The Suffolk Symphony is an old-school take on locational art — no snazzy geocoded uploads, no virtual-environment overlays. It’s an audio-visual construction based on materials from a specific place, in this case Aldeburgh. The materials — sonic and visual — were collected in a week by noted figures associated with the Touch record label: Philip Jeck, BJNilsen, Jon Wozencroft, Philip Marshall, and Mike Harding. They’ve posted a rehearsal recording of what is to be performed live on August 22. It’s a sprawling piece (MP3), to say the least (the recording is audio-only), with opening timpani and strings making the “symphony” aspect feel real, but with electronic effects, field recordings, and an overall lush minimalism eventually subsuming the more traditional orchestral patterning.
More details, and tons of photos, at thesuffolksymphony.net, and at the website of the originating podcast, touchradio.org.uk.