Музыкант Джон Роуз превращает заборы и трубы в инструменты для новой коллекции экспериментов

Jon Rose is obsessed with the violin. One of Australia’s foremost experimental musicians and improvisers, Rose has made this instrument steeped in such rich European history his life’s work. If a sound can be conjured from the instrument, you best bet he has conjured it. If it can’t, then you could probably bet that he has enhanced distended and rebuilt the violin just to create it – because as this 4cd collection makes extremely clear, the violin is just the beginning. In his liner notes Rose posits “There is very little on this planet that does not make a sound when excited by a bow, stick, wind, water, electricity – whatever,” and its this philosophy that sent him into the outback, bowing such fences as the famous Rabbit Proof Fence, in his quest to extend not only the instrument, but also the form. He has since travelled the world bowing fences, even being commissioned by the Kronos Quartet and the Sydney Opera house – you can hear the prototype for that piece in this collection. Now residing in Alice Springs, Rose has curated a museum dedicated to the instrument – The Rosenberg Museum, which features 65 playable instruments, though also 1,000 or so artefacts of violin iconography. He refers to as “a clearing house for experiments and contexts.” These 36 pieces are the audio accompaniment to this physical space, brimming with all manner of curious explorations of the form meticulously documented in the 24 page booklet. On this collection you’ll find him playing a 3 metre downpipe affixed with strings, cardboard tubes, a bicycle powered instrument, a coffin, a fence, you name it. He has a washing machine motor playing an autoharp, he uses a midi bow to play another bow, he loads up his midi bow with samples of stick and stones cracking, it’s totally wild and endlessly curious. Since arriving in Alice Springs in 2001 he’s been quite struck by the wind, which has led to the inevitable (perhaps) development of stringed aeolian devices – some of which appear here, and also featured on his 2024 Room40 album Aeolian Tendency. This is typical of Rose, who has frequently been influenced by his environment to deeply explore his place in the world. And perhaps on a simpler level, when greeted with something new he’s inevitable thought is can I bow it? Or how would that sound on strings? There’s also a 20 minute violin concerto, constructed by plunderphonics icon Jon Oswald, who most recently reconstructed Sonic Youth’s ‘Diamond Sea’ from 32 live performances. Here he’s collaged Bach, Bruch, Bartok, Mozart Vivaldi, Ligeti, Penderecki, Xenakis et al, over which Rose improvised solo violin parts in a 20 odd minute piece. The scope of this collection is overwhelming and to some extent that’s the point. Whilst Rose pretends this project is merely about documenting his explorations, it’s also something of a provocation, maybe even a call to arms, demonstrating that the only limits we have are those imposed ourselves. Rosenberg Museum seems to be saying that if an instrument as revered and historically significant as the violin can be extended, distended and become the launching pad for such forward thinking experimentations, then nothing is fixed and everything is possible. This is curiosity as a virtue, an invitation to go beyond the conventional, even in experimental realms and truly connect with history, the environment, and your own preconception to explore the possibility of a new and endlessly forming future. An inspiring listen, from an inspiring musician. .