Commissioned by Spitalfields Music and Scottish Ensemble Anno is an unforgettable experience and certainly puts Vivaldi’s Four Seasons into a different dimension. Performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Anna Meredith’s show, along with the Scottish Ensemble, interconnected the modern with the classical and the two worlds interacted with grace and electronic bravery.
Meredith could be compared to the likes of New York based performance artist Laurie Anderson who experiments with digital variations and the beauty of a violin.
The concert was choreographed in an interesting manner with the Scottish Ensemble musicians changing their spots and moving along the stage while performing, making it a breathtaking theatre for the ear and mind. This certainly made the audiences’ perception of sound location tick.
Surround electronics, string orchestra and harpsichord -all accompanied by surround visuals by Eleanor Meredith turned the entire project into a rather interactive concept and a fascinating, thought-provoking experience.
Anna’s perception of music seems very relevant to today’s modern art, technology and society progression.
Eleanor Meredith’s minimalist visualisations accompanying the show fill up the music with colourful and compatible background. Both artists and the Ensemble together have certainly created a new concept and within an hour’s long experience the journey takes the audience through all four seasons, indeed, if not beyond.