„The Walls of Jericho“ – An Oratorio with Modern Music

This videoclip shows a part of an extra-ordinary music-theatre-project. The director Herbert Gantschacher combines in that project the visual art (soundsculptures by Gunter Demnig), the music and the performing art to a crossover artproject. In his composition Werner Raditschnig is working with the situation of sounds and echoes. „Very deep sounds about 16 Hertz could be not used at the first sight. You cannot hear a sound about 16 Hertz but You can feel it. You will get some strange feeling in your body. This situation were used by organists through the mass. They played the very deep pipes of the organ: it was not possible to hear the sound, but the people in the church could feel it. If 16 Hertz are useful in churches, so could be 8 Hertz for the musictheatre a fall to the knees“ (Gunter Demnig).
Sounds and echos influenced some situations in history. The famous walls from Jericho were destroyed by the support of musicsounds. This story from the bible(the Joshua-Book) is the textmaterial for the scenic oratorio. In the project „The Walls of Jericho“ the soundsculptures are the symbol of power. The soundsculptures are on the border of an imaginary space. An empty place is existing in the centre. It is the space for the audience, which could be symbolized in this way as the people of the town.
The story from the bible will get in the combination of voice, instruments and sound-sculptures a new dimension. The discussion between „organpipes“(soundsculptures as musical stage and space) and scenic performing musician(violins, woods and voices). The soundsculptures are set in the space especially for situation of the sound. The musical concept is equal to to the situation of the soundsculptures in the space.

Musical performers: Hana Hegedusic (Soprano) and musicians of the „ensemble kreativ“.

Performances happened in Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Belgium and The Nederlands as at amazing places like the cathedral „Kollegienkirche“ at Salzburg, the „Domforum“ of the cathedral at Cologne and the Engon-Schiele-Centre for Visual Arts in Cesky Krumlov.

ARBOS-Company for Music and Theatre
Director & Producer: Herbert Gantschacher
Camera: Bidpai