*adjusts socks*
November 8, 2014 5:47 AM Subscribe
Barbara Hannigan performs György Ligeti's 'Le Grand Macabre' with the Gothenburg Symphony. [YouTube] [Wiki]
That was awesome, thanks.
posted by octothorpe at 6:39 AM on November 8, 2014
posted by octothorpe at 6:39 AM on November 8, 2014
Truly amazing vocal agility and presence. And using an entire orchestra as a percussion section is brilliant.
Utterly, utterly delightful. Thank you.
posted by Combat Wombat at 6:54 AM on November 8, 2014
Utterly, utterly delightful. Thank you.
posted by Combat Wombat at 6:54 AM on November 8, 2014
I've been a Ligeti fan for ages, and I frequently listen to this piece. I was missing out on so much just listening.
posted by idiopath at 6:56 AM on November 8, 2014
posted by idiopath at 6:56 AM on November 8, 2014
I was fascinated by the singer's ability to sing and conduct at once. I have never seen anything like this before. Thank you.
posted by boytyoid at 8:12 AM on November 8, 2014
posted by boytyoid at 8:12 AM on November 8, 2014
Okay, I am very familiar with Ligeti and new music and music in general, and this is just crazy. This is an insane feat of physical and mental prowess. She's singing ridiculously hard high notes and breathy techniques and disjunct rhythms, while conducting the orchestra from memory, while brilliantly playing Gepopo's psycho-robot-police character, all whilst wearing some of the highest-heeled boots I've ever seen. I mean seriously DAMN.
posted by daisystomper at 8:59 AM on November 8, 2014 [6 favorites]
posted by daisystomper at 8:59 AM on November 8, 2014 [6 favorites]
Wow, that was just ... amazing!
posted by TwoToneRow at 8:59 AM on November 8, 2014
posted by TwoToneRow at 8:59 AM on November 8, 2014
all whilst wearing some of the highest-heeled boots I've ever seen
Still beaten by Britt-Marie Aruhn in the 1978 world premiere, who performed this bit on stilts (as "Säpopo" in the Swedish translation).
(For people who prefer a more conventional performance, here she is again at the Polar Music Prize ceremony for Ligeti, 26 years later.)
posted by effbot at 9:35 AM on November 8, 2014 [3 favorites]
Still beaten by Britt-Marie Aruhn in the 1978 world premiere, who performed this bit on stilts (as "Säpopo" in the Swedish translation).
(For people who prefer a more conventional performance, here she is again at the Polar Music Prize ceremony for Ligeti, 26 years later.)
posted by effbot at 9:35 AM on November 8, 2014 [3 favorites]
"Britt-Marie Aruhn performing Mysteries of the Macabre at the Polar Music Prize Ceremony in 2004. The laureates this year were György Ligeti and B.B. King."
posted by kenko at 9:37 AM on November 8, 2014
posted by kenko at 9:37 AM on November 8, 2014
The laureates this year were György Ligeti and B.B. King.
The prize tends to be given to one contemporary musician and one classical musician each year, which often results in somewhat unexpected pairings.
posted by effbot at 9:58 AM on November 8, 2014
The prize tends to be given to one contemporary musician and one classical musician each year, which often results in somewhat unexpected pairings.
posted by effbot at 9:58 AM on November 8, 2014
Original character names? Spermando and Clitoria. True story.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 7:00 PM on November 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Joseph Gurl at 7:00 PM on November 8, 2014 [1 favorite]
Original character names? Spermando and Clitoria. True story.
He toned that down in a later revision, though, so that might have been something left around from Michael Meschke's initial drafts, which consisted of an absurdist version of Ghelderode's play (more precisely, the play "concentrated in the manner of Alfred Jarry").
(btw, to elaborate on the Swedish connection, the opera started out as a commission from the Royal Opera in Stockholm in the mid-sixties, and Ligeti's first idea was to do something based on Oedipus. A few years later, the opera director Göran Gentele, a friend of Ligeti, was killed in a traffic accident along with most of his family, and Ligeti couldn't muster the energy to continue working on the original concept. He then found the play and asked Meschke, a Swedish theatre director who had done Jarry's Ubu Roi throughout Europe in the sixties, to help him get the play into a form he could work with. Meschke then went on to direct the Royal Opera production, and incidentally did Oedipus for his own theatre a few years later.)
posted by effbot at 3:58 AM on November 9, 2014
He toned that down in a later revision, though, so that might have been something left around from Michael Meschke's initial drafts, which consisted of an absurdist version of Ghelderode's play (more precisely, the play "concentrated in the manner of Alfred Jarry").
(btw, to elaborate on the Swedish connection, the opera started out as a commission from the Royal Opera in Stockholm in the mid-sixties, and Ligeti's first idea was to do something based on Oedipus. A few years later, the opera director Göran Gentele, a friend of Ligeti, was killed in a traffic accident along with most of his family, and Ligeti couldn't muster the energy to continue working on the original concept. He then found the play and asked Meschke, a Swedish theatre director who had done Jarry's Ubu Roi throughout Europe in the sixties, to help him get the play into a form he could work with. Meschke then went on to direct the Royal Opera production, and incidentally did Oedipus for his own theatre a few years later.)
posted by effbot at 3:58 AM on November 9, 2014
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posted by effbot at 6:34 AM on November 8, 2014 [1 favorite]