Einstein On The Beach

Descrizione

Regia di Robert Wilson, coreografia di Lucinda Childs - Evitando la narrativa convenzionale, l’opera ruota liberamente intorno al rapporto pacifista di Einstein alla creazione della bomba atomica. Questa importante produzione del lavoro seminale e d’avanguardia del compositore Philip Glass arriva a chiudere un cerchio: proveniente dalla Francia, luogo della sua prima al Festival di Avignone nel 1976, viene ripresentato, in continuità con il debutto, dal Théâtre du Châtelet e proposto in DVD con la regia televisiva di Don Kent. The Lucinda Childs Dance Company, The Philip Glass Ensemble

Recensione

The static tableaux are as much art installation as music theatre, and need to be seen rather than just heard.Ft, 1/10/16 /// Audio-only recordings have long been available, but this modern classic really has to be seen: music and stage realization deepen each other immeasurably, thus generating extraordinary cumulative impact. open and profoundly contemplative the work certainly is, but for reasons hat elude easy explanation it is also deeply moving. –Opera, Feb'17

Philip Glass’s modern opera Einstein on the Beach has been called the greatest artwork of the 20th century. Instead of traditional narrative, it uses a formalist approach based on structured spaces laid out by director Robert Wilson in a series of storyboards. The music was written in 1975 and the premiere took place the following year at the Avignon Festival in France. The opera contains writings by Christopher Knowles, Samuel M. Johnson and Lucinda Childs, and is Glass’s first and longest opera score, taking approximately five hours in full performance without intermission (the audience is permitted to enter and leave as desired).This seminal work of avant-garde opera now arrives full-circle, coming back to France for a 2014 revival tour and filmed for first ever in a landmark Theâtre du Châtelet production by award-winning arts filmmaker Don Kent. The opera revolves loosely around pacifist Albert Einstein’s relationship to the creation of the atomic bomb. This new production was hailed by Le Figaro as meticulously crafted total artwork in which the visual and musical craft are inseparable . The music is again performed by the Philip Glass Ensemble and the choreography devised by original cast member Lucinda Childs for her own dance company, with the scenes taking place under Bob Wilson’s digitally remastered light design. Michael Riesman conducts the performance, which features soloists Helga Davis, Kate Moran and Antoine Silverman. This special double-Blu-ray release is packaged with a handsome 56 page hardcover book. I don’t care about music theory, I’m only interested in listening to music. I begin by listening. Like images emerging from the mist and becoming visible. Philip Glass –New Classics, Oct'16

This is close to a definitive version of the opera as you’re likely to get.Gramophone,Jan'17 /// In a digital world in which we all slave to the algorithm, his opera’s visions of human subservience to numbers seems chillingly prescient. Performance **** Picture and Sound ***** –BBC Music Magazine, Jan'17