Hallowwen Costumes On Crutches

Julien Lourau - Superman Movie-Mix (Music City - February 17, 2011)

If I knew, I might not come. I was expecting a jazz concert, electric of course, but rather it was electronic music with a saxophone moments (Julien Lourau also playing the Fender Rhodes, but then blends into the overall sound). And this music, at the intersection of Foley and Jeff Sharel turntables DJ Oil, seems thick, very subtle, sometimes only a little dirty, which is OK, but do not cling. The voice of Karl The Voice brings a soulful side, but it is far from the beauty of Anthony Joseph at Laurent Garnier (the comparison with this concert is cruel, but there are too many common elements that I don ' think not, and measure the distance). Also, repeat 500 times "When They Call Me, They call me Superman, Superman soon becomes tiresome and vaguely irritating and really annoying.



But it's not just music: it is a concert film. Above the stage, a large screen showing cartoons of the 40s, produced by the Fleischer brothers (the creators of Betty Boop) on the super-hero who fought volcanoes and mad scientists (with more power lower than those posted later, he tired quickly in those days!).
These cartoons are accompanied by Fred Ladoue hacks, filming live from small theaters where they place toys and various effects (spinning wheels, flames and smoke, etc..). In this discipline, its performance is halfway between the worst ( Gary Hill illustrating Varese) and best ( Pierrick Sorin starring Gerard Pesson ).
short, not great and all ...



Spotify: In the eclectic discography Julien Lourau, this concert is the album Brighter Days . I expected something more approaching Fire and Forget . But I'd rather see him in a truly Jazz Quartet kind Saigon.

Acid Reflux Stomach Flu

Saariaho Anderson Carter (City of Music - February 11, 2011)

Julian Anderson - The Comedy of Change

I think this is the first time I hear this young composer (he was my age, so he is young, of course) British, but also influenced by Tristan Murail. This piece, in six parts and a very different conclusion is more mixed, this spectral aspects, but less theoretical than the creators of this movement, where he mixes narrative and pictorial elements, like the George Benjamin.
The theme is "evolution" in nature, and indeed, the music evokes landscapes almost endless, weather phenomena, scenes of animal life ... The booklet indicates that shifts tones come into play, I have absolutely no feelings. The material is beautiful, transparent and fluid. Melodies and harmonies and are not afraid to invite the listener to enter into his world without violence. Captivating.

Elliott Carter - We Conversing With Paradise

I heard Carter's harder to access! Here the music seems to get any service poems of Ezra Pound (Cantos 81 and 120), which are uttered, sung, recited by the baritone Leigh Melrose with great commitment and sincerity dramatic. Only the tumult of five percussionists shake this long chant, while the rest of the orchestra accompanies with touches the architecture and subtle light. Taking.

Kaji Saariaho - Graal Theatre

Have I ever heard this song in concert? Anyway, tonight I leave the dock. Perhaps Jeanne-Marie Conquer does not play enough in "violin hero" known as being the dedicatee of the work Gidon Kremer? Ludovic Morlot Maybe he does not succeed to get CIS to more mysteries? Or maybe I'll eventually get tired of this composer? Or just this evening, this piece does not fit me? I'm just annoyed me ... Disappointing.

Elsewhere: Papageno, c.roch.notes
Spotify: Julian Anderson: Book of Hours , Elliott Carter - The Minotaur, Piano Sonata, Two Songs , Kaija Saariaho - Palace of the Soul

What Wood Can I Use On My Boat

Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker - Until such time (Theatre City - February 6, 2011) Intersessional

the beginning was the breath. That of a flute player, Michael Schmid. He stands in front of the stage, approach the mouth of its instrument of his nose, his fragile and as irresistible and mouth, and starts a note, one, serious. And keeps it for 10 minutes, a more than impressive circular breathing technique, making it very slowly climb to the highs. From my seat in the third row, I take all that noise punctuate this epic minimalist air intakes in the nose by small strokes faster and faster, then the expiry noisy sound of the flute and whistling harmonics ronronnantes. Finally, having reached the end of the journey, he lets out his arm and let out a sigh strong and liberating.
Then comes a singer on stage, a capella, which runs the old French of a poem about waiting suffered as a test accepted.
And finally, the eight dancers, sometimes, but rarely accompanied by three musicians playing the ars subtilior this music extremely learned from the late Middle Ages.

One might think that crosses the line right replaced the large circles of yesteryear, with Rosas. But these simple steps from one side to the other shelf are probably not so benign. Their rhythmic breakdowns seem complex, suspensions, times acceleration, it would not surprise me that it is a transcription of music not played not as a "fictional music.
This complexity is also reflected in the choreography for groups, which aggregate into magma filled with lines of force, which makes me think of the body repeatedly scattered a raft of the Medusa.
But the high point is a male solo, I guess by Bostjan Antoncic, a force, a subtlety of a magnificent fierceness, which amazes me and leaves me breathless. Best male solo since Nefes Bausch in 2004 ...

Apart from that, the stage naked (except for a strip of land that will be more or less impetuously swept through the feet and fly to the forefront, forcing a little girl just wrong height to protect themselves from projections by refuge under the mantle of his mother ...), lighting which consists of a single row of lights that go out late one after another, unable to recreate the magic of the outdoors and Evening descends on a place well chosen. There are games on clothing (and a naked man in the dark near final) that I hardly understood. And lengths, even if nothing insurmountable.
Strangely, critics fell the emotion of the piece, a sense of nascent humanity, especially when I hit the subtlety of the figures, and the feeling of being overwhelmed by the intelligence of the choreography, which should become a tribute to the ars subtilior ...

Real Estate Agent Introduction Letter

7 (Triton - February 3, 2011)

For this session, a string quartet, but not the usual: the viola, William Roy will play as normal, cello, Peter Strauch surprise me by proposing Great ideas and leading to repeated passage of an episode to the next, and two bassists, Frederick Stolch all power, and Bruno Chevillon much stage presence and inventive game modes.



The beginning is very ... Free, discoursing each with little stream, then the structures are set up, where often three aligned on a common mode by the fourth full contrast. My favorite moments are the beaches to the sounds spun, ghostly, above which the soloist can go on a pizza, or percussion. There is no break during the first improvisation within 45 minutes, a second part, about twenty minutes, complete.
We had announced more surprises "written", and probably Stolch Strauch, who scores in front of them, they sometimes interpreted extracts from contemporary music in the middle of improvisation, but I did not notice. The atmosphere was much closer to the sessions "unexpectedly" Anne Montaron than a concert by the EIC.