A single instrument opens into a vast field of sound. In Rrose’s interpretation of James Tenney’s Having Never Written a Note for Percussion (1971), a sustained roll on a tam-tam builds from near silence to overwhelming intensity before gradually receding. Within this simple arc, resonances gather, overtones emerge and the listener’s attention shifts towards the smallest changes in texture, density and vibration.

Part of Tenney’s Postal Pieces, the composition offers a minimal instruction with expansive possibilities. Rrose brings to it the patient attention to sound and perception that runs through their wider practice. Repeated mallet strokes merge into a continuous, evolving sound, shaped by the instrument’s response and the acoustics of the surrounding space. The performance becomes an encounter with the physical act of playing and the shifting experience of listening.

Rrose’s longstanding engagement with the piece includes a 2012 performance in Washington, D.C.’s Dupont Underground, a disused trolley tunnel whose extended reverberations became integral to the interpretation. A recording of that performance, alongside a separate studio version, was released by Further Records in 2015. The work remains an active part of Rrose’s concert repertoire.

The project is also available in an A/V version pairing Rrose’s live tam-tam performance with Ali M. Demirel’s film Gods of Latmos, presented on a vertical screen. Drawn from Demirel’s ongoing exploration of Mount Latmos in Turkey, its rock formations and prehistoric paintings, the moving-image work considers an ancient relationship between people and landscape under pressure from contemporary mining activity.

Also available as an Audiovisual (A/V) presentation with Ali M. Demirel.

Composition: James Tenney
Performance: Rrose
Film, A/V version: Ali M. Demirel — Gods of Latmos