Three Tales...

The Science Museum in London opens up some Friday nights to entertain (we were there for a Minimalist opera in the IMAX), sell booze and sell ideas. Paul, Stuart and I ran around like school kids marvelling at how the exhibits hadn't changed since we'd first been there in the 1970s.

The opera we were there to see was Three Tales, a video-opera in three acts titled Hindenburg, Bikini and Dolly, with music by American composer Steve Reich and visuals by Beryl Korot, his wife.

The musical narrative of Three Tales follows "speech melodies" of pre-recorded interviews and was quite alluring. The live performance of the music and singing was great. The videos aspect seemed rather naff though.

The three tales (acts) divide into various sub-sections:

Act I – Hindenburg
It could not have been a technical matter – Nibelung Zeppelin – A very impressive thing to see – I couldn't understand It

Act II – Bikini
In the air I – The atoll I – On the ships I – In the air II – The atoll II – On the ships II – In the air III – The atoll III - On the ships III - Coda

Act III – Dolly
Cloning - Dolly - Human body machine - Darwin - Interlude - Robots/Cyborgs/Immortality

Brian Eno's Apollo...

Last night Ian and I went to see Brian Eno's Apollo being performed at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on the South Bank. Following two sold-out and highly acclaimed performances at London's Science Museum, pioneering ensemble Icebreaker and formidable pedal steel guitarist BJ Cole were bringing one of Brian Eno's best and most influential ambient albums to life. Apollo was written for Al Reinert's documentary For All Mankind on the Apollo space missions, although it took so long to make the film the music preceded it by six years. Music from the album also appeared in the films 28 Days Later, Traffic and Trainspotting. This show returned the music to its original conception - as a counterpart to this NASA footage from the Apollo programme - matching the mesmerising beauty and tranquil mystery of the Moon and Earth, and the dizzying scale and humbling feat of engineering involved in taking people to the Moon. The show was in two halves. Icebreaker initially performed three pieces. First up was an untitled orgasmic thumbing opener. Then we had David Lang's Cheating Lying Stealing - a rousing cacophony of orchestral flourishes. And finally Michael Gordon's Trance - originally in ten parts but we were just treated to parts I and IV. It was a sort of Tubular Bells for the atonal crowd. BJ Cole joined them in the second half for Brian Eno's Apollo proper. The music was a faithful recreation of the studio album. But this was overtaken by the NASA footage, which was stunning. Who knew they were filming anything but scientific shots up there? There was panning, fading in and out and arty shots aplenty. Very funny to see the compilation of all those astronauts tripping over the moon rocks. And all that golf! Great fun. The film won an Oscar. Deservedly so. And the music matched it perfectly.