Saw Rigoletto last night here in Nantes. Nice opera house. Have to say, didn’t get anything in terms of a coherent plot. The scenery didn’t exactly explain much to an opera novice like myself. It appeared at first to be set in a 17th century anatomy lecture hall, and never really changed too much after that. Sure there were fog machines and a boat in the end, but nothing ever really appeared different, they were always in that strange round room. Essentially it appeared like a series of tableaux of various contrasting melodramas without any kind of connection between it. Im not quite sure what happened, there was a kidnapping, and several people singing and then the lead lady dies laying down in the end by throwing her arms up and saying "bleaah!"

ok, the last bit i made up, but that’s what it seemed like, and there was definite arm moving going on. Anyway, the music was lovely, i want to get a CD of it, even if i couldn’t discern any kind of message or story. It was a pleasant exercise in abstracted contrasting histrionics.

And it reminded me of that euro-trash question on the recent meme i filled out.

From the cathedral of Toledo, Spain

Kurt Vonnegut, 1922-2007

Currently in Sevilla, Spain, and writing from my hostal. Seen Madrid, Toledo, Granada, Cordoba and most of the major sites in this city, so im heading back to france land soon and i know im going to miss iberia. Granada seems livable, as does cordoba, and i need to learn spanish, should i even try to study abroad again? well, maybe i should graduate first.

and pictures will come soon.

More youtube

This time, three videos of Glenn Branca.

Here's my her0 in action in a loft in NYC from 1978. Things you can do with an electric guitar that you can't do with a piano, unfortunately. Its almost as much performance art as music.

... and this last one is the most dramatic though much less dynamic, certainly the most visually striking. This beautiful 19th century beaux-arts concert hall filled with music so viceral, so severe and acidic that you almost expect the traditional-looking audience to react in outrage. I think this is one of my favorite videos on youtube.... almost surreal to hear that music in what appears to be a bastion of the old world.

Alright, i'll play along. This is a little meme from Soho's site, and since i have the time to kill on this monday afternoon...

1. Name an opera you love for the libretto, even though you don't particularly like the music.

uh, i dont really listen to much opera other than einstien on the beach, and i think i'd be bored by that libretto (par contre, i love the music). I think for me this works in reverse. I dont know any opera text i like better than the music, the texts are usually rather banal.

2. Name a piece you wish Glenn Gould had played.

HA, if i liked Gould this might work. Uh, i dunno, John Cage's Sonatas and interludes. He probably could have done those fairly well.

3. If you had to choose: Charles Ives or Carl Ruggles

Ives. I sadly only know Ruggles through the written word and nothing more.

4. Name a piece you're glad Glenn Gould never played.

Anything Debussy post-1900. Images 2 contains some of the most delicate music ever written for piano.

5. What's your favorite unlikely solo passage in the repertoire?


hm. these questions are getting harder. Define solo and repetoire. haha.
does the flute in the begining of the orchestral version of Ravel's Barque sur l'ocean count? i think thats several flutes anyway. The opening to the Rite of Spring but i don't know how thats unlikely.

6. What's a Euro-trash high-concept opera production you'd love to see? (No Mortier-haters get to duck this one, either—be creative.)

again with the opera. ok, Puccini's Manon, sung and acted while suspended from bungee chords.
Imagine the chorus. heheh.

7. Name an instance of non-standard concert dress you wish you hadn't seen.

anything too rich looking, jewlery and that crap. I think people who exceed a certain income level and show it off should be forbidden from entering the concert hall.

8. What aging rock-and-roll star do you wish had tried composing large-scale chorus and orchestra works instead of Paul McCartney?

uh. George? i really dont know. Someone from they might be giants, they made good music.


9. If you had to choose: Carl Nielsen or Jean Sibelius?

this is a retarded question. Sibelius wins 16 times over. Just listen to his 4/5/6/7th symphonies and dare to tell me otherwise.

10. If it was scientifically proven that Beethoven's 9th Symphony caused irreversible brain damage, would you still listen to it?

Well, no. no i wouldnt, and I think beethoven would support me on this, as he has 8 others to enjoy afterall. its not the END of the world if i dont listen to the 9th, since it appears most people manage to get along just fine without listening to it... How long before y0u'd get brain damage? could i just do the last movement without the medical problems?

Recently, i've been more or less focusing my musical attention on Last.fm, listening to various radio stations, and generally being awe-struck by the incredible diversity and sheer number of groups of musicians i had never heard of who are/were making very interesting music. on my page (shamless plug) theres a list of all of this music i've up until now been unfamiliar with-

Stereolab,Prefuse 73,The Residents, Philip Jeck, Deerhoof, Four tet, Jackie-O motherfucker, Charalambides. I had only heard of Stereolab, and only the name, and im really impressed by all of this stuff and i hope to hear more. The dazzling array of music thats presented on Last.fm leaves me humbled, I dont by any means have anything close to a big picture of independent music today, and i dont know if that would ever be possible in the first place.

Im traveling to Spain on the 3rd till the 12th.

Hoping for a heat wave.