Review: Dr. Jonathan Fitzgerald’s ‘Electroluminescence’
Words by RTRFM’s Darryn Santana.
Electroluminescence, a concert performed by Dr. Jonathan Fitzgerald on January 19th 2022 at Lyrics’ Underground was at the top of my list of concerts to see during the Fringe World Festival. Why, you may ask? Being a guitar nerd (you all knew that though), I was curious to experience something which promised to explore, quoting from the program notes, “the expressive possibilities of the electric guitar, particularly its pairing with visual elements to create immersive multimedia works that are greater than the sum of their parts.”
The opening track ‘Until it Blazes’ by American composer Eve Beglarian was a deep minimalist meditation into the possibilities and uses of the guitar coupled with a delay pedal. This set the tone for the rest of the concert and firmly placed me into an alternate dimension, now firmly ready and open to the mind-altering pieces yet to come.
The program included the world premieres of two West Australian works. The first, ‘Overgrown Towers’ by James Ledger was at times mysterious, at times aggressively dissonant, but constantly rich in musical ideas, as if to reflect the growing return of fauna and flora in disaster-stricken Chernobyl. The second piece, ‘Akrasia’, featured composer Victor Arul doing a few sound manipulations on his laptop while Jonathan used two guitars: one played traditionally, and the other lay flat on a table, prepared with alligator clips, and played with pieces of twine, a metal rod, and even a bass bow.
A personal favourite was ‘Svart-Hvít Ský á Himni’ (Black and White Clouds in the Sky) by Gulli Bjornsson. The pre-programmed electronic effects turned the guitar into a completely different instrument, which, coupled with the changing black and white visuals, poetically evoked the imagery and emotions associated with the dual nature of clouds.
The other two works on the program were ‘For Wiek’ by Alison Iadora and ‘Resurrection Power’ by Jacob ter Veldhuis. ‘Resurrection Power’s’ energetic music and colourful visuals contrasted brilliantly with For Wiek’s atmospheric sounds and still images of Perth photographer Lyle Branson.
In short, the highly original and experimental music successfully engaged the ‘everyday punter’ but gave even the most hardcore music enthusiast something to be dazzled by. By the time the show was over, I felt inspired, creatively motivated and confident in the knowledge that experimental music for solo guitar is alive and well in Western Australia.
