Michel van der Aa / Works / 

Transit

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Transit combines material from the piano piece Just Before
and Van der Aa’s short film Passage.

In Transit the movements of the pianist interact theatrically with the video projection, the focus shifting between the video projections and the virtuosic playing of the pianist. The film footage shows us an old man trapped in his own house, he is fighting against a loneliness verging on insanity.

Transit is performed with a laptop playing a Quicktime movie, or a DVD. The electronic soundtrack combines actual sound from the film-set with prerecorded and edited piano sounds, resulting in close intermingling of live piano and pre-recorded electronic sound.

Reviews

A poignant meditation on the loneliness of old age

— The Guardian

Video

Benjamin Kobler, piano. Joe Bendavid, actor

Instrumentation

for piano and video
2009

piano

video (from DVD)

Details

Duration

12′

First performance

21 November 2009
Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Huddersfield, United Kingdom

Commissioned by

Publisher

Boosey & Hawkes

Performances

Last performance


19 November 2023

Transit

315 Ensemble. Nick Abelgore, piano

CNY Jazz Central, Syracuse, U.S.A.

All performances of Transit

News

5 December 2009

World premiere ‘Transit’

Sarah Nicolls Van der Aa’s latest work Transit received a successful world premiere on 21 November 2009 at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, featuring Sarah Nicolls on piano. Transit combines material from the piano piece Just Before and Van der Aa’s short film Passage. In Trans...

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