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Reiner Torheit
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« on: 04:11:38, 28-03-2008 » |
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"Tanks full of green liquid are then emptied out, as five inverted grand pianos, operated by remote control, start to play against a backdrop of gnarled trees." http://arts.guardian.co.uk/theatre/drama/story/0,,2268240,00.htmlJust wait until the TOP crowd get hold of this.... "I guess this isn't The Jupiter Symphony any more, Dorothy..."Is anyone planning to go? I would, if it weren't such a long way away from home... |
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"I was, for several months, mutely in love with a coloratura soprano, who seemed to me to have wafted straight from Paradise to the stage of the Odessa Opera-House"
- Leon Trotsky, "My Life"
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Ron Dough
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« Reply #1 on: 09:03:01, 28-03-2008 » |
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I'd certainly be going were I nearby: Goebbels is one of those composers who for me consistently produces interesting results even when the premise looks unpromising, and who seems to be able to produce contemporary music which can be thought-provoking and yet still appeal to a wider audience: dare one mention that even S-S was rather taken with his last work to be broadcast on Hear and Now?
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George Garnett
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« Reply #2 on: 09:36:14, 28-03-2008 » |
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I haven't as yet been quite as taken with Goebbels as Ron (or S-S) but I'll probably be going. As someone is going to all that trouble with remote controlled pianos and green gloop it would seem almost impolite not to.
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richard barrett
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« Reply #3 on: 10:14:44, 28-03-2008 » |
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I have to agree with George here. I've seen a couple of larger-scale pieces by HG and thought all the theatrical shenanigans didn't quite distract me sufficiently from the thinness of the music, and that the constant succession of clever stage devices became somewhat tiresome long before the end. This underground performing space sounds rather interesting though.
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Ron Dough
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« Reply #4 on: 10:56:20, 28-03-2008 » |
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The piece I came to first - Surrogate Cities - has no theatrical shenanigans: recorded by chance from Hear and Now it just bowled me over completely. I'm aware that some of his works have visual aspects, but have only experienced them in auditory circumstances, and those I have heard have certainly worked for me. I wouldn't for one moment claim that it's cutting edge stuff, but it connects. 'Nuff said.
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Ian Pace
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« Reply #5 on: 19:38:20, 28-03-2008 » |
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Bearing in mind that most people don't listen to Beethoven, let alone Goebbels, how many listeners does it take for some music to pass the test of 'appealing to a wider audience'?
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'These acts of keeping politics out of music, however, do not prevent musicology from being a political act . . .they assure that every apolitical act assumes a greater political immediacy' - Philip Bohlman, 'Musicology as a Political Act'
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time_is_now
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« Reply #6 on: 19:48:00, 28-03-2008 » |
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I wouldn't for one moment claim that it's cutting edge stuff
I don't think that's a criterion - or certainly not the only criterion - for anyone in this thread, Ron ... and indeed, in the only current British concert series whose name suggests it is a criterion, the evidence of the works programmed tends to suggest very much otherwise!  |
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The city is a process which always veers away from the form envisaged and desired, ... whose revenge upon its architects and planners undoes every dream of mastery. It is [also] one of the sites where Dasein is assigned the impossible task of putting right what can never be put right. - Rob Lapsley
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Ian Pace
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« Reply #7 on: 19:50:06, 28-03-2008 » |
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Music may not be cutting edge, but can still be Cutting Edge.
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'These acts of keeping politics out of music, however, do not prevent musicology from being a political act . . .they assure that every apolitical act assumes a greater political immediacy' - Philip Bohlman, 'Musicology as a Political Act'
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richard barrett
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« Reply #8 on: 23:36:42, 28-03-2008 » |
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The piece I came to first - Surrogate Cities This I would like to hear some time. Don't get the impression I have anything against Mr Goebbels or the stylistic area he's working in - from what I've seen of him he's a highly intelligent and engaged musician and I'd like to like what he does. Thinking about it, perhaps there's no reason why the musical aspects which seemed to me overshadowed by their theatrical context might not take on a different and more attractive aspect when experienced on their own. |
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Ron Dough
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« Reply #9 on: 23:45:44, 28-03-2008 » |
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The piece I came to first - Surrogate Cities This I would like to hear some time. Not an insurmountable problem, I 'd hazard.  |
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Reiner Torheit
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« Reply #10 on: 05:37:29, 29-03-2008 » |
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perhaps there's no reason why the musical aspects which seemed to me overshadowed by their theatrical context might not take on a different and more attractive aspect when experienced on their own.
