Could we get the wind for the sailboat
12341231234
― Addison Doug (Matt #2), Sunday, 13 October 2013 19:14 (ten years ago) link
what it's ABOUT is endurance - an audience member staying put for like four solid hours, cast members having to sing these eternal repetitions and doing these insanely meticulous choreographed routines (THE FIELD SEGMENTS!!!!), that kind of stuff.
And doesn't it create a bridge of empathy between performers and audience? Like, the dancers are doing an endless number of coupes jetes en tournant, so many that I started thinking they were doing it for me, which cuts through a lot of aesthetic expectations and gets to some more emotionally primal place.
James, which aria are you talking about, i.e. when does it happen? "Night Train"?
― Matt Groening's Cousin (Leee), Sunday, 13 October 2013 19:20 (ten years ago) link
It's the one after Bed 2, performed by the lady who keeps picking up the conch shell.
Oh god it totally engaged the shit out of me; the dance sequences reminded me of NASCAR races since the slightest error in judgment would have resulted in everyone crashing into each other. OTOH when it's a mass scene with lots of different action going on I just get absorbed by digging up the intricacy of the choreography and end up missing something happening elsewhere on the stage (Train 1 is my favorite example; I'd be watching the one lady march back and forth across the stage and then all of a sudden, a paper airplane). I dunno if that necessarily qualifies as empathy but it sure was fun as hell to watch. Reminded me a lot of Playtime.
― a duiving caTCH, a stuolllen bayeeeess (jamescobo), Sunday, 13 October 2013 20:11 (ten years ago) link
was floored by this at the BAM. Grew up listening to this and other glass (much more than I do these days), and the Field Dances were the two things I could never have imagined or anticipated from the scores and stage directions and clips I'd seen in the past. Coming after the oppressiveness of certain other very deliberate sections there was just this massive, overwhelming euphoria when they arrived. "Wonder" I guess is the word.
― Saul Goodberg (by Musket and Pup Tent) (s.clover), Sunday, 13 October 2013 20:12 (ten years ago) link
disagree about "endurance" btw. Its more about maybe prolonged meditation and insight, or the process of thought. You think about simple things slowly, carefully, paring away the inessential, and eventually an enormous complex pattern pops into focus.
― Saul Goodberg (by Musket and Pup Tent) (s.clover), Sunday, 13 October 2013 20:21 (ten years ago) link
seconding get bent's comments - i'm still picking up pieces of my brain off the floor from seeing this last night
unfortunately she was also right about the audience although i guess i can't blame ppl for getting squirmy during a 4.5-hour opera with no actual intermission (i used the bathroom during the beginning of the 2nd trial scene and passed an older woman complaining about how 'monotonous' it was)
― Rothko's Chicken and Waffles (donna rouge), Sunday, 13 October 2013 22:22 (ten years ago) link
i don't even know where to begin talking about what i loved about it. the field dances (i felt like they were happening in slow motion, total heart-stopping moment), the knee plays (esp. the fourth(?) one where they're writhing on the glass gurneys), the entire night train scene, the tableau vivant of all of the performers in the building scene, the sheer intensity and concentration in the violinist's performance, all those bits of absurdist humor strewn throughout (the chorus making tooth-brushing gestures, etc) - just, gah!
― Rothko's Chicken and Waffles (donna rouge), Sunday, 13 October 2013 22:32 (ten years ago) link
using actual toothbrushes too!
― a duiving caTCH, a stuolllen bayeeeess (jamescobo), Sunday, 13 October 2013 23:28 (ten years ago) link
ahh, couldn't tell from my vantage point
― Rothko's Chicken and Waffles (donna rouge), Monday, 14 October 2013 00:39 (ten years ago) link
maybe not so much endurance as 'dedication', 'singlemindedness', 'craft', 'obsession' and also, conversely, transcendence.
normally i find these theme's of glass' too spiritual, infused with lots of silly mysticism. but here i see them as relating to, on some level, the scientific process.
― Saul Goodberg (by Musket and Pup Tent) (s.clover), Monday, 14 October 2013 00:53 (ten years ago) link
Music in Twelve Parts this weekend in London, can't wait!
― MaresNest, Sunday, 3 November 2013 11:45 (ten years ago) link
Yep. Saw it in the Czech Republic this summer, an amazing experience.
― my father will guide me up the stairs to bed (anagram), Sunday, 3 November 2013 16:35 (ten years ago) link
P. Glass is in the ensemble too, hope he can keep going for 4 hours
― Addison Doug (Matt #2), Sunday, 3 November 2013 17:51 (ten years ago) link
He's certainly looking a bit frail these days it's true. Seemed to manage OK the time I saw it though.
― my father will guide me up the stairs to bed (anagram), Sunday, 3 November 2013 20:35 (ten years ago) link
should I go see Satyagraha y/n
― you can get fuckstab anywhere in london (wins), Monday, 4 November 2013 18:14 (ten years ago) link
Beautiful music + giant puppets == yes! (Nb. I have not seen the opera.)
― Matt Groening's Cousin (Leee), Monday, 4 November 2013 20:34 (ten years ago) link
Saw it, was good. Still in atp recovery mode so my attention kinda wandered in places but it was p damn gorgeous. And I'm usually way more of a Reich guy by disposition but this & Einstein have really impressed me in performance. Kinda h8 the whole going to the opera experience tho
― malapopism (wins), Wednesday, 27 November 2013 00:51 (ten years ago) link
I was impressed that a musical about emancipation could ironically create an enslaved state for performers and audience members.
