Music

The Society of Strange and Ancient Instruments

Cottier's Theatre, Glasgow

Miranda Heggie

four stars

SOUND House, a work devised by the Society of Ancient Instruments’ founder Clare Salaman, is a project rooted in exploring the acoustic experiments laid out in Sir Francis Bacon’s seminal work Sylva Sylvarum, published shortly after his death in 1626. Recordings of Bacon’s Philosophies on the essence and nature of sound are played against a mesmerising aural canvas, with composer Jon Nicholls using electronics to shape and frame the music, sometimes with gentle tweaks and distortions, sometimes in more severe ways. A result of the musicians spending a week in Aldeburgh developing the work and probing the sounds of the natural world, recordings of the eerie noises made by the wind blowing against the strings of Jean Kelly’s triple harp are used in tandem with live playing on the same instrument.

True to their name, the ensemble play a diverse array of instruments, most of which were in common use during Bacon’s lifetime. More strange than ancient is the use of several pieces of plumbing pipe, played with a ping-pong bat. Bacon was intrigued with how sound reacted to various environments, and the noise made from striking the tube is recorded and distorted, the use of electronics a natural progression into scrutinising how sound can be manipulated by its surroundings.

A series of pieces contemporary to Bacon were interspersed with Nicholls’ compositions in what was a fascinating, immersive journey, exploring the elemental nature of sound. The work has an enthralling nature, one which was made all the more palpable by the almost tangible stillness and silence which fell upon its conclusion.