Oleg Krokhalev

"In Catcher I am primarily trying out the idea of an orchestral composition as the testing pad for further transformation. Musicians practically always veer between silence and sound — the material is neutral — a resilient story that barely changes. Eight microphones are installed in the orchestra, alternately transmitting sounds to speakers in the hall, drawing instruments closer to and then pulling them away from the audience. This action has its own rhythm and strategy that we are elaborating separately with the musician and improviser Felix Mikensky. In a word, Catcher resembles a sculpture lighting up alternately with eight flashlight-microphones. It was after I had come up with this idea that my friend Sasha Elina told me about the experiments of Leopold Stokowski, who on one occasion simply put speakers on stage in place of the symphony concert, and, sitting in his cockpit, conducted live an actual orchestral concert which was proceeding in another concert hall in another city. I had from the outset simply wanted to try to connect some threads from the stage to the audience."