― kroegerboros (flamboyant goon tie included), Wednesday, 27 November 2013 01:37 (ten years ago) link
Four nights of Einstein in Berlin announced:
http://www.berlinerfestspiele.de/de/aktuell/festivals/einzelveranstaltungen/einzel_programm/einzel_veranstaltungsdetail_84630.php
― my father will guide me up the stairs to bed (anagram), Thursday, 12 December 2013 10:23 (ten years ago) link
That's interesting, judging by their website I had assumed that the tour was winding down, it's in Paris in Jan too. I am so tempted.
― MaresNest, Thursday, 12 December 2013 11:22 (ten years ago) link
'einstein on the beach' live-streaming from paris RIGHT NOW
http://culturebox.francetvinfo.fr/einstein-on-the-beach-au-theatre-du-chatelet-146813
― Rothko's Chicken and Waffles (donna rouge), Tuesday, 7 January 2014 18:15 (ten years ago) link
Watching it but hope someone is capturing it so I can watch it at my leisure later. So good.
― my father will guide me up the stairs to bed (anagram), Tuesday, 7 January 2014 18:25 (ten years ago) link
Holy crap!!
― MaresNest, Tuesday, 7 January 2014 18:54 (ten years ago) link
bizarre to watch it with quick cuts & close-ups. initially seems to go against the grain of the whole experience but the longer you watch, the deeper it sinks
hope this comes out
― Milton Parker, Tuesday, 7 January 2014 19:01 (ten years ago) link
Oh I hope so
― MaresNest, Tuesday, 7 January 2014 19:06 (ten years ago) link
All I could find is a documentary - http://www.filmlinc.com/films/on-sale/preserving-a-legacy-einstein-on-the-beach
― MaresNest, Tuesday, 7 January 2014 19:33 (ten years ago) link
*phew*
Q - Will "Einstein" live on without you and Bob?
A - Part of the idea was to set a performance standard for the piece, and now the whole thing has been filmed -- this production. We had felt that would have to be done in order to present the piece in the future. So now, in principle, I think it can be done.
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_21854639/philip-glass-talks-about-his-breakthrough-work-einstein
― MaresNest, Tuesday, 7 January 2014 19:37 (ten years ago) link
the stenographers have shopping bags because it's time for the supermarket
― Milton Parker, Tuesday, 7 January 2014 19:57 (ten years ago) link
FOURTH OF JULY PLUMES.
― Neil Nosepicker (Leee), Tuesday, 7 January 2014 20:04 (ten years ago) link
lagging, gah
― my father will guide me up the stairs to bed (anagram), Tuesday, 7 January 2014 20:06 (ten years ago) link
playing this in two tabs that are slightly out of sync
― willem, Tuesday, 7 January 2014 20:07 (ten years ago) link
Some eyelashes!
― Neil Nosepicker (Leee), Tuesday, 7 January 2014 20:11 (ten years ago) link
i forgot about the screams in this part
― Rothko's Chicken and Waffles (donna rouge), Tuesday, 7 January 2014 20:15 (ten years ago) link
Just noticed that site has a link to the full libretto.
― my father will guide me up the stairs to bed (anagram), Tuesday, 7 January 2014 20:19 (ten years ago) link
Have basically written off my evening, Yay French arts websites
― MaresNest, Tuesday, 7 January 2014 20:22 (ten years ago) link
Were the transitions between scenes always this quick?
― Neil Nosepicker (Leee), Tuesday, 7 January 2014 20:27 (ten years ago) link
yay the dancers
these and the spaceship are my favourite parts
― my father will guide me up the stairs to bed (anagram), Tuesday, 7 January 2014 20:27 (ten years ago) link
XP - On this tour you mean? Yes, possibly not on others
― MaresNest, Tuesday, 7 January 2014 20:29 (ten years ago) link
They do seem to be cracking through it at a fair old pace though, the site says durée 3'20" which is odd, when I saw it it was at least four hours long.
― my father will guide me up the stairs to bed (anagram), Tuesday, 7 January 2014 20:31 (ten years ago) link
What's killing me is how it's the same people now who have been touring this for what, nearly 2 years? What does their head sound like when they go to bed at night, that poor kid.
― MaresNest, Tuesday, 7 January 2014 20:31 (ten years ago) link
It's already been on for close to 3 hours
― MaresNest, Tuesday, 7 January 2014 20:33 (ten years ago) link
We still have New Age Sax Terror, Radio Ga-Ga Vid and Driving Miss Daisy (on a train) to go
― MaresNest, Tuesday, 7 January 2014 20:34 (ten years ago) link
don't forget Dan Flavin Space Aria
― Rothko's Chicken and Waffles (donna rouge), Tuesday, 7 January 2014 20:40 (ten years ago) link
Haha, currently watching Levitating Polo Mint V3.
― MaresNest, Tuesday, 7 January 2014 20:45 (ten years ago) link
Had to turn off, don't want "Knee 4" to leave me a wreck while at w3rk.
― Neil Nosepicker (Leee), Tuesday, 7 January 2014 20:46 (ten years ago) link
it's gonna be available on the site for a while, I think
― my father will guide me up the stairs to bed (anagram), Tuesday, 7 January 2014 20:47 (ten years ago) link
OH THANK GLASS.
― Neil Nosepicker (Leee), Tuesday, 7 January 2014 20:49 (ten years ago) link
Dan Flavin Space Aria. Awesome.
― dan selzer, Tuesday, 7 January 2014 21:04 (ten years ago) link
Hai-Ting Chinn bloody rules
― MaresNest, Tuesday, 7 January 2014 21:18 (ten years ago) link
Yeah this is so beautiful
― my father will guide me up the stairs to bed (anagram), Tuesday, 7 January 2014 21:20 (ten years ago) link