Robert Wilson and Phillip Glass collaboration of Einstein on the Beach
March 2, 2024 3:33 AM Subscribe
A favorite section of mine. Einstein on the Beach... knee play#5 My favorite part of the American opera by Phillip Glass (music) and Robert Wilson (visuals), and Lucinda Childs (choreography). At 4.5 hours long and no
intermission, the authors welcomed the audience to come and go as freely as they wished. I think it's their most memorable work, but I think they might not agree with me on that.
intermission, the authors welcomed the audience to come and go as freely as they wished. I think it's their most memorable work, but I think they might not agree with me on that.
I opened this distracted just to see what it was (the title reminiscent of a book I like called moonwalking with einstein), clicked randomly on a point somewhere in the first half. I soaked in the sounds (the droning background, the odd spoken word) as I clicked about my other tabs.
After shortly getting a feel for it, I watched a few seconds. I thought how it would be a really nice thing to experience if you had the time and space to let yourself get sucked into the proper and full context. I thought how the aesthetic of the thing reminded me a little of Laurie Anderson's O Superman which I always liked. I thought how the imagery of the two characters in suspenders, posture wooden, reciting almost-nonsense words, was ripe ripe for comedic potential. And could be, for example, translated without change to something like an snl sketch.
I closed the tab to continue on my day and immediately felt an unexpected and acute separation. I was suddenly very aware of the silence without it. I had come (in the short time it takes to get a first impression) to rely on the comfort and warmth of that choir-like drone. To miss the almost robotic exchange of words.
I found myself drawn back to it and almost immediately reopened the tab to watch the rest in a kind of reverie. Thanks for sharing this. Sometimes our favorite things really are just compelling in some way.
posted by Flaffigan at 6:59 AM on March 2 [8 favorites]
After shortly getting a feel for it, I watched a few seconds. I thought how it would be a really nice thing to experience if you had the time and space to let yourself get sucked into the proper and full context. I thought how the aesthetic of the thing reminded me a little of Laurie Anderson's O Superman which I always liked. I thought how the imagery of the two characters in suspenders, posture wooden, reciting almost-nonsense words, was ripe ripe for comedic potential. And could be, for example, translated without change to something like an snl sketch.
I closed the tab to continue on my day and immediately felt an unexpected and acute separation. I was suddenly very aware of the silence without it. I had come (in the short time it takes to get a first impression) to rely on the comfort and warmth of that choir-like drone. To miss the almost robotic exchange of words.
I found myself drawn back to it and almost immediately reopened the tab to watch the rest in a kind of reverie. Thanks for sharing this. Sometimes our favorite things really are just compelling in some way.
posted by Flaffigan at 6:59 AM on March 2 [8 favorites]
no
< Break >
intermission
I snorted into my very full and very hot cup of coffee. Thanks Czjewel. :p
posted by discardme at 7:45 AM on March 2 [1 favorite]
< Break >
intermission
I snorted into my very full and very hot cup of coffee. Thanks Czjewel. :p
posted by discardme at 7:45 AM on March 2 [1 favorite]
This reminds me a lot of Laurie Anderson, too, and it predates her first album by a few years. Both Anderson and Glass were part of the 70s/80s New York scene, I guess. They were both part of Dial-a-Poem, for example.
I love Phillip Glass most for his score of the movie Koyaanisqatsi.
posted by bitslayer at 8:03 AM on March 2
I love Phillip Glass most for his score of the movie Koyaanisqatsi.
posted by bitslayer at 8:03 AM on March 2
Actually this is one of my all time favourite songs. The narration is slightly different from the original album recording.
posted by ovvl at 8:11 AM on March 2 [2 favorites]
posted by ovvl at 8:11 AM on March 2 [2 favorites]
I thought how it would be a really nice thing to experience if you had the time and space to let yourself get sucked into the proper and full context.
I saw this live many decades ago and was excited when the DVD came out. However, the experience of the video is so very different from the live show that it was a great disappointment.
The camera movements and especially the jumping around for close-ups, breaks the spell.
The experience of this opera is like watching a giant canvas, all at once, where little things keep happening at multiple locations, all at the same time, typically very slowly. That one or another voice comes in does not mean your complete attention should go to that single point; it is all part of this immersive, mesmerizing whole. The video breaks this spell completely.
An ideal video presentation would allow for the viewer to select from multiple angles and shots, including a simple direct straight-on view of the entire stage (which is how I would want to watch the whole thing). This was a feature touted for DVDs at their market introduction but in practice it seems a rarity.
Of course, video is probably the only way most people will ever experience this, and it does give some idea of the set design, but it necessarily fails to capture what the opera is.
posted by Ayn Marx at 8:11 AM on March 2 [1 favorite]
I saw this live many decades ago and was excited when the DVD came out. However, the experience of the video is so very different from the live show that it was a great disappointment.
The camera movements and especially the jumping around for close-ups, breaks the spell.
The experience of this opera is like watching a giant canvas, all at once, where little things keep happening at multiple locations, all at the same time, typically very slowly. That one or another voice comes in does not mean your complete attention should go to that single point; it is all part of this immersive, mesmerizing whole. The video breaks this spell completely.
An ideal video presentation would allow for the viewer to select from multiple angles and shots, including a simple direct straight-on view of the entire stage (which is how I would want to watch the whole thing). This was a feature touted for DVDs at their market introduction but in practice it seems a rarity.
Of course, video is probably the only way most people will ever experience this, and it does give some idea of the set design, but it necessarily fails to capture what the opera is.
posted by Ayn Marx at 8:11 AM on March 2 [1 favorite]
Sigh. There was a learned league question on this last week. Why couldn't you have posted this before that?
posted by jacquilynne at 8:18 AM on March 2 [2 favorites]
posted by jacquilynne at 8:18 AM on March 2 [2 favorites]
Here's a classic comment from (omg) fourteen years ago about knee play 5.
posted by kaibutsu at 8:28 AM on March 2 [6 favorites]
posted by kaibutsu at 8:28 AM on March 2 [6 favorites]
discardme...I did not realize I had done that. Thanks for pointing it out.
posted by Czjewel at 8:59 AM on March 2
posted by Czjewel at 8:59 AM on March 2
4.5 hours long and no intermission
Four and a half hours? The Counting Crows version is less than four minutes!
posted by kirkaracha at 10:27 AM on March 2
Four and a half hours? The Counting Crows version is less than four minutes!
posted by kirkaracha at 10:27 AM on March 2
Seeing Einstein on the Beach live remains on my bucket list — easily my favourite opera. I have been fortunate enough to see Philip Glass and the Ensemble perform another favourite, Music in Twelve Parts (coincidentally, I heard the work twice that day, as it matched almost exactly the length of my train journey to the concert venue), and Philip Glass solo perform (some of) his Solo Piano pieces.
posted by bouvin at 1:49 PM on March 2 [1 favorite]
posted by bouvin at 1:49 PM on March 2 [1 favorite]
Any piece of Glass music performed live is always worth experiencing, with the exception of The Making of the Representative for Planet 8, which really wasn't.
posted by Hogshead at 9:51 AM on March 3
posted by Hogshead at 9:51 AM on March 3
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Although, oof, I was not prepared for deep feels when I clicked the link. Maybe a content warning next time. It’s too early on a Saturday to be feeling the weight of my heart.
posted by Probabilitics at 3:59 AM on March 2 [2 favorites]