Marie de France writing the Lais |
Ultimately the work failed to make a profound statement, in favor of a few silly jokes that belittled the mythology of the Tristan legend. If the goal was to draw the medieval legend into a contemporary perspective, it made the story into a bit of a dreary routine, while also raising interesting questions about what the day-to-day relationship of lovers like Tristan and Isolde could have been like. What did they possibly talk about? The video projection shown behind the performers reinforced the fakeness, the banality of this approach to the legend, with models posed in chincy, Hollywood-epic costumes and makeup, glancing uncomfortably at the camera rather than each other.
Nico Muhly, David Lang (interview) (BOMB Magazine, Winter 2013) Anne Midgette, Anonymous 4 takes on David Lang’s ‘Love Fail’ at Kennedy Center (Washington Post, November 30) ---, ‘Love Fail’: A crossover star’s star-crossed lovers (Washington Post, November 24) |
This performance will be repeated next week (December 6 to 8) at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The Fortas Chamber Music series continues with a concert by the Fine Arts Quartet next month (December 11, 7:30 pm), with music by Haydn, Schubert, and Zimbalist.
the projections were definitely a minus, and distracted from the performance.
ReplyDeleteThe guy with the crude Dr. Spock-like eye makeup was the worst.
I kept looking for pointy ears.
That said, the 4 performers were wonderful and well adapted to Lang's minimalism. I am not a fan of amplified music, but Lang's twisted were interesting.
I look forward the Glimmerglass staging of Little Match Girl next summer.