Microphone Songs - review
Mar. 3rd, 2010 11:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lightcastleI went to the ECM+'s presentation of Microphone Songs (can't remember how to link directly to an internal frame or I'd help you all dodge the music that plays on that site) tonight. It was a joint production between them and a group from Bordeaux called Proxima Centauri.
I find contemporary music challenging. I understand and appreciate they are trying to do new things, but often I find it seems to be cacophony for cacophony's sake.
There were X pieces, and I was quite fond of the first and the last two.
Vaai Irandu by Gabriel Dharmoo was a piece that focused on human voice as an instrument. I am fairly certain there were no actual words in the piece, and it used just about every vocalization I've ever heard in a language. (Including the clicks and pops common to some African languages. I don't know the name of those, but have enough linguistics fiends among my readers I figure someone does.)
De l'intérieur by Gabriel Dufour-Laperrière was a solo violin piece that was interesting as much for the technical difficulty of the piece (and the precision with which it was performed) as anything else.
X by François Rossé was the big finale with both groups playing. It was probably my favourite piece, and I am sure the most conventional of the evening.
The title piece, Microphone Songs by Michel Gonneville was painful. The music was ok, but the vocals were incredibly distracting. I get that there was some attempt to play with vocal effects, but the singer was singing in her second language, emphasizing things in strange ways, and generally "acting" "angry" and "sad" while her voice was randomly distorted. The result was just irritating. It felt like the vocal equivalent of someone going nuts with spinning flaming skulls and the blink tag just because they could.
The show plays tomorrow in Quebec city.
Personally, if you're craving some contemporary music spectacle in this city, I would recommend waiting for their production of LES AVENTURES DE MADAME MERVEILLE in May.
Of course, I might just be biased in favour of Comic Book Opera.
I find contemporary music challenging. I understand and appreciate they are trying to do new things, but often I find it seems to be cacophony for cacophony's sake.
There were X pieces, and I was quite fond of the first and the last two.
Vaai Irandu by Gabriel Dharmoo was a piece that focused on human voice as an instrument. I am fairly certain there were no actual words in the piece, and it used just about every vocalization I've ever heard in a language. (Including the clicks and pops common to some African languages. I don't know the name of those, but have enough linguistics fiends among my readers I figure someone does.)
De l'intérieur by Gabriel Dufour-Laperrière was a solo violin piece that was interesting as much for the technical difficulty of the piece (and the precision with which it was performed) as anything else.
X by François Rossé was the big finale with both groups playing. It was probably my favourite piece, and I am sure the most conventional of the evening.
The title piece, Microphone Songs by Michel Gonneville was painful. The music was ok, but the vocals were incredibly distracting. I get that there was some attempt to play with vocal effects, but the singer was singing in her second language, emphasizing things in strange ways, and generally "acting" "angry" and "sad" while her voice was randomly distorted. The result was just irritating. It felt like the vocal equivalent of someone going nuts with spinning flaming skulls and the blink tag just because they could.
The show plays tomorrow in Quebec city.
Personally, if you're craving some contemporary music spectacle in this city, I would recommend waiting for their production of LES AVENTURES DE MADAME MERVEILLE in May.
Of course, I might just be biased in favour of Comic Book Opera.
