After Mike left town, I had a few days to catch up on some work, and get cracking on some freelance work. More on that later when I have something to share! Tonight I got together with Ben, and we went over to the Walt Disney Concert Hall for Tan Dun’s “Water Passion after Saint Matthew”. Before the concert started, we wandered around the building – wowza, this place is insane! Frank Gehry is one weird architect… in fact, the Simpsons next weekend features him, so check it out! (Was at the scoring session on Friday night – funny episode!)
The concert is a non-traditional piece for choir, violin, cello, soprano, bass, and percussion ran for 90 minutes uninterrupted. Bowls of water were on stage, lit from below, with colored lights from above adding to the atmosphere. The piece was part performance art, with two percussionists actually using the water to create various sounds and even musical notes. The violin and cello were used in a non-Western way, breaking free of the 12-tone limitations and going all-out. Similarly, the soloists were performing in all manner of styles, including a kargyraa style of throat singing, similar to the style established by the Gyuto monks of Tibet.
Suffice it to say, it was weird, and very avant-garde, but very cool too. So… if you wanna check it out, take a listen to the clips on the official album site.