beauty and emotional depth. Audiences can expect to hear rarely performed and perhaps unpublished vocal gems presented alongside new works. The LSF was awarded 'Small Performing Arts Event of the Year 2023.'

An Obsession with Pleasure is an exploration of the avante-garde scene in Paris during the 1920's, with work by Eric Satie, Jean Cocteau and the group of composers known as 'Les Six' - Francis Poulenc, Louis Dury, Arther Honega, George Auric, Darius Milhaud and Germaine Tailleferre.

Inspiration for the supporting animation came from the experimental film work of René Clair, Jean Couteau and Man Ray. Splicing these sources together with found footage of Parisian life in a kaleidescopic treatment serves as a background for the recital song translations. These translation have been created digitally and then back projected on a screen and re-filmed through heavily warped perspex. This process produces a distortion that I hope captures the ephemeral excesses and later nilishm of the avante-garde during the interwar years.

Credits:
Singers - Lorena Paz Nieto (Mezzo) and Ashley Riches (Baritone)
Piano - Nigel Foster
Speaker - David Mildon
Video artist - James Symonds

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