By Evan Welsh
How do you successfully perform and visually represent a meditative study on the classical elements? The chamber ensemble TORCH and visual artist Scott Kolbo set out to achieve this and more during their performance of “The Elements” at Schneebeck Concert Hall.
TORCH’s ensemble is not comprised of the standard instrumentation found in chamber groups. TORCH consists of Ben Thomas on the vibraphones and bandoneón, trumpeter Brian Chin, clarinetist Eric Likkel and bassist Stephen Schermer. The challenge the group attempts to accomplish with their music is to create contemporary and neo-classical compositions with steady jazz and tango-influenced grooves; a challenge the group greatly succeeds in with their program “The Elements.”
“The Elements” is a multimedia performance split into two halves. The first half of the show consisted of compositions from members of TORCH that will appear on a new album coming out soon. These pieces ranged from original compositions by Thomas to reworkings of pieces from Stravinsky and Satie by Chin and Likkel. Each piece felt lively and modern, and the eclectic combination of instrumentation breathed new life into arrangements old and new. Throughout the show, each piece they played was accompanied by a projection by Kolbo, seated on stage, as a working collaborator and active member of the ensemble. The intricate and layered images, both still and animated, featured drawings of people, animals, houses and landscapes, all lightly colored but exuding life.
“We wanted to work together — it started with creating a way in,” Kolbo said. The members of TORCH and Kolbo found one another’s work while all working as educators in the Tacoma/Seattle area. Kolbo found elements of the work he was creating in the songs TORCH were producing and vice versa. The collaborators found their universal concept in “The Elements,” delving into the concepts of the four classic elements: earth, wind, air and fire, as well as the fifth element, aether, which was proposed by Plato and Aristotle.
After a short intermission, the second half of the show began. This half was dedicated to the performance’s namesake, and the driving theme behind Kolbo and TORCH’s work together, “The Elements.”
“It was a truly collaborative experience,” Chin said before the group began playing the piece. Kolbo also spoke on the collaborative process of the piece, saying that the process of influencing each other’s art progressed to the point where it became difficult to keep track of where the collaboration between the artists would begin and end. “A meditation on mood” was how Kolbo described the project between himself and the chamber ensemble.
After all of the preludes, TORCH and Kolbo took their places and began to explore the elements. The animated videos by Kolbo and the music by TORCH came together much in the way they had described their process: dependent on one another; each piece of the multimedia performance influenced and was influenced by the other.
“Everyone is composing for the band,” Thomas said. “In that way it is a composer collective,” Chin responded. The musical portion of “The Elements” reflected each element brilliantly: “Earth” felt full of color; “Fire” jumped and crackled; the section of ambient layers in “Water” rolled back and forth; and “Air” swirled around and around. The videos for these pieces accompanied all of these feelings perfectly with animated movements layered over still drawings. These visual aids inspired inquisition on how these elements present themselves in our lives visually, audibly and metaphorically.
After the group had tackled the elements of the terrestrial world, they moved toward the celestial fifth element with their final song of the performance, “Aether.” The final piece was more improvisational, basing its free-flowing structure on the spherical and elliptical bursts of color and constellations projected by Kolbo. The performance as a whole was a testament to how well collaboration can promote a wealth of ideas in a single project.
TORCH’s new album will be out soon. For further information about the band you can visit torchthemusic.com and if you are interested in Kolbo’s art you can visit scottkolbo.net