Richard Wagner: Das Rheingold 

(2007) 

by the flashy futurist Spanish troupe La Fura dels Baus created for Santiago Calatrava's futurist recent opera house, Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia.

With Zubin Mehta in musical direction, the Fura has shown that today tetralología Wagner can be understood, first as suicidal degradation of nature, a technical man's hands, as have a place where destructive spiral of war, genocide and the irrational exploitation of natural resources.

 

Source: La Fura dels Baus website

 

 

I was most interested to see this Rheingold again, since this production by the Catalan theatre company La Fura dels Baus had excited my attention when it was first performed and I wanted to discover the extent that my initial surprise had been part of my appreciation of it. On seeing it again, I still consider that La Fura's Rheingold is the best work of their four stagings. La Fura has shown great creative imagination in many of their operas so far and they have proved their abilities once again with a genuinely original conception that makes great use of video projections.

La Fura's main idea is to show how the conflicting ambitions of the Gods, the giants and the Nibelungs, upset a natural equilibrium between their worlds and those of men and lead inexorably to their self-destruction. There is a formal set only in the opening scene which shows a metallic platform with three small glass box full of water suspended above it in which the Rhine Maidens swim. In the following scenes the sets disappear completely, replaced by a large screen on which extremely original and allusive images to the drama are projected: particularly interesting for Wotan and Loge's descent to Nibelheim and the production and handling of the gold. Having seen it twice now, I am convinced that the production will actually be even better on DVD, since it often seems that the production has been deliberately developed around the idea that the screened images are more important than any other kind of theatrical effects.

(José M Irurzun)

 

Source: MusicWeb

 

 

Richard Wagner: Das Rheingold, sacral, choreography, opera, Live Visuals

Reading

Notation. Calculation and Form in the Arts (2008) is a comprehensive catalogue (in German) edited by Dieter Appelt, Hubertus von Amelunxen and Peter Weibel which accompanied an exhibition of the same name at the Academy of the Arts, Berlin and the ZKM | Karlsruhe. (ZKM)

Notations 21 (2009) by Theresa Sauer features illustrated musical scores from more than 100 international composers, all of whom are making amazing breakthroughs in the art of notation. Notations 21 is a celebration of innovations in musical notation, employing an appreciative aesthetic for both the aural and visual beauty of these creations. The musical scores in this edition were created by composers whose creativity could not be confined by the staff and clef of traditional western notation, but whose musical language can communicate with the contemporary audience in a uniquely powerful way. (Notations 21 Project)

 

SEE ALSO

playZero (2010) by Victor Morales was originally part of an opera called Playzero made at Festspielhaus St. Pölten in June 2010. Music by Wolfgang Mitterer.

Rewind, Play, Fast Forward (2010) – The Past, Present and Future of the Music Video by Henry Keazor, Thorsten Wübbena (eds.) brings together different disciplines as well as journalists, museum curators and gallery owners in order to take a discussion of the past and present of the music video as an opportunity to reflect upon suited methodological approaches to this genre and to allow a glimpse into its future. (transcript Verlag)

Mandala (1964) is an extraordinary film by Art Clokey in which transformations of colored abstract shapes in a mystical dreamscape of claymation transition out to the real world and back, suggesting a revolution in thinking, and an evolution of feeling. Mandala still stands out as Art Clokey's most visionary, abstract, kinesthetic masterpiece. (Gumby)

Strata #2 (2009) by Quayola explores the icons of french gothic imagery and architecture, focusing on the layering of times function and representations. The video describes an imaginary alteration of architectural matter. By moving through the spaces of Notre Dame and Saint Eustache a process of metamorphosis is slowly revealed, transforming structure and function of the original churches. (Quayola)

Storm de Hirsch was a very important player in the New York Avant-Garde film scene of the 1960s, though her biography and work are generally left out of the history. Despite lack of recognition, she was very present in the underground film movement and socialized with every big name on the scene, filmmakers such as Stan Brakhage, Jonas Mekas, Shirley Clarke and others. (Wikipedia)