I love 2001, it’s one my favourite films. Part of the love of the film is that the music is ‘just right’. Kubrick had commissioned a score for the film but decided to use existing classical pieces. We’ll never know how well the commissioned score would have worked. But we do know how well the chosen pieces worked.
I’ve only ever managed to catch the film on the big screen once, and that was an old dirty print. Over the years I’ve managed to catch performances of a few of the pieces at the BBC Proms, such as the Ligeti pieces used in the film. I absolutely love the Ligeti pieces when they’re played live. So this event was the perfect opportunity to watch the film, complete with a new high def digital print with the entire score played with an orchestra and choir. There was no way I could miss this.
Unlike similar events such as Lord Of The Rings where it’s crucial for the orchestra to synchronise their music with action. The music in 2001 was always an accompaniment to the film so the edit doesn’t tie what little action their is as closely to the music as it would have done with a commissioned score. This gives the conductor more freedom to pace the music and tonight’s performance was simply wonderful. So unlike previous events, the conductor appeared to by working from scores without any LCD timing aids.
From the very first minute of the opening fanfare of Strauss’s ‘Also Sprach Zarathustra’, this was a pleasure to experience. But it was my favourite Ligeti pieces that were the highlight. Seeing them with the visual accompaniment highlighted only added to the primeval power in those pieces.
Hopefully it won’t be too long before this is played again. I really would love experience this event again.
I like a bit of Phillip Glass. Although his work had become predictable, maybe even pedestrian, it’s always a sound I like. His violin concerto is one of my favourite pieces if music. So despite everything, I look forward to a new piece of hid music
‘Icarus at the Edge of Time’, is a new collaborative piece between Glass, a physist (Brian Greene) and some artists (Al + Al). It’s a science fiction short story with the emphasis on science
Before the piece, a movement from John Adam’s ‘Doctor Atomic’ symphony about Oppenheimer. It’s the first I’d heard the piece and it’s something I will be listening to again
Before the main event, Brian Greene gave a quick intro to the science behind Icarus. It was all basic stuff and I always find it disturbing that many people don’t have an understanding of the basics of physics. His intro was brief and convieyed the basics of relativity.
Icarus was narrated by the actor David Morresy and tells the story of a young ‘genius’ who’s on the generational ship Prometheus, on a journey between Earth and the nearest star outside our solar system, where life has been detected. A journey destined to take 100s of years. Something Icarus deems to be totally unfair.
On encountering a black hole. Icarus takes it upon himself to fly his prototype shuttle near to the event horizon, forgetting about the effect gravity will have on time. Catapulting himself thousands of years into his ship’s future, but minutes of his own.
The music was typically Glass. In fact it had a feeling of ‘music by nunbers’. With many sections seemingly liftened from some of Glasses more recent symphonies. Ths narration and was great as were the visuals. As a combined interactive piece, Icarus was very enjoyable. As a piece of music, I probably I would have felt a little bit short changed.
