Archive June 2005
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June 26, 2005
The future manifest revisited
After the Warp vs London Sinfonietta concert I had some discussion with a colleague who is a real fan of te Warp music label, where I find their music tiresome.
What I find wears me out is the overflow of all kinds of sounds, it is more than I can handle. Furthermore it is the electronic sound that doesn't breath. I need some real air in the music.
I have been thinking a lot about what make this music so popular, and I only can think of Luigi Russolo's 1905 Futuristic Manifest, which in itself is nothing new.
With Russolo we had all kinds of music that emulated the industrialization. Now it is electrification. The stars on stage are the laptop guys (not much girls seen, yet), with their software and computer cables. It is the ultimate way of city life.
It makes me wonder what would happen to this music if the power went down...
Posted by Renske at 11:32 UTC | permanent link
June 12, 2005
Dada @ Warp
LateNite Organ Delight (Photo: RV)A strange combination last Friday when I lost my virginity as a concertgoer in the new Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ. It was a very good concert, but I left the hall in a middle of a piece because it was HORRIFIC.
This concert was preceded with a lot of buzz. The London Sinfonietta together with music label Warp. The highlight this evening according to the program notes appeared to be true: George Antheils's Ballet Méchanique with a 1924 film by Fernand Léger and Man Ray.
With Anteil's music being an over the top sort of Stravinsky one can only admire the inventiveness of people like Léger and Man Ray. All videoclips this evening had the support of modern video-editing equipment where Léger and Man Ray had to invent everything they did with primitive means. Their film, in combination with the splendid performance conducted by Jurjen Hempel, made a deep impact impression where most other empty commercial like films failed to make a punch.
Jamie Lidell (I like his examples on Warp's website a lot better!) was at the other of the spectrum this evening. This was the part I left the hall. He lost me when the music became nothing more than electronic squeaking so loud it was hurting my ears.
Here we have another electronic artist who thinks that if something is possible it must be used.
Sigh.
After having escaped Lidell's sonic battlefield this peculiar Australian guy Thomas Meadowcroft (see photo) was playing 70s music with a stuffed dog at his feet, underlining this was a night with impression shifts at warp speed.
Posted by Renske at 14:25 UTC | permanent link
June 06, 2005
Impact of NOW
With Jacob ter Veldhuis' ...NOW... fresh in mind I had a recall of an experience a couple of years ago. I was doing some research in a German archive. The material I was looking for had its origin in the early to late 1930s.
Since the research was rather technical (it had something to do with early aviation) I somehow thought my research was neutral from a political standpoint.
I was wrong. Within the material I was researching I came across letters from Nazi hotshots. I felt history's claw on my shoulder and a shiver down my spine when I saw the sincerity of these letters and the way they were signed: H.H.
Until then, the black page of our recent history wasn't something I knew from books, films and stories. At that particular moment, I had a tiny part of history in my hands.
Our history is NOW as is our future.
Posted by Renske at 19:34 UTC | permanent link
June 04, 2005
The cursor of time
I just returned from a Holland Festival concert with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. I must say the concert was quiet a ride.
To begin with the venue was an old industrial complex De Gashouder. The KCO didn't play in its normal configuration ones.
The theme was spatial music, and spatial it was. Kicking off with Gabrieli it was like watching a tennis match. Left seated brass players (from the audience stand of view) tossing some notes over to the right seated brass players with the conductor (Markus Stenz) in the middle with his face towards the public. How often do we see that!?
Gabrieli was followed by music from György Kurtag. His Dubbleconcerto for piano, cello and two ensembles. Great piece of music although at first I thought it would be some modern gobbledewobble. But the music was brilliantly orchestrated, sometimes very fragile and with beautiful chord progressions.
Another highlight was the seamless progression from Ives' From the steeples and the mountains to Mozart's Serenade nr. 8 in D for 4 orchestra, KV 286
The above was all much better than Brett Dean's Parteitag for orchestra and video. I consider a title like this as heavy stuff. And he didn't play to it. The video was very brainy, but my guts need to be filled as well.
That was done with Jacob ter Veldhuis' and Jaap & Floris Drupsteen's ...NOW... A very good integration of video and music, with a splendid imagination of what NOW is; the cursor of time.
Posted by Renske at 00:21 UTC | permanent link