beyond the accident of time is a work of staggering beauty. Composed for percussion and voices and utilizing extreme dynamics and timbres, this work leads the listener into a rigorous, transcendent soundscape that rewards both deep listening and surrender to its sublime humanity.

This work honors Isamu Noguchi’s never fully-realized Bell Tower for Hiroshima, 1950 (partially reconstructed 1986). Noguchi imagined the bells for Bell Tower for Hiroshima coming from all over the world. In my piece, I interpret the sculpture not as a physical object that would be built in Hiroshima, but as a sonic concept that could be recreated around the world.

The two performances of beyond the accident of time on Side B, live in New York and live in Tokyo, are true to the original version of the score which allowed for flexibility in the timing of the sections, and space for listening as the piece evolved in the resonance of the hall.

For the installation version of beyond the accident of time on Side A, I wanted to uplift the different versions—combining excerpts from concert version performances in Chicago and the UK with field recordings of a version of the work that invites community members to participate.

That alternate version came to life in 2020 when I was selected to contribute work for Acts of Air: reshaping the urban sonic, an online exhibition for outdoor participation as part of Un-Earthed: A festival of listening and environment. Curator Lisa Hall was excited to help facilitate my proposed idea to expand beyond the accident of time to create a version that could be performed by people around the world, simultaneously from different places. Lisa wrote in personal correspondence that she liked the idea that the work, “could be performed by one person, individually, on the promise of other performers enacting it elsewhere too.”

In this version of the score for Un-Earthed, the intent of the work was preserved, but the instructions in the score were adjusted so that it could be performed in community by one or more individuals, and was connected to place, activating everyday objects as sculptures of remembrance. In finding an object to perform the work, the performer is taking ownership for the sound / action / remembrance and making that object part of an imaginary Bell Tower.

As we listen and recreate this space for reflection, we honor and remember what the sculpture represents. The score is only a starting point.

— Leilehua Lanzilotti

BIO