Saturday night: Musical Explorations

I just got home from the Saturday night performance at the State Theater, featuring the sextet of musicians known as the Bang on a Can All-Stars and the Czech singer-violinist Iva Bittova, and I’m not quite sure what to think.

First of all, in the words of all of my family members who attended (myself included): “bizarre!” But then again, profoundly enjoyable. The performance pushed me to rethink some of my preconceived notions of music and what I like to hear.

The first half of the performance featured three pieces performed by the Bang on a Can All-Stars. The first was a poignant, mournful piece which perfectly accompanied the projection of decaying film footage. On screen, we were just able to make out snippets of a story — a tragic heroine, soldiers on horseback, a hay-cart — through the dissolution and disintegration of the film. The second piece accompanied a completely silent episode of Ernie Kovacs‘ old TV show. The humorous and playful music once again gave a fitting accompaniment to the comedy on-screen. The third piece, by a Brazilian composer, did not have a visual accompaniment, but as the group leader explained, the music was “cinematic enough” all by itself.

Iva Bittova gave the performance’s second half a dramatic start by walking out on stage and performing a solo piece on voice and violin. Although her singing contained elements of the sound that I find so haunting and gripping in Eastern European music (if you don’t know what I mean, listen to Le Myst?ɬ