Bridge Music Installation on the Mid-Hudson Bridge

Mid-Hudson Bridge in late afternoon light UFu at English Wikipedia/ CC BY 3.0

Bridge Music is the work of composer Joseph Bertolozzi, who recorded sounds of bridge surfaces (including the suspension ropes, railings, girders, and conduit) being hit with various mallets. The resulting 11-track album contains no sounds outside of what was recorded using the Mid-Hudson Bridge itself, a Hudson Valley suspension bridge in Poughkeepsie, New York. (Bertolozzi was actually born in Poughkeepsie.)

The audio installation is experienced from listening stations that house 12 buttons (one for each track of the album and an additional composition called “Suite Poughkeepsie”) on the north-facing side of the bridge’s two towers.

Originally intended to be a live performance piece, the sound-art installation was completed in 2009 as part of New York’s 400th-anniversary observance of Henry Hudson’s voyage up the Hudson River.

Know Before You Go

There are two listening stations located at each bridge tower on the north-facing pedestrian walkway. The stations are open from dawn to dusk April 1 through October 31. Nearby park radios on either side of the bridge play the music year-round on 95.3FM.