In February 2010, Anna Gawboy, a doctoral candidate at the Yale School of Music and scholar of Russian composer Alexander Scriabin, attempted to realize the composer's final work: a symphony of sound and light called "Prometheus: Poem of Fire". To accomplish this, Anna worked closely with Toshiyuki Shimada, conductor of the Yale Symphony Orchestra, and Justin Townsend, an award-winning lighting designer.
Anna and Justin spent a year developing ideas and preparing for the performance, but a majority of the lighting work was done just days before the concert. This documentary covers the events of that week and the performance itself.
The Fire of Prometheus:
Music-Kinetic Art Experiments in the USSR
Bulat M. Galeyev
Abstract-In this article, the author discusses the principal Soviet experiments in music-kinetic
art. As can be judged from the available literature, most of these experiments still remain 'blank
spaces' for Western readers. This article testifies to the existence of long-standing traditions that
have inspired the Soviet school of music-kinetic art and have contributed to its original features.
Perhaps the results have not always been as successful or as extensive as one would want them to
be, but the prospects for future developments look promising, if only on the basis of the
theoretical foundations that were laid in Russia itself in the beginning of this century. To provide
a context for his discussion of music-kinetic art considered in this review, the author has included
an article (see Appendix)
Instruments to Perform Color-Music:
Two Centuries of Technological Experimentation
Kenneth Peacock
Abstract—In our multi-media age, low-cost technology has facilitated the creation of convincing artistic works that combine music and colored light. The most elusive aspect of this art, historically termed 'color-music', has been the light-projection instrument. Attempts to develop such a device date from the eighteenth century and, since that time, many machines have been proposed. The author discusses the most significant of these instruments which, in many cases, were developed by experimenters working in isolation.
