Ben Globerman's "Palimpsest I"

Normand Glaude and me are The Fieldown Singers, and we got to be part of something cool. Composer and sound designer Ben Globerman has created a new choral audio installation, and it will be exhibited at the Ottawa City Hall Art Gallery. Be sure to check it out!

From the announcement:

Palimpsest: a manuscript or piece of writing material on which the original writing has been effaced to make room for later writing but of which traces remain. 

Created in collaboration with two local choirs (the Ottawa Choral Society; The Fieldown Singers), Palimpsest I deconstructs and rearranges classic Renaissance choral pieces to create an original multi-channel audio composition, a sonic palimpsest. 

Without thoughtful exploration of a piece of art, a work’s indebtedness to historical and cultural origins can be lost. The metaphor of a palimpsest conveys this with subtlety— layers over layers of written words (or in this case, sounds)—revealing the contributing historical and cultural elements latent in any artistic work. In keeping with the theme of a palimpsest, Palimpsest I uses historical music as a foundation on which to layer, synthesize and ultimately compose a new, modern piece.