New Opera: Dust

By -

Robert Ashley (pictured) has written a trio of operas, "Dust" (1998) "Celestial Excursions" (2003) and "Made Out of Concrete" (2007/9). These operas are going to be performed at La Mama E.T.C. in New York this January. Dust is described by Mr. Ashley as “a television opera for the stage.” Its inspiration is the rambling of homeless people in New York City, and it is set in an imaginary park. The performers include Mr. Ashley, Joan La Barbara, Thomas Buckner, Jacqueline Humbert and Sam Ashley, in vocal roles, and (Blue) Gene Tyranny on keyboards.

"My characters are ordinary people," Ashley explains. "I am interested in their profoundly good qualities. They just happen to be ordinary people who are spiritually divine." To create this 'ordinary' effect, the vocals are rather like listening to Garrison Keillor's "Prairie Home Companion". The cadence is easy, speaking as much (if not more) than singing, relaxed and contemplative.

“We sense that great things—monumental things—are going on, of which the musical moments in the operas are but mere symptoms. The greatness is left inarticulate, merely sensed, slouching behind the sheer volume of the whole.” — Murray Dineen, Opera Today

Other reviewers on Amazon said this:

Dust is called an opera, but it is worlds away from archaic plots and bel canto singing. Against a background of ambient electronic textures, Ashley and his ensemble sing-narrate their story in ordinary American speech without a trace of artifice.

As can be heard from the samples that Amazon has provided, this opera starts out as a running narrative with a hypnotic synthesizer backdrop -- gradually working up to a critical mass of discordance in "No Legs", then easing into a very melodic ending - the last 20 minutes are pure gold, and it's a shame that Amazon has chosen to not sample that part.

You can listen to selections from "Dust" on Amazon

La Mama E.T.C. Annex, 74A East Fourth Street, East Village, (212) 475-7710, lamama.org; $25; $15 for students.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Role of Music in Opera

By -
There are numerous books on the topic, and every composer, librettist, director, singer and audience member has their opinion as to what role the music should play in an opera. In a play without music, the words ought to support the meaning behind a character's actions. However, in the case of action movies, often times the action is what tells the story and there aren't words, just images to forward the plot. We might hear music to accompany action, build tension, but the action tells the story. Musicals tend to speak until the emotion of the moment just "has" to break out in song - unless it's something like "Mama Mia" where the dialog is the rails we travel on between songs; the songs themselves, written before the concept of the musical, are the focus of the production, while the story is secondary. Operas are a different beast. The music provides emotion to the words spoken, but it also plays the role of ambience when there is only action. In &quo
Read more

Acclaimed Fauré Quartett returns to Deutsche Grammophon with their first recording of Brahms

By -
Image
The Fauré Quartett continues to add authoritative recordings to the chamber music catalog with their new recording of two Brahms quartets, available from Deutsche Grammophon on January 12, 2010. These large, some say symphonic, works test the limits of technical and musical capabilities, and the Fauré Quartett once again proves why they are one of the most acclaimed ensembles performing today. Within a short period of time the Fauré Quartett has conquered the great concert halls of London , Paris , Berlin , Amsterdam , Brussels , Geneva , Hamburg , Frankfurt, Milan , Buenos Aires , Rio de Janeiro and elsewhere. “They attract superlatives wherever they go,” wrote The Strad following a concert at London ’s Wigmore Hall, while the Süddeutsche Zeitung praised them for a performance that “brought tremendous pleasure by highlighting interpretative details that had scarcely ever been heard before”. The Fauré Quartett strives to achieve a unique sound for Brahms (as indeed for every work)
Read more

Episode 210b: Joyeuse le départ

By -
Image
Podcast:  Play in new window  |  Download Subscribe:  Apple Podcasts  |  Android  |  Google Play  |  Stitcher  |  TuneIn  |  RSS Provost Cunningham has Transmigrated, but to where! What is Dr Sage going to do with his body? And how can she bring home her friends, Abigail and Erasmus, without also bring home Cunningham? What are they going to say when they find the “skeleton” she’s hiding in her closet? Cast: Eddie Louise Clark  as Dr Sage Chip Clark  as Professor Savant Justin Bremer  as the Narrator Emily Riley Piatt  as Abigail Entwhistle, Calypso & Dean Stewart Written by  Eddie Louise Theme music by  Unwoman Sound Design by  Chip Michael
Read more