Bridge Music
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.
History
One of composer Joseph Bertolozzi's most well known undertakings, 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, this "audacious plan" to compose music for a suspension bridge using the bridge itself as the instrument brought Bertolozzi wide local and international attention.When funding fell through for a live performance, Bertolozzi took the audio samples he had used to compose his works for the bridge, and used them to put together a studio album. 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 captured "Bridge Music" and its back-story.
Bertolozzi later began working on creating a similar project to have a group of live percussionists play the Eiffel Tower. That project changed into what is now Tower Music.