Benjamin Tassie

Joining Mary Duggan’s Residency Programme in 2019-20, composer Benjamin Tassie created a new musical work entitled Accrete, translating the history and topography of a 13th Century church site – The Old Rectory – in the City of London into music for a Medieval instrument, the rebec, and voices. Accrete’s harmony is based on the frequency response of the existing building’s bell tower – a measurement of pitches that resonate or are dampened by the space’s unusual acoustic – while the music’s structure is a translation of the schedule of Mary Duggan Architect’s works on the site. The 15 minute work was played during the London Festival of Architecture LFA2021 as an intimate installation, presented on a vintage reel-to-reel tape machine within the bell tower that inspired the music.