Beyond Zero

Festival Theatre

THE release of a new commissioned piece by the Kronos Quartet is interesting enough. That it marks the anniversary of the 1914-18 war and involves Serbian composer Aleksandra Vrebalov and US filmmaker Bill Morrison, while sampling a multitude of different musical sources, was eagerly awaited and received at this performance in the international festival. 

Beyond Zero's prelude samples a variety of contemporary music to highlight responses to the bloodiest war in history from such diverse sources as Ravel, Orthodox monks, Rachmaninov and US blues singer Geeshie Wiley in a a collage of 78s, piano rolls and antique musical instruments from all over the world. 

The aim is to allow the "quiet voices" often drowned out by the stridency of warmongers and newspapers to be heard. It works, although perhaps a break between prelude and main piece might have sharpened what seemed a lengthy performance. 

Beyond Zero itself has an immediate impact. Inspired by war poetry, paintings and music, Vrebalov employs these, documentary pieces and domestic scenes to create a multi-dimensional dramatisation of the suffering of war in the trenches and at home. 

Another layer is added by Bill Morrison's film, which uses clips from archive film shot during the first world war to convince us of its "necessity." 

Even though they cover the war on the ground and in the air, the films are now under threat. They're no longer considered worth preserving both because of the instability of their unstable nitrate base and the way we now regard the war. 

The playing of the Kronos Quartet provudes a fitting vehicle for such a production. Exceptional musicians, their performances are always one step ahead albeit this time they were occasionally overshadowed by the film. 

Even so, this is extraordinary music. 

Appropriately, the concert ends as it begins with the Benedictine chants of the Serbian monks, in memory of all who lost their lives in WWI and every conflict since then. 

Chris Bartter