Archived film available to stream through December 31, 2021

5BMF’s 2020-2021 digital mainstage season continues with the premiere of “noise/SILENCE,” a new concert film featuring the daring and innovative Argus Quartet, co-presented by the renowned NOGUCHI MUSEUM in Queens. Filmed on-site at the museum in early April 2021, “noise/SILENCE” explores the symbiosis of silence and sound through music inspired by and in response to the art of Isamu Noguchi, the iconic 20th century sculptor. Noguchi’s sculptures, on display at his eponymous museum, provide a stunning backdrop to the Argus Quartet’s performances of works by John Cage, Rolf Wallin, Dorothy Rudd Moore, and Paul Wiancko, who joins the quartet as a guest performer for his piece, Vox Petra.

The Argus Quartet says about their new program: The language we use to describe sound is rich with metaphor: both noise and silence can be deafening, we speak of both “brain chatter” and a “quiet mind,” noise can be “white” or “static.” It’s been said that “silence is the sharper sword.” To humans, noise and silence can both empower and oppress us — from the cheering of a crowd to something left unsaid by a loved one, from chirping birds to an incessant alarm. John Cage — whose 4’33’’ famously explores the power of silence — aimed in his String Quartet in Four Parts to write a work that praised silence without actually using it. He described the piece “like the opening of another door; the possibilities implied are unlimited.” This program explores the endless possibilities from silence to sound, emptiness to saturation, a drop in the ocean to the ocean itself.