Aquasonic

To be able to perform musical instruments underwater is quite a skill. Between Music, an avant-garde ensemble from Denmark, make the breathing as much a part of Aquasonic as the instruments they play (presumably they never considered scuba gear - there would be no fun in that).

The staging is an important part of this work - it’s not just a musical performance but a theatrical one, with lighting playing a key part. We begin in darkness, from which slowly emerges a man in a water tank playing reverberating and rhythmic sounds. Soon he is joined by another three underwater players, with violins, percussion and a number of unusual instruments such as a crystallophone (using glass to make sounds) and a rotacorda (a wheel attached to strings). Finally, they become a quintet, when a singer sends her voice across the top of a shallow pool. Your underwater humming in the pool is nothing on this.

Technically, it’s brilliant. There is a beautiful scene with rain falling at the front of the stage, creating a shallow puddle from which new contraptions make unusual sounds. Thanks to the lighting, the imagery in the tanks is often beautiful too.

But the music is very experimental. If you’ve traditional taste like me, it’s too much so. It is hard to find a melody, at least one in the popular sense. The music is more like what you’d hear in an unusual horror film, something that creates a weird atmosphere rather than one to enjoy.

I’m not the only one in the audience to feel this way, although we are probably the minority. Others give a standing ovation, even whooping. They obviously feel a sense of awe and gratification that totally eludes me. 

It’s easy to see the talent of this quintet and admire the technical and theatrical skill they deploy. If you enjoy avant-garde opera or symphonic works, you could well love this piece.

But as an experimental troupe, they’re not going to appeal to everyone. Between Music call themselves the world’s first underwater band and it’s certain you’ve not have heard anything like it.

Peter Gotting

Photographer: Jamie Williams