The music for Life-boats
The composer Geir Johnson
Marit Benthe has collaborated with Geir Johnson since 1995.
He has composed the music for the inner worlds of the three Life-Boats, where his soundscapes enhance the experience and deepen the meaning of each of the three sailing female sculptures.. The work is funded by the Norwegian Society of Composers.
Geir Johnson’s collaboration with visual artist Marit Benthe Norheim began in the mid-1990s and has resulted in works such as the sound installation “Rolling Angels”, accompanied by the choral piece “Angel Apparitions”, which was performed in several locations across England, Scotland, Denmark, and Norway during 2000–2001. He also composed the piece “The Journey Between Laughter and Tears” for the interior of the sculpture “The Rat Maiden”, created for the Ibsen Centenary in 2006, and has composed music for the inauguration of several of Norheim’s sculptures. Between 2006 and 2008, he created music for Marit Benthe Norheim’s moving sculpture installation “The Camping Women”, which was part of the European Capital of Culture Stavanger 2008.
About the music for Life-Boats, he writes:
During the last twenty years I have worked out a lot of works to Marit Benthe Norheim's sculptures. Some have been implemented for the unveiling and inauguration. Others have been mounted inside her sculptures - and some have been pure sound installations - music to accompany the sculptures. When she asked me to compose music for Life-Boats, it was soon clear to me that I would need to consider at least two different tasks. One would be to create a music that follows the boats on the journey, and which is mounted inside the boat, while the other will be the music used when the boats come to their port calls elsewhere.
I have chosen to take on the first task, to create music that is inside the boats, and that will meet the public when they enter the boat. These boats has thus become open, acoustic rooms for a music that mingles with the sounds of nature, sea and environment – thus the experience for the public is likely to change at each port.
Each boat has got its individual expression.
In "Life" I have tried to recreate a music that the unborn child might register while still being in the womb - unknown noises can most likely he heard or felt there, from the outside. The unknown world may seem alluring, while another portion may seem more challenging – like life itself, eventually manifests itself for most of us.
In "Longing" the listener will encounter music that comes from many different corners of the world, traditional music that has the sea as the common theme. The sea has always occupied man in the art, and this is just a small section of the story, from a Laestadian hymn in Finnish to gospel, to Thai music of the sea each depicting the relationship in their own way - as well as from several other countries.
In "Memories”, I have let the voices of the women who are models for the sculptures, to have their say through their own words, while they give glimpses of what has shaped them through life.
CV Geir Johnson (f.1953 i Fredrikstad d.2021) - Er cand.phil. med musik og filosofi fra universiteterne i Oslo og Bergen. Han studerede computermusik ved Stanford University, Californien 1988-89, og er hovedsagelig autodidakt som komponist. Han har skrevet omkring 40 værker i de sidste 20 år, musik i forskellige genrer, både elektro-akustisk, instrumental- og vokalmusik, som har været fremført i en række sammenhænge internationalt. Han har en varieret musikbaggrund, med erfaring både som sanger og dirigent for kor og ensembler. Samt han har op sat og dirigeret en række større musikbegivenheder i 1980’erne, med værk af både norske og internationale komponister. Geir Johnson har været aktiv som skaber af musikalske begivenheder, først som musik koordinator gennem midten af 1980’erne ved Henie-Onstad Kunstcenter udenfor Oslo, senere ved at være med til at danne BIT 20 Ensemble og samtidsmusikfestivalen Music Factory i Bergen. Han var en af grundlæggerne af musikteaterselskabet Opera Vest, i dag Den Nye Opera i Bergen. Fra 1989 til 1995 var han Præsident i Ny Musik, den norske sektion af ISCM. Han har og har haft en række tillidshverv i fremtrædende kulturorganisationer
Geir Johnson har forelæst over centrale emner i det 20.århundreds musik ved universiteter og højskoler over hele Europa, og har publiceret artikler og omtaler, for det meste knyttet til den internationale samtidsmusik, i tidsskrifter og aviser verden rundt.
I 1998 – 2009 var han direktør for ULTIMA Oslo Contemporary Music Festival. Siden 2006 har Geir Johnson etableret og ledet Transposition, et samarbejdsprojekt mellem fem vietnamesiske og syv norske musikorganisationer.