"The Stolen Stars" in LA

[apologies for the cross-posting - wanting to get the msg out]

Last night I had the pleasure of attending a performance of the Anaphorian shadow play "The Stolen Stars" in Culver City, the production under the direction of composer/instrument builder Kraig Grady. It was a lovely evening!

The Black Cat gallery is a dinky space, and we were all crammed in (and good to see a sold-out house!), but once the performance began it created an intimacy (if a warm one) that made the story-telling seem personal. The shadow play takes traditional Balinese/Javanese styles a couple steps forward, with innovative (while simple) lighting techniques lending a beautiful effect to the story line. And, as in many a good shadow play, humor was not checked at the door but just another part of the delivery.

The instrumental resources were impressive, with tuned metallophones in soprano through bass ranges, a marimba, hammered psaltry, koto, and voice. A number of times the strings and bars were bowed, sometimes in combination with striking as well, lending nice orchestrational touches. For a performance that lasted well over an hour there was a great variety, and the variety also showed the expanse of resources in the tuning, which I'm sure KG could expand more on if needed. I should point out a scene where Aurora discovers that the Hunter has died as being especially lovely and poignant, and the end of the evening, with the re-assembled new star in ascendancy, was both affecting and silvery. The entire evening was a showcase of the beating effects (and affects) of both the tuning and the ensemble, and many times the clouds of harmonies seemed to waft through the room like incense.

In all, a very compelling night. It is so heartening to experience events like this, where 'music' ends up as one component in a larger context, and the artforms reinforce and extend each other. It was also good to see Bill Alves in attendance, and these events never cease to bring reminders from people of past Partch - corporeal! - performances that also had lasting impressions on the audience member.

Congratulations to Kraig and his entire ensemble (kudos to Rainbow, whose portrayal of Aurora was exemplary), and I'd urge SoCal members to try to attend one of the three remaining shows (there are announcements in the archives of the list...).

Tune on,
Jon

`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`
Real Life: Orchestral Percussionist
Web Life: "Corporeal Meadows" - about Harry Partch
http://www.corporeal.com/
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