'144 Strings for a Broken Chord' by Christy Doran is a piece in seven parts scored for 20 electric guitars, four electric basses and drums.

To be honest, who gets the idea to bundle 20 electric guitars, four electric basses and a drumset into an orchestra that has never before existed in this form? Christy Doran counted them exactly and consequently correctly calls it "144 Strings For A Broken Chord" in view of the tempestuous storm that it creates. In doing this, the jack-of-all-trades on the electric guitar with all its tonal possibilities such as the amps or other electronic devices, his loyal companions over all those eventful decades, creates a highly emotional declaration of love. "Their potential is boundless," the 68-year-old Swiss musician raved. Not only for him as an instrumentalist, but also as a composer. That's why Doran composed his 144 strings on a corpulent body with seven energetic, bustling, noisy, unpredictable compositions somewhere between rock, contemporary jazz, noise, contemporary classical music, groove and world music. A wild, normally hard to control amalgam that John Voirol had to deal with on the conductor's stand, but which he surprisingly had tightly under control at a concert on September 17, 2016 in Christy's hometown of Lucerne, without robbing the protagonists of their individual freedom.

Each of the 20 guitarists and four electric bassists brings his own personal touch to the daring project, creating a special, original sound that resembles an artistic DNA with the help of smaller or larger instruments. At some point, 24 voices overlay and create a strange shimmering, edgy and quite cool stereo effect. An acoustic as well as a visual natural phenomenon. Another new mutation from Christy Doran's genetic laboratory of united sounds.

Artists

Christy Doran, Franco Fontanarossa, Walter Beltrami, Wolfgang Zwiauer, Franco Fontanarrosa, Andi Schnellmann, Yves Reichmuth, Christopher Guilfoyle, Philippe Emanuel Schäppi, Laurent Méteau, Gael Zwahlen, Simon Rupp, Dave Gisler, Lucia D’Errico, Christian Winiker, Franz Hellmüller, Martina Berther, Philipp Schaufelberger