Music Music Music: Warning this week’s blog is a lot of music.

The Musica Festival was established in 1982 to celebrate and present to “the curious audience” contemporary classical music by established and up-and-coming composers. The music explores themes that, until now, I did not know could be expressed musically. The overarching themes of loss of innocence, evil in the world, violence and injustice were explored in a visceral and healing way, thereafter, produced very emotional reflections of the world we live in.

A good example of these themes of injustice and violence was the world premiere (September 25) of Moroccan composer’s, Ahmed Essyad, chamber opera Mririda (2016). This opera is based on a 1920’s Moroccan illiterate feminist poet Mririda N’aït Attik, who had her poetry collected by a french anthropologist Rene Euloge. After her husband’s death she became a Moroccan troubadour, touring and sharing dance, song and poetry in her native tongue. The opera was performed by the Strasbourg National Opera du Rhin’s opera studio, in conjunction with the Strasbourg conservatory. The contemporary opera had overtones of Moroccan culture, with the half contemporary and traditional costumes and the exotic harmonies sprinkled through out the opera. The strong divide between feminine/masculine temperament was evident throughout with an ever present complexity of their relation to each other (sometimes virtuous and sometimes with extreme vise through rape and misuse). The director says, “Unfortunately yesterday like today, hatred leads to hatred, and violence to violence.” The final scene embodies this when the men and women fight against each other and all of them die.

The reaction to this piece was a reflection on the world’s current problems with ISIS. One asks themselves “Why, Why does humanity do we do this to ourselves, how can we stop it!” The repeated text throughout the entire opera was:

La vie est un grâce <<Life is a Blessing>>

Coincidentally, stuck with appreciation for the wonderful gift of life, I found myself weeping in the sun at the Ghandi memorial park.

A trailer of opera:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaCazvq-0Nw

Next was a ciné-concert at a movie theater. This was a 6 hour version of Les Misèrables (Victor Hugo) — dont worry the 6 hours were divided over two nights. The film (realized by Henri Fescourt in 1925) was accompanied by improvise virtuoso, Jean-François Zygel — improvisation faculty at Paris Conservatory.  The experience was more enriching than any theatrical performance I have ever seen. The time and space to process the deep humanity of Victor Hugo’s characters through gestures and expression gave a deeper personal investment than my fast paced Hollywood-ized cinema experience. While being accompanied by an incredible pianist, created moods that shaped the film in new ways that otherwise would not be explored.

Upon reflection I had the same sentiments as Mririda: Why is there there injustice/ cruelty in the world? However, the film gives an answer as Jean Valjean is clinging to his cross, literally, on his death chair with Cosette and Marius. The audience is left with the sentiments “the sanctity of life” or “la vie de grâce.” One could spend too much time speaking on the themes and reflection of this piece so I will move on.

I will close my discussion on art exploring injustices in humanity with Munchener Kammerorchester and Rias Kammerchor at the Cathedral De Strasbourg, where there must have been at least 2,000 people. One of the pieces was Maurice Duruflé’s Requiem (1947). This piece covers a virtuous perspective to the modern compositions I saw illustrating the injustice in our world. The piece’s style marries an impressionism and neomedievalism (using modes, cantus firmus, and Gregorian chant melodies). It carries the weight of humanity without being expressionist and without hopelessness either. Here are the composer’s remarks about the piece:

This Requiem is not an ethereal work which sings of detachment from earthly worries. It reflects, in the immutable form of the Christian prayer, the agony of man faced with the mystery of his ultimate end. It is often dramatic, or filled with resignation, or  terror, just as the words of the Scripture themselves which are used in the liturgy. It tends to translate human feelings before their terrifying, unexplained or consoling destiny.

~ Maurice Duruflè

This “close to humanity” interpretation of the Requiem gives a sense of authenticity to face the problems of life and death.

The life of the composer faced much hardship. He was a organ virtuoso and was deeply fascinated with the Gregorian chants and medieval music. He suffered a very bad car accident which broke both of his legs and was unable to play the organ thereafter. The requiem was written between 1941-1947, the beginning and aftermath of world war II. His authenticity to this requiem combined with his life story is a testimony to an attitude that deals with the beauty, mystery and injustice that faces our world; from Mririda to Les Misèrables to Requiem.

Some reflections:

The arts (like the symphony and opera house) become the church in a society were subjectivity and autonomy reign.

The arts, to quote a Ravi Zacharais talk, tell us how to think about the world around us, conversely it used to just depict the world around us.

And to take from Debussy: “There is nothing more musical than a sunset. He who feels what he sees will find no more beautiful example of development in all that book which, alas, musicians read but too little – the book of Nature.” This illustrates his philosophy of being an experiential and “essence”composer – a sunset is meant to be experienced. This gave way to a more experiential worldview. Subjectivity and autonomy are exalted. In other words,an impressionist world view, one that was taken from personal experience and then communicated through a medium to articulate a new way of looking at concepts and scenes. Instead of a art imitating life, the landscape, it is the artist’s impression of said landscape. Fast forward to modern times, we articulate more abstract worldviews and concepts with our impressions of our world around us through the medium of music.

In my experience this week I have seen modern composers present a worldview or idea in way that informs the audience how to look at or interpret the world around them. In other world the music and drama informs the audience of a concept maybe personally not explored (themes of injustice, temperament, violence, relationship).

Other experiences this week:

• At the cathedral de Strasbourg concert there was Disputatio (2014), a 40-minutes orchestra/choir with soprano and baritone solo piece. The composer ouvre is vast, but central around operas. I was shocked by his ability to not articulate anything of understood meaning the entire 40-minutes, the piece was “other worldly” and focused on sound masses and creating different moods I had not heard before. He is a local composer, living in Nancy France, and was a pupil of Iannis Xenakis and influenced greatly by Verèse. Here is an excerpt about his musical philosophy:

I don’t really like the word ‘inspiration,’ nor do I like ‘ideas.’ It’s not through ideas that we advance; its through conviction and the necessity to do something. You have to do a great deal of thinking. You also have to know how to waste time. you must waste time. In my day-to-day life I try to waste time so that I have the time and the space to work.

~Pascal Dusapin

• This articulates and enlightens my research of Debussy, that in order to compose you must have a conviction that drives your passion, certainly this is evident in the life of Debussy who’s experiential living informed his musical composition the most. In Contrast, an idea or inspiration is too vague, emotional, or temporal, but a conviction is not.

 

• Seeing my first main stage opera in  a real European opera house. Turn of the Screw (1954) by Benjamin Britten with the National Opera du Rhin in Strasbourg (September 27). The opera house was smaller, therefor the principals could be more expressive (which was called for with a composer like Britten). The opera house was packed and the show was technically incredible with projections of moving scenery in windows, video projected dream sequences and mysteriously moving doors and beds.

• Also another cinè-concert (September 30), called Froxtrot Delirium, taking a German surrealist silent film comedy, La Princesse aux huîres by Ernst Lubitsch with the modern music by Martin Matalon- Froxtrot Delirium (2015).
• A showing of Jerassaic Park in French at the Cathedral de Strasbourg, where thousands of young adults came to watch the film, apart of the European Horror Film Festival.

• A chamber recital of the same composer as Foxtrot Delirium and Mririda; another world premiere of Ahmed Essyad’s work (taken from a story of Rûmis’ about Satan [12-century persian islamic mystic poet and #2 top selling poet in USA now]). Martin Matalon’s piece was avant garde using surround sound and electronic concrete tradition mixed with an ensemble with one soprano voice using natural and unnatural human sounds (reminiscent for me of Karlheinz Stockhausen). The saprano would have a tuning fork in hand the whole performance in order to find pitches throughout pieces. Here is an example of the surround sound with human sounds that Matan would use in composition:

• Other adventures are going to Chateau de Roberteau with an Armenian friend from my French class where we spent 5 hours walking and talking about each other’s lives and all in French.  I can feel my communication skills improving. His story is a very inspiring one, especial upon reflection of how blessed I am to live in a country of free speech. He had to leave Armenia because of human rights issues. He was beaten in a protest for human rights. It breaks my heart that there are places in the world where people are not free. This disturbing clip is taken from that human rights protest last year:

 

I hope that you are more informed and aware

A la Prochain,

DCM