Three Tales (CD & DVD)
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Free Music Notes for Three Tales (CD & DVD)
Free Music Review: last train to Petrozavodsk
Hit: 5 Stars
It's been a really bleak morning on the Leningrad station (ouch, it is St Petersburg now) and I just manage to find a seat on this over-crowded train heading North. Couples talking in whispers, old men reading Russian books, and the inevitable old apparatchnik longing for days of glory gone forever. With me on the CD-player this CD that just makes the trip bearable with the endless forest passing by outside, interrupted by a lake every now and then. The Sordavala station is another country already, the big city buzz of Petersburg finally behind us. This music is just the right thing for a trip like this, like sitting in a time machine going to places that is hard to describe. Thanks to mr. Reich for surpassing the borders of Western imagination and giving me and all the other fellow-travelers to Petrozavodsk hope (I cannot resist the thought that they somehow are listening in on this unbearably beautiful music...).Free Music Review: Try again, it's all there and good, I promise
Hit: 5 Stars
Just because you do not like "Three Tales" does not mean that "Three Tales" sucks. You were expecting "Music for 18 Musicians-the sequel", maybe? This is a different kind of music.
To be honest, at first, I did not at all care for the music or the video. Then really, honestly went back and listened to the music. When you listen to what's actually going on, and shut your mind up, you will discover something incredible. You could of course continue thinking that "Three Tales" sucks. Good for you. But you're really missing out on one of the most interesting and spectacular works in recent times.
Free Music Review: This work maybe over some people's heads
Hit: 5 Stars
This work, like many pieces of Mr. Reich's, may be above some people's heads. One of those people is the person who wrote "The music is Bombastic, the visual style boring. Be warned." Perhaps this person does not understand. That is fine. There is so much in this work. Never did I see even a trace of "bombastic" or "boring". Joe Stokes, from Dallas, is terribly bombastic and boring. Be warned!Free Music Review: Don't miss out on some of Reich's best work: listen and listen again, without preconceived expectations!
Hit: 4 Stars
Steve Reich seems to suffer from having been a prodigious and prolific talent in the 70's. Often those who discover his work like to pigeonhole him as a 'minimalist', and cite his groundbreaking earlier ensemble work as his best, and many of the works that followed as inferior.
I love 'Music for 18 Musicians', 'Drumming', 'Mallet Instruments' and all of these other pieces (even the relatively austere and slightly brain-melting 'four organs'), but what people seem to miss is that Reich is a pioneer, and there is no way he can continue to achieve his best if he simply repeats himself endlessly until the end of his time as a composer.
Instead, he has developed, and continues to do so on Three Tales.
Many of his more contemporary works (arguably from around 'Different Trains' onwards) are considerably more ambitious, often more musically complex, and, I imagine, more demanding for many listeners who are more accustomed to the pure zen beauty of '18 musicians', et al. This does not mean that they are not less rewarding.
I too discovered Reich through his earlier work, and I was a little alienated by 'Three Tales' in particular, as well as other more vocal works like 'the Cave' and 'Proverb'. The vocals seemed jarring and unambiguous, and the music was stark: intense in a very different way. However, my respect for Reich drove me to listen further, and I have grown to appreciate and enjoy Reich's modern works as the equal of his earlier successes.
Three Tales, in particular, is a staggering piece of art, which asks some pertinient questions about post-industrial life, faith and science through some of the most wonderful music I've ever heard. By turns Reich delivers bombast, tragedy and irereverent humour blended with serious social commentary. It's fascinating stuff, and much like 'the Cave', has rich levels of meaning.
Reich continues to deliver the goods: 'Daniel Variations' and 'You Are' deserve unprejudiced ears, and offer as much reward to listeners as any of his early work.
The only reason I give a 4 star score for 'Three Tales' is that the video art seems inferior to the music, to me. I'm not certain that it would be possible to create visuals that would be the equal of Reich's score, but the dated computer graphics that dominate the DVD seem weak to me in places, particularly during the first two of the 'tales'. 'Dolly' is much more interesting to me, visually. Nonetheless, I still watch the DVD, and I consider it a worthwhile purchase.
Listen / watch and enjoy this truly original piece!
Free Music Review: An interesting work that I will watch again.
Hit: 4 Stars
As I'm sure many have noticed, this seems to be the fruitful time to produce multlimedia works to do with technology and alienation. First, Glass and Reggio's Naqoyquatsi, and now 'Three Tales'. I'm sure many review-readers wonder, and a review below asked the question, so I'll answer it. Is this just a -qatsi rip off? Should one simply buy the Glass and skip the Reich? No. These are completely different works - both with seperate strenghts and weaknesses. While the -qatsi films - particularly Naqoyqatsi is dominated by larger than life visuals with the music providing an instrumental backdrop (albeit an active one), with this film, the impact of the music and the visual is about equal. Short answer: buy both if you want both, but the two are definitely not 'clones' of eachother. Now for my obligatory disclosure. Out of the two discs in this set - one CD with the music alone, and one DVD with the entire music and visual combo, my four stars is entirely for THE LAST HALF OF THE DVD! That's only the last 'tale'. Yes, it is that good! For the first two 'tales' Reich sounds very much as he did in "The Cave" (and we all politely smiled at that one!). Though, I'll say that the music and visual go well together in all the tales, the music for the first two is not to my taste. Jumpy, bombastic, and jerky - and why does every dang chord have to be diminished?!?
Now to the third tale. "Dolly" pertains to the cloned sheep and the 'tale' has more to do with genomics and the prospect of artificial intellegence than with cloning per se. The music sees Reich returning back to his 'middle days' a la 'Sextet'. Here the music has a steady pulse and is primarily mallet percussion and piano. On top of this, we have short excerpts from interviews of scientists that Reich and Barot did. As one who is quite read on science I enjoyed seeing the likes of Jaron Lanier (pioneer of virtual reality), Richard Dawkins (who recieves brutal treatment, perhaps unjustly), Marvin Minsky, and Steven Pinker. As I am fairly read on science, I do feel that Reich took many of their quotes out of context (remember, we only see short excerpts) but not enough to subtract stars.
So as not to ramble, let's sum up. A.) this film is not a '-quatsi on the cheap'. The visual is completely different and is somewhat similar, albeit more high tech, than "The Cave". B.) I did not find the musical style of the first two 'tales' to my taste as they are a cross between 'The Cave', and 'City Life'. C.) The third movement alone is worth the price of this disc/DVD set, particularly if you are interested in science and its personalities.
Go get it.