In Linz Cathedral, the Hard-Chor, conducted by Alexander Koller, performs Bruckner. Sound and visual artist Stefan Tiefengraber invites us to listen to what is usually unheard. By removing the sonic source, the Austrian artist searches for what the pauses reveal — for reverberation, for echo: what remains when sound itself falls silent?
We are struck by a certain strangeness and surprise in this small conceptual film. What lingers in the silent moments of a choir? Drawing from the choral works of Anton Bruckner, mainly motets characterized by polyphony and without instrumental accompaniment, Tiefengraber cuts off the voices and shows only the reverberation and decay of these divine chants across the walls and vaults of the Mariendom Linz, the largest church in Austria. The choir falls silent, leaving only the echo, accompanied by the facial expressions of the singers when they are not singing. To the strangeness and surprise is added a certain comic quality. An idea that Jocy de Oliveira would certainly not have disdained. (Carlos Ramos)
