French Horn and Chair are unlikely partners in today’s Video of the Day
Two men make music with a French Horn and a chair, proving that the expensive multi-thousand-dollar piece of bent metal is potentially no more melodious or emotive as the average adjustable chair. In the video, the French horn plays a rich and bombastic bass line while the adjustable chair, aided by the exemplary wrist technique of its player, delights with graceful responses in a higher register. Of course, the tone quality could be improved, yet as it is an amateur recording, this does not seem to be a valid comment.
Of the rhythm, the two instrumentalists attempt to adhere to a bouncy triple time that is uniquely subdivided into quarter notes. However, the resulting oom-pa-pa beat proves too infectious to keep steady as the duo speed up towards the end in what seems to be a strong effort to contain laughter. Though the pair fail in their attempt at a marching rhythm, they compensate with a visual show not much seen in instrumental music. The chair-player (chairist?) not only adjusts his chair but moves in and out of the frame in what can only be a visual representation of the crests and vales of the melody. The horn player is decidedly less artful as he reclines in a chair in poor posture with one leg on the other’s thigh. This hardly seems appropriate for the stature of the music being played.
This is a performance of grand bravura not so easily matched. The deceptive nature of the recording only prove that aesthetic renderings of aural art forms come short of relaying the true emotional depths only entered in live performances. The technological medium of “video” also seems to hinder listening and viewing devices as synthetic complications as internet speed also prove impediments. The potential shown does rise above all, and while some might deem the pair oompa loompas for playing such a simplistic tune, this review seems reductive. The various layers of artistic dislocation can only register this performance as one transcending simple, singular modes of art. Instead, this is a complex of various art forms that perhaps embodies best of all communication itself with its tactful blend of comedy, drama, and intrigue.
Video of the Day – Duet for French Horn and Chair
