Nine Bells

Nine Bells is one of Tom Johnson’s key works. The piece offers a set of bells suspended in a three-by-three grid, each bell located approximately six feet from its neighbour. The stage setup of Nine Bells is both a musical installation and a performance by the percussionist, who moves inside and around the bells following a precise itinerary based on geometric forms that vary throughout the nine parts that make up the work.

Born in Colorado in 1939, Tom Johnson studied at Yale University and with Morton Feldman. After 15 years in New York, he settled in Paris, where he has lived since 1983. Tom Johnson is generally considered a minimalist: he works with materials that are always reduced, but proceeds in a markedly more logical manner than most other minimalists. This results in a frequent use of formulas, permutations and predictable sequences. The output of the composer Tom Johnson is both broad and vast, comprising numerous modes of expression, including opera, pieces for dance, piano, chamber ensembles and orchestras.

7th Movement:

Excerpt from the performance at the École Supérieure d’Art du Mans by Adam Weisman.