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Sunday, September 4, 2016

In Context: the loser


A downcast piano student recounts a life lived in the shadows of a famous friend in David Lang’s the loser, coming to the 2016 BAM Next Wave Festival Sep 7—11. Context is everything, so get even closer to the show with this curated selection of related articles, sounds and videos. After you've attended the show, let us know what you thought below and by posting on social media using #theloserBAM.

Program Notes

the loser (PDF)

Read

Article
David Lang: anthems for doomed youth (The Guardian)
From writing the ultimate tearjerker for Paolo Sorrentino to commemorating the bloodiest day in British military history, David Lang takes it all in his stride.

Article
Pianist Conrad Tao on quest to revive concert experience (The Japan Times)
“Audiences do enjoy feeling challenged, as long as you are not being pedantic or patronizing,” Tao says.

Article
A Scrupulous Fidelity (The Brooklyn Rail)
On Thomas Bernhard’s 1983 source text.

Website
David Lang
Peruse the composer's website before witnessing his latest work.

Website
Bang on a Can
Since its first Marathon concert in 1987, Bang on a Can has been creating an international community dedicated to innovative music, wherever it is found.

Watch & Listen

Video
Glenn Gould 1/4 Goldberg Variations (YouTube)
Our protagonist's source of envy masters the first quarter of Bach's 1741 masterpiece.

Video
Creative Minds - David Lang (YouTube)
WNYC's John Schaefer talks to Lang about his creative journey.

Now your turn...

What did you think? Tell us what's on your mind in the comments below and by posting on social media using #theloserBAM.

22 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  2. Not what we expected entirely. The description said "floating above the audience". The photo in the brochure looked surreal. Instead he was in an extremely unelegant box. Not profound. Not anything but boring. Feeling mislead. Music was good. He did a good job with the material. My husband fell asleep. I was disappointed. Thought we were seeing something unique. But no.

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  3. Misleading advance photo not a good idea. But the singer was superlative and charming. A prose libretto was surprising -rather like hearing someone singing a novel -we appreciated the originality and elegiac quality of the production.

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  4. I agree with previous posts that the promotions for the show were misleading. The singer did a tremendous job, but the material was not engaging. The brief moment of poignancy at the end did not overcome the discomfort of sitting through the first 4/5 of the show.

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    1. 100% correctly stated

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    2. Also agree about the promotional image being misleading -- I came into the performance with that image in my head and kept wondering if he was going to float off the platform somehow. But as usual David Lang's music was mesmerizing.

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  5. As music, as theatre, as opera, as performance, as stagecraft, as production: a loser.

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  6. This staging is how "preaching to the choir" might look, I thought. For once, the nose-bleed seats were the best seats, I thought. Okay, inside jokes aside, let me tell you what I really thought: The opera required constant and very deep listening, which was sometimes challenging when the musicians overpowered Gilfry's normally clear, rich voice. The odd yet fascinating speech patterns added to the need to focus intently. Listening so deeply can be strenuous: my mind wanders for an instant, and I have lost a crucial thread in the narrative. Although I wanted to hear more of the story, an hour was enough just because of attention fatigue. Overall, the performance was compelling, and I want to read the novel as well. I began the summer participating in David Lang's world premier of "the public domain," so it was fitting that my first BAM 2016 Next Wave Festival event was another Lang production. I understand the comments about the misleading publicity photo. That is probably something to be mindful of in the future.

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  7. Extremely misleading promotional material.
    Every other show in the Festival features stills from the productions, so it's natural to assume this promo shot of a singer "flying" is a still as well.
    Highly disappointed.

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  8. My first encounter with " modern leider" .....a reinvention of that art form that bodes well for the future ..

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    1. What is "modern leider?"

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    2. I was interested too, so I wiki'ed it. It originally (esp. late 18th/19th centuries) meant the setting of German poems to music. But, interestingly, it tends to refer to arrangements for piano + single singer. I've seen a lot of solo song cycles from the German Romantic era that I think must count as leider (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frauenliebe_und_-leben being a main example).

      Would be interesting to know to what extent Lang was basing his opera off this tradition.

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  9. We enjoyed the opera greatly. The whole show was stimulating and adventurous. The music and the singing were superb. Keep up the exciting and thought-provoking work.

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  10. The words of Bernhard were beautifully presented...but sometimes music was trivial and the Bach at end while mirroring the end of novel a recording of Gould' s version should have been played...by having a "performer" doing a version misses the real point of the whole novel...

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  11. Very misleading, expected to see the performer either floating or at the least on a tightrope, as the picture showed. Lyrics OK, but the music was boring and monotonous. Not what I expected for the Next Wave.

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  12. Very boring. Could be done more interesting, looks like no of a director job

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  13. Since I didn't expect a miraculous "floating man" I wasn't surprised to find instead a miraculously talented singer/actor performing exquisitely and profoundly without pause and without a hitch for a full hours worth of wonderment and astonishment. The music was hauntingly beautiful and the entire afternoon had a dreamlike quality which the instrumentation only amplified. All in all, a profoundly beautiful work.

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  14. Wonderfully performed and a richly textured monologue. So much to think about that I could have sat through it again. The Piano at the end, Bach, was heartbreaking in the beauty and simplicity of the direction against the complexities of the characters. Loved it!

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  15. Kind of wonderful to sit in the mezzanine and have the performer at eye level. It increased depth of field upstage - the remembered pianist seems very, very far away, appropriately. I love the dreamy, anti-literal libretto. Mr. Gilfrey's clean interpretation is compelling. The music respects the narrative, and vice-versa. So, I like it a lot - don't think kids necessarily will, though. Lots of squirming in front of me..

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  16. Logging out 3 days later? BAM needs a better website..

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