Gavin Bryars / Juan Muñoz: A Man in a Room, Gambling
18 - 20 September 1997
BBC Studio One, Delaware Road, London W9
Photograph Stephen White
"Good evening. Welcome to A Man in a Room Gambling. This evening, we will explain how to perform the old and worthy trick, El Trile, or the Three Card Trick. You will have noticed the trick a few times on the streets of the town centre. El Trilero, or the Three Card Man shows three cards to his audience, face up on a folding table. One of them is always an ace.
As on every evening, first take a pack of cards and shuffle..."
A Man in a Room, Gambling was conceived by leading British composer Gavin Bryars and Spanish sculptor and illusionist Juan Muñoz. Originally commissioned as a radio broadcast in 1992, it was later performed by the Gavin Bryars Ensemble as an Artangel project at the Maida Vale concerts in 1997. The Studio One evenings marked the British premiere of this unique collaboration and coincided with the release of Bryars' CD, A Man in a Room, Gambling on the now defunct Point Music label.
BBC's Studio One in Maida Vale provided a perfect location for this concert event. Situated in a fine 1930s interior, the studio was built for the era of radio, of disembodied voices being heard in distant places. The evening included several pieces from A Man in a Room, Gambling, five minute compositions based on card tricks. Their duplicity worked precisely through revealing and concealing at the same time. A play on description and desire originally conceived for the late-night radio listener, each work orchestrated a dynamic of manipulation and revelation. The trickery was doubled as the music distracts the listener from the spoken word.
The 'card' scores combined with a number of compositions by Bryars for the Ensemble, including The North Shore (which took the austere location of the cliffs of St Hilda's Abbey in North Yorkshire as its inspiration) performed by viola player Bill Hawkes and his haunting The South Downs written for and performed by cellist Sophie Harris.
This project was supported by Arts Council England, Special Angels and The Company of Angels
