For his House Music Series video presentation, flutist Leo Sussman performs composer Emily Luishen’s Pulmo. His video wavers between images, blurring and contorting his body along the rapid pitter-patter of the music. The piece was originally written for six flutes and electronics, but here, Sussman plays each part himself.
Sussman first performed with Metropolis Ensemble at their December 2019 Ecstatic Music Festival performance at Merkin Concert Hall in New York City. But while that was his first official concert with the group, he had admired their work for a long time and was excited to get involved. The House Music Series marks their second collaboration.
Written this past summer, Pulmo, which translates to “lung” in English, takes on a variety of different interpretations from events of this year: the coronavirus disease, George Floyd’s words, “I can’t breathe,” and Black Lives Matter, the rampaging fires along the west coast of the United States. To create this recording, Sussman first recorded each of the flute parts and then sent them to Luishen who mashed them together with her electronics. For the electronics, she chose to source a variety of Congressional hearings, distorted to a point where their content is nearly unintelligible. This obfuscation, mixed with the transparency and lucidity of Sussman’s performance, illustrate uncertainty and mix together in a wash of breathy sounds. — Vanessa Ague
Episode: 50Date: September 22, 2020Artist: Leo SussmanInstrumentation: Flute, ElectronicsWork: "Pulmo"Composer: Emily LiushenMore from House Music