Encoded Revision (1997)
By 1996 Peggy and pianist Andrew Burashko had a repertoire that included 19th century western music by Brahms, Chopin and Liszt, early 20th century music by Tcherepnin, mid century compositions by Prokofiev and Cage, and one late 20th century new music work by American composer Peter Garland. What would be their next focus? Peggy fills us in:
“When I opened a conversation on commissioning a new work, Andrew immediately suggested Michael J. Baker who was extremely active in the Toronto music scene as a composer, conductor, and multi-instrumentalist and had been composing for dance since the early 1970s. We quickly agreed on Michael (whose last name I share because we had been married for 12 years of our young adult lives) and were ecstatic when my newly incorporated company, now called Peggy Baker Dance Projects, secured our first ever grant to commission the music.
The score for Encoded Revision requires a performance of post-modern virtuosity by the pianist who is constantly shifting metre and tempo, has text to deliver throughout and is also called upon to manipulate the score pages as props within the choreography. I loved performing this dance, but the choreography did not meet its potential until it was revived with Benjamin Kamino 16 years after its premiere.
The program notes give a full overview of the form and content of the piece:
The creation of this work was based on the literary form of the palimpsest: a document written upon several times, with remnants of earlier, imperfectly erased writing still visible. A palimpsest simultaneously documents and destroys its own history, encoding the original text within a revision.
Buried inside of Encoded Revision, and serving as the original document for the musical palimpsest, is a newspaper account of the tragic death of the composer’s great grandfather in a train accident on the Canadian prairies in 1898. Three generations later the story existed only vaguely in the family’s oral history until it was recovered more completely through the composer’s research. In every available account – newspapers, CPR telegrams, and North West Mounted Police reports – this intriguing bit of information surfaces: “A tramp, who was stealing a ride, was slightly injured, and started walking east after he had his breakfast.” I dance the role of the tramp in Michael’s story.” PB
“Encoded Revision…dates back to 1997, and the intervening 16 years has not dimmed its raucous swagger. … Everything about this solo works. The high octane energy of the dance itself. The sporadic bits of text shouted by Kamino and Farah. The visuals of the flying music paper. It is an utterly engaging romp…” - Paula Citron, The Globe and Mail
To learn more about palimpsests, watch Contemporary Art Theme on YouTube.