But for me its the synthesis of musical and theatrical approaches as a whole which is the attraction  In Britain especially there seems to be an accepted "norm" which is something of a "demarcation" issue... person "a" is the composer, and creates the music, person "b" thinks-up some movement and action, "c" is clever at making it visually attractive, "d" does the dances, etc. There's no reason why this should be the case, and a central creative talent brings a holistic piece of work into being? Gesamtkunstwerk, anyone? |
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"I was, for several months, mutely in love with a coloratura soprano, who seemed to me to have wafted straight from Paradise to the stage of the Odessa Opera-House"
- Leon Trotsky, "My Life"
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gradus
Posts: 58
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« Reply #11 on: 19:58:11, 29-03-2008 » |
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Perhaps this piece has a counterpart in the visual arts; Rebecca Horn's self-eviscerating grand piano that graced the Tate Britain a few years back, I wonder if Mr Goebbels saw it, spectacularly hanging from the ceiling in the central hall of the gallery.
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Ian Pace
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« Reply #12 on: 20:37:28, 29-03-2008 » |
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But for me its the synthesis of musical and theatrical approaches as a whole which is the attraction In Britain especially there seems to be an accepted "norm" which is something of a "demarcation" issue... person "a" is the composer, and creates the music, person "b" thinks-up some movement and action, "c" is clever at making it visually attractive, "d" does the dances, etc. There's no reason why this should be the case, and a central creative talent brings a holistic piece of work into being? Well, that's certainly a model for creative labour that has existed for a very long time, and by no means just (or even predominantly) in Britain - and is equally applicable in other media such as film in particular. In theory a central creative talent could bring such a thing into being, but how likely is it that they would be able to demonstrate equal levels of aptitude in all the different aspects (being as skilled a set designer as a composer, for example)? |
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'These acts of keeping politics out of music, however, do not prevent musicology from being a political act . . .they assure that every apolitical act assumes a greater political immediacy' - Philip Bohlman, 'Musicology as a Political Act'
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harmonyharmony
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« Reply #13 on: 20:39:25, 29-03-2008 » |
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Perhaps this piece has a counterpart in the visual arts; Rebecca Horn's self-eviscerating grand piano that graced the Tate Britain a few years back, I wonder if Mr Goebbels saw it, spectacularly hanging from the ceiling in the central hall of the gallery.
It's in Tate Modern now. I did enjoy the Rebecca Horn exhibit with all those hammers and the mercury and the feathers. Nice. |
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'is this all we can do?' anonymous student of the University of Berkeley, California quoted in H. Draper, 'The new student revolt' (New York: Grove Press, 1965) http://www.myspace.com/itensemble |
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Ian Pace
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« Reply #14 on: 20:40:23, 29-03-2008 » |
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Perhaps this piece has a counterpart in the visual arts; Rebecca Horn's self-eviscerating grand piano that graced the Tate Britain a few years back, I wonder if Mr Goebbels saw it, spectacularly hanging from the ceiling in the central hall of the gallery.
Well, a suspended grand piano was used by German composer Volker Heyn a lot earlier, in his Did yer hear that? of 1986, with actor and tape. I would think it's very likely that Goebbels would have known of that work, which I think was performed at Darmstadt back then. |
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'These acts of keeping politics out of music, however, do not prevent musicology from being a political act . . .they assure that every apolitical act assumes a greater political immediacy' - Philip Bohlman, 'Musicology as a Political Act'
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