Sunday, August 25, 2013

Please take the tape out of the machine...

Playlist
King Crimson - USA
Fripp & Eno - Evening Star
Haydn - Complete String Quartets
Cloudland Blue Quartet - HSQ G 17 5 III 42
Cloudland Blue Quartet - Riverleaves

Up too early as usual...

Listening first to King Crimson's "USA" trying to decide whether to shell out well over £100 on the 24 disc box set, due out in October, "The Road to Red"...


Swithering...

Fripp & Eno also enjoyed...


Another new artwork was created and now adorns this very site...


For the rest of the morning, working on some new CBQ ideas...

In ambient/soundscape mode and utilising sound stretching programmes on a short movement from a Haydn string quartet...

As the software testifies, I could have stretched the five minute piece so much it would have lasted over three and a half trillion years...


Perhaps too long...

As it was I ended up with a piece lasting almost four hours...

I have no doubt that within that timespan there are some choice scenarios which may be usable...

A few quick cuts burned to CD for in car and other area listening...


At 1:30, picked up nephew Craig and girlfriend Ariane plus Anne's mum and off down to Keith and Maureens' in Leith to celebrate niece in law Rebecca's graduation from Glasgow University with a degree in philosophy...


Here she is cutting the lovely Italian cake...


Throughout the course of the afternoon, niece Kitty and I tried to ensure all attendees were pictured...

Craig...


Murray and Ariane...


Jane...


Ryan...


Mary...


Keith...


Olly - in his fetching red trousers...

 

The young generation...


Kitty...


Abby...


The bearded freelance journalist...


The photographing granny...


Mother and daughter/aunt and nephew...


Mother and son...


Jane, Anne, Olly, Kitty and your correspondent in the mirror..

 

Bobby and his favourite daughter...


The younger generation...


Maureen...


Group shots...




Father and son...


The beast...


...and its favourite sisters in law...


Then there was the ubiquitous and much requiring to be recorded for posterity, gymnastics display from the young monkey...







Anne and I drove to the Playhouse around seven for tonight's performance by the LA Dance Project...


A short wait in the bar...


And in...


Luckily, there was none of this, other than during the intervals...


The evening's performance started with Benjamin Millepied's "Moving Parts", featuring three men and two women and three moveable screens dancing to an, at times, beautiful score by Nico Muhly for viola, clarinet and taped organ....



This is slightly better quality and has three excerpts, the second and third were performed tonight...



An interval for ice cream and a move closer to the stage in the non-sell out environs...

The next piece was impressive but, I felt, rather contrived...

I'd not seen it before but "Winterbranch" was originally choreographed in 1964 by Merce Cunningham...

The first ten minutes of the piece are danced in complete silence - apart from the gentleman over to my left whispering to his partner...

The lighting effects by Robert Rauschenberg on the unadorned stage were interesting but, for me, just a little too dark and also detracted from the dancers' movements...

La Monte Young's score comprised, initially, the slowed down screeching of a machine of some kind which was eventually doubled up with what sounded like the same recording at normal speed...

Cornelius Cardew said of the 1960 piece, "2Sounds"

"One further composition reached England in 1964 when the Merce Cunningham Dance Company were at Sadler's Wells and the Phoenix Theatre for a season. 

Cunningham had choreographed a composition called 2 Sounds. 

The composer had provided two sounds on separate tapes, to be started at different points during the ballet. 

When the first sound starts you cannot imagine that any more horrible sound exists in the whole world. 

Then the second sound comes in and you have to admit you were wrong." 

That does about sum it up...


The appearance of the small machine moving slowly across the dark and empty stage towards the end of the piece was a nice touch...

But the evening's best was kept till last...

William Forsythe's "Quintett", choreographed for his wife, who died at just 33 before seeing it performed, was a brilliant ensemble piece, set to the soundtrack of Gavin Bryar's' haunting "Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet"...

I've seen this music performed before, by live string ensemble with the tape loop but I realised tonight, it really needs some visuals to take away from the eventually annoying voice of the tramp, who sings the twelve bar song ad infinitum/nauseam...

Even with the choreography, I feel this piece would be better without the tape loop...

And all too soon it was over and a goodly number of curtain calls were received...



The machine seen here on the right did nothing at all - its presence remains a mystery to me...

Back home to this wee beastie on the back door...


Some footie highlights and off to bed...

A good three days...

Eno lecture, music work, family get togethers and some great ballet...

Highlight of the Day : Brilliant modern ballet...

4 comments:

Prog Dog said...

David, regarding The Road to Red box set. As the title of the great Steve Hillage song, dont dither do it. You know it makes sense!

Cloudland Blue Quartet said...

Got your comment, published it, bought the box...

Oh dear...

Prog Dog said...

You won't regret it. Well...., hopefully not!

Cloudland Blue Quartet said...

I'm sure I won't but I needed that wee prod from the prog dog!