Bridge Music is a public sound art installation on the Mid-Hudson Bridge in New York. An album was released featuring music from the installation, under the same name.
Bridge Music is a public sound art installation on the Mid-Hudson Bridge in New York. An album was released featuring music from the installation, under the same name.
One of composer Joseph Bertolozzi's most well known undertakings, [1] the Bridge Music project uses only the sounds of New York's Mid-Hudson Bridge to play the bridge like a musical instrument. The work was completed in time for New York's 400th anniversary observance of Henry Hudson's voyage up the river that now bears his name, but was underway as early as 2004. Originally intended to be a live performance piece (circa 2006), [2] [3] [4] this "audacious plan" (New York Times) to compose music for a suspension bridge using the bridge itself as the instrument brought Bertolozzi wide local and international attention. [5] [6] When funding fell through for a live performance, Bertolozzi took the audio samples he had used to compose his works for the bridge, [7] and used them to put together a studio album. [8] [9] The installation features audio from the album, and allows listeners to hear the project on the bridge itself. In 2016, a documentary film by Andrew Porter [10] [11] captured "Bridge Music" and its back-story. [12]
Bertolozzi later began working on creating a similar project to have a group of live percussionists play the Eiffel Tower. [1] [9] [13] [14] [15] That project changed into what is now Tower Music .
Bridge Music exists as a free public audio installation on the bridge itself and in nearby parks. [8] [9] [16] [17] [18] The Bridge Music Listening Stations are located on the pedestrian sidewalk of the Mid Hudson Bridge, at each of the bridge's towers. They are open dawn to dusk from April 1 through October 31. Additionally, Park Radios on 95.3FM play the same music year-round, 24/7 in Waryas Park, Poughkeepsie and Johnson-Iorio Park, Highland.
| Bridge Music | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | May 2009 | |||
| Recorded | 2008 | |||
| Genre | Contemporary classical music, Art music, Experimental music, Electronic art music, 21st-century classical music, Electronic body music | |||
| Length | 48:19 | |||
| Label | Delos | |||
| Producer | Joseph Bertolozzi | |||
| Joseph Bertolozzi chronology | ||||
| ||||
Released in 2009, the CD Bridge Music (on the Delos label DE1045) entered the Billboard Classical Crossover Music Chart at #18, [1] and has been released globally. [19] [20] Justin Patrick, writing for music site Brainwashed, called the Bridge Music CD "a fun album. It takes a high art concept and makes it playful." [21]
The Hudson River is a 315-mile (507 km) river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the Upper New York Bay between New York City and Jersey City, eventually draining into the Atlantic Ocean at New York Harbor. The river serves as a political boundary between the states of New Jersey and New York at its southern end. Farther north, it marks local boundaries between several New York counties. The lower half of the river is a tidal estuary, deeper than the body of water into which it flows, occupying the Hudson Fjord, an inlet which formed during the most recent period of North American glaciation, estimated at 26,000 to 13,300 years ago. Even as far north as the city of Troy, the flow of the river changes direction with the tides.
Beacon is a city located in Dutchess County, New York, United States. The 2020 census placed the city total population at 13,769. Beacon is part of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown, New York Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as the larger New York–Newark–Bridgeport, New York–New Jersey–Connecticut–Pennsylvania Combined Statistical Area.
The George Washington Bridge is a double-decked suspension bridge spanning the Hudson River, connecting the New York City borough of Manhattan with the New Jersey borough of Fort Lee. The bridge is named after George Washington, the first president of the United States. The George Washington Bridge is the world's busiest motor vehicle bridge, carrying over 103 million vehicles in 2016. It is owned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, a bi-state government agency that operates infrastructure in the Port of New York and New Jersey. The George Washington Bridge is also informally known as the GW Bridge, the GWB, the GW, or the George, and was known as the Fort Lee Bridge or Hudson River Bridge during construction. The George Washington Bridge measures 4,760 feet (1,450 m) long and has a main span of 3,500 feet (1,100 m). It was the longest main bridge span in the world from its 1931 opening until the Golden Gate Bridge opened in 1937.
Poughkeepsie is a city in the U.S. state of New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeepsie is in the Hudson River Valley region, midway between the core of the New York metropolitan area and the state capital of Albany. It is a principal city of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown metropolitan area which belongs to the New York combined statistical area. It is served by the nearby Hudson Valley Regional Airport and Stewart International Airport in Orange County, New York.
New Hamburg station is a commuter rail stop on the Metro-North Railroad's Hudson Line, serving Wappingers Falls, New York.
The Governor Malcolm Wilson Tappan Zee Bridge, commonly known as the Tappan Zee Bridge, was a cantilever bridge in the U.S. state of New York. It was built from 1952 to 1955 to cross the Hudson River at one of its widest points, 25 miles (40 km) north of Midtown Manhattan, from South Nyack to Tarrytown. As an integral conduit within the New York Metropolitan Area, the bridge connected South Nyack in Rockland County with Tarrytown in Westchester County in the Lower Hudson Valley.
Hudson Valley Regional Airport, formerly known as Dutchess County Airport, is a county-owned public-use airport located on State Route 376 in the Town of Wappinger, Dutchess County, New York, United States, four miles (6 km) south of the central business district of Poughkeepsie. It is sometimes called Poughkeepsie Airport, which gives it the code POU. The airport provides corporate and general aviation transportation services.
The Livingston Avenue Bridge is a railroad bridge over the Hudson River in New York connecting Albany and Rensselaer. The original structure was built in 1866 by the Hudson River Bridge Company but was replaced in 1901–02. A rotating swing bridge span allows large ships to proceed up the river.
The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Mid-Hudson Bridge is a toll suspension bridge which carries US 44 and NY 55 across the Hudson River between Poughkeepsie and Highland in the state of New York.
Metro-North Railroad's Hudson Line is a commuter rail line running north from New York City along the east shore of the Hudson River. Metro-North service ends at Poughkeepsie, with Amtrak's Empire Corridor trains continuing north to and beyond Albany. The line was originally the Hudson River Railroad, and eventually became the Hudson Division of the New York Central Railroad. It runs along what was the far southern leg of the Central's famed "Water Level Route" to Chicago.
The New Jersey Symphony, formerly the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, is an American symphony orchestra based in the state of New Jersey. The New Jersey Symphony is the state orchestra of New Jersey, performing classical subscription concert series and specials in six venues across the state, and is the resident orchestra of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, New Jersey. In 2020 the orchestra launched New Jersey Symphony Virtual, featuring Concert Films, musicians performing in chamber ensembles and virtual education programs.
The Walkway over the Hudson is a steel cantilever bridge spanning the Hudson River between Poughkeepsie, New York, on the east bank and Highland, New York, on the west bank. Built as a double track railroad bridge, it was completed on January 1, 1889, and formed part of the Maybrook Railroad Line of the New Haven Railroad.
New York State Route 376 (NY 376) is a state highway located entirely within Dutchess County in the Hudson Valley region of New York in the United States. The route begins at an intersection with NY 52 in East Fishkill and passes north through Hopewell Junction and Red Oaks Mill on its way to the city of Poughkeepsie. It ends at a junction with U.S. Route 44 (US 44) and NY 55 east of the city limits in Arlington, a hamlet in the town of Poughkeepsie. NY 376 was originally designated as part of NY 39 in the mid-1920s. In the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York, the East Fishkill–Poughkeepsie portion of NY 39 was renumbered to New York State Route 202. NY 202 was renumbered to NY 376 in 1935 to avoid numerical duplication with the new US 202.
The New York State Armory is in Poughkeepsie, New York. Built in 1891, it is a Romanesque building designed by Isaac G. Perry, then the New York State Architect, who also designed the state capitol and 26 other armories. In 1982 the Armory was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Selkirk Hurdle is the term used by urban planners, railroad employees, politicians, and others to describe the route that must be taken by freight trains traveling between New York City and other points in downstate New York that are east of the Hudson River, and locations in the United States to the south and west. There are no rail freight bridges or tunnels that cross the Hudson River south of Selkirk, which is 10 miles (16 km) south of Albany and the home of Selkirk Yard, a major CSX classification yard. As a result, trains from Long Island and New York City must travel 140 miles (230 km) north to cross at Selkirk before continuing on their way. Advocates claim that this detour and the inefficiencies that result force New York City to rely more heavily on relatively-inefficient trucks than most parts of the United States, where freight trains are more common. However, at least for traffic to and from the west, this route was touted for its efficiency as the "Water Level Route" by the New York Central Railroad because trains using it did not have to climb over the Appalachian Mountains, and it is still used by the New York Central's successor, CSX, for traffic to both sides of the Hudson River.
Joseph Bertolozzi is an American composer and musician with works ranging from full symphony orchestra and solo songs to immense sound-art installations. With increasingly numerous performances across Europe and the United States to his credit, his music is performed by groups ranging from the Grammy-winning Chestnut Brass Company to the Eastman School of Music, and he himself has played at such diverse venues as the Vatican and The US Tennis Open.
The Hudson Valley Rail Trail is a paved 4-mile (6.4 km) east–west rail trail in the town of Lloyd in Ulster County, New York, stretching from the Hudson River through the hamlet of Highland. The trail was originally part of the Poughkeepsie Bridge Route, a rail corridor that crossed the Hudson via the Poughkeepsie Bridge. Controlled by a variety of railroads throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the bridge was damaged and became unusable after a May 8, 1974 fire. By the 1980s, the corridor's then-owner, Conrail, had routed all rail traffic in the region north through Selkirk Yard and was eager to relieve itself of the bridge and adjoining rights-of-way. In 1984, it sold the entire property for one dollar to a felon who did not maintain it or pay taxes on it. The section of the corridor west of the Hudson was seized by Ulster County in 1991 and transferred to the town of Lloyd.
Barton McLean is an American composer, performer, music reviewer, and writer.
Tower Music, is a musical project and album (2016) by composer and musician Joseph Bertolozzi. The project used microphones placed on the surfaces of the Eiffel Tower to capture the sounds of the tower. The resulting samples were used to create a musical composition using only the sounds of the tower itself, with no added digital manipulation or alteration of the sounds.
Tambor is an orchestral composition in one movement by the American composer Joan Tower. The work was commissioned by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and was composed between September 1997 and February 1998. It was first performed on May 7, 1998, by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under the conductor Mariss Jansons. The piece is dedicated Robert Moir, then artistic director for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.