Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Disintigration loops live was bad

Compare the original to the anniversary performance

Where is the disintegration in this orchestra? Horn stops and bells don't have the flavor of a decaying tape loop. I thought for sure they had conjured some brilliant execution of the piece. All the musical technology in the world is readily available but somehow a glockenspiel is deemed more representative of the source material? Why didn't anyone try crushing the sound up a little bit? It could've been more interesting with a little more creativity in the instrumentation, like doubling the size of the orchestra and having each performer play softer dynamics. Or have the instruments prepared to give them different tonal qualities. How about no glockenspiel. Each performer could create a disfigured tape loop of their part, and play all the loops simultaneously. They could even have the orchestra play along with the loops.

The idea that the Disintegration Loops would be played live seemed promising. But now that I think about it, there was something off about it, it seems more like marketing the emotional impact; 'It's 9/11 so now feel this: original.' But I probably would have liked it anyway if it had been done differently...



